In the House Committee on Human Services, we have started to take up Senate bills that passed in the first half of the biennium. First on our list is the Senate’s bill on child care and early education, S.56.
The committee spent last week listening and asking questions of witnesses from across the country and Vermont who provided an overview of current policy, best practices, workforce development, and financing. We heard from the Vermont Department of Children and Families on how the current system is set up, its workforce development strategies and feedback on the proposed legislation.
We took testimony from the Children’s Funding Project on cost modeling, the National Institute for Early Education Research on national best practices in pre-kindergarten, Watershed Advisors on early childhood education governance, National Association for the Education of Young Children on child care provider compensation, and Children’s Equity Project on equitable early childhood education.
In the coming weeks we will hear from Vermonters working in child care and Vermont families with children who have experienced first-hand what it is like to try to find and pay for child care across the state. This will be the basis for the bill the committee will present to the full House of Representatives. Then, if it passes, it will go back to the Senate and on to the governor. All committee hearings are archived on YouTube and witness testimony can be found on the committee webpage.
Enrollment in our state college system is essential to its success, and last year we saw enrollment that beat national averages.
In the fiscal 2024 budget that passed the House, there continues to be major investments in this system. If our system is to succeed, we need community support. Make sure your family and friends know that our state college system in not going away and that it is the place to start or continue higher education. I will continue to advocate for adequate funding to make sure that the Johnson campus will not go anywhere.
Last Friday, senators Richard Westman and Robert Starr and representatives Melanie Carpenter, Jed Lipsky, Katherine Sims and I met with members of the Scott administration to see what resources and supports are available to help P&R Lumber recover from the fire. Ben Patoine of P&R joined us at the Statehouse where we met for about an hour. This sawmill is important to our economy and working lands as it is the only mill left in Lamoille County. I will do what I can to help them get back up and going as soon as possible.
Dan Noyes, a Democrat from Wolcott, also represents Belvidere, Hyde Park and Johnson in the Vermont House of Representatives.
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