Preface:
Bessie Tartt Wilson Initiative for Children released its latest report, The State of the Early Education Workforce: Removing Barriers to Access and Advancement, in October 2009. Since its release, BTWIC has focused on the advocacy work that accompanies the recommendations in the report. BTWIC has decided to concentrate on the area of compensation. Despite the economic troubles the state faces, the issues of fair compensation for early childhood educators and streamlined and efficient state spending should not be put on hold. This ideal is the impetus for creating a task force to analyze state spending on early education. The plan for the Task Force is detailed below.

Who:
Notable and knowledgeable veterans of the early education field, staff from the Department of Early Education and Care, the State Office of Administration and Finance, and nationally renowned experts who will develop successful strategies for financing early education.

The task force facilitator is Dr. Valora Washington, and Anne Mitchell will serve as the expert consultant. Dr. Valora Washington is the president of CAYL Institute, and has spearheaded numerous policy reform initiatives around child care systems throughout the country. Anne Mitchell is a recognized expert in early education and specifically the various methods of successfully financing early education.

Purpose:

A “think tank” to assess current compensation conditions and analyze opportunities for early education finance reform.

Timeframe:

January 2010 to June 2010.

Outcomes:

The Task Force will emerge with a clear list of recommendations to present to the state and federal legislative bodies. The recommendations will form a comprehensive blueprint for early education compensation in Massachusetts.

The final blueprint  will be articulated in a white paper to be presented to the State’s Office of Administration and Finance and the Department of Early Education and Care.