MDAEYC Public Policy:
Platform, Priorities and Agenda

*New: The Fall 2011 Public Policy Update is now available.

MDAEYC Public Policy Platform:

As MDAEYC believes that every child in Maryland deserves the kind of early care and education that will help with success in school and in life, we will do what we can do to bring that about and sustain it as part of the children's right to a good education under the Maryland Constitution. MDAEYC, working closely with other organizations and individuals sharing the same vision, shall seek to gather, obtain, and sustain concrete public and government support for the implementation of improvements in the quality of early childhood education and care received by Maryland's young children, especially for improvements in the education, training and compensation of the early childhood education profession.

MDAEYC Public Policy Priorities for 2010-2011:

While governments at all levels as well as businesses and individuals are feeling severe financial constraints, Maryland AEYC must do what it can to preserve and enhance the levels of quality and affordability in child care and early education that we now have, while advocating vigorously for the public support and funding that Maryland's young children deserve. We know that all must share in the burdens of reduced resources, but we believe that reducing the existing levels of public and government support for young children would undermine their growth and progress, and would end up costing governments much more than any temporary savings that cuts would produce. The following priorities, voted on by members guide all of our advocacy work.

1. Early Childhood Development and Education
MDAEYC hopes to support any recommendations for high quality, developmentally appropriate early childhood programs including, but not limited to: regulated child care centers and family child care homes, Head Start, Judy Centers and public Pre-Kindergarten. MDAEYC supports legislation and regulations to improve the quality of early care and education in Maryland, including guided, interactive play as the focus of young children's learning activities, and the avoidance of corporal or degrading punishment for all children.

2. Professional Development
MDAEYC encourages efforts to create and expand opportunities for early childhood professionals to engage in lifelong learning. At the same time, we monitor new professional requirements to ensure they are beneficial and not burdensome to those who spend most of their time providing direct services to young children. We support the professional development initiatives of the Early Childhood Development Division of the Maryland State Department of Education as they move toward a Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS). This includes child care credentialing and tiered reimbursement systems, as well as the Division's efforts to improve the supply of college-educated early childhood teachers.

3. Comprehensive Services for Children and Families
MDAEYC will push for sufficient funding for Maryland's child care subsidies that will allow for the quick elimination of its subsidy waiting list. MDAEYC advocates for government provision of coordinated child and family supports for the learning and growth of all young children in need of such support, including: Head Start-like services for low income children, culturally sensitive teaching and English and native language instruction for children learning English, and adequate and inclusive assistance and adaptations for children with disabilities. In this context, MDAEYC supports the growth and expansion of Maryland's Judy Centers, to cover all children who need that highly integrated approach to their care and education. In addition, we continue to advocate for and work with the Statewide Child Care Resource and Referral Network, the Infants and Toddlers and Family Support services programs of the Maryland State Department of Education, the early childhood mental health initiative, and increased facilitation of accreditation by NAEYC, NAFCC, and MSDE, including training, mentoring, substitutes, fees and materials.

4. Childcare Provider Compensation
MDAEYC supports an acceleration of the restoration and maintenance of provider reimbursement rates for child care subsidies at the 75th percentile of the current market rates, and a reduction of all mandatory co-payments by parents to less than 10 percent of their net income. MDAEYC supports government programs to equalize the compensation and benefits of all who work in the care and education of young children, including equivalent pay for equivalent qualifications and experience in all settings.

5. Early Childhood Mental Health and Education
MDAEYC supports such legislation and regulations as may be needed to fully implement and sustain progress under the priorities stated above in items 1 and 3. Further, we seek to encourage efforts of legislative and business leaders to create support networks for families experiencing multiple life stressors. Children who live with toxic stress are many times more likely to suffer from long-term struggles with health and education. We strive to support initiatives that prevent and provide early treatment for children’s mental health challenges.

MDAEYC Action Agenda for 2010-2011:

1. Maintain and Increase Funding:
   In the context of a highly strained State and local government fiscal situation, MDAEYC shall seek to maintain and increase funding where needed to meet our public policy priorities, especially the elimination of the subsidy waiting list.
2. Fully Implement Early Childhood Division’s Strategic Plan:
   MDAEYC shall support MSDE fully in its attempts to implement its Early Childhood Division's Strategic Plan.
3. Publicly Financed Preschool for All:
   MDAEYC supports universally available high quality, developmentally appropriate and sustainable Pre-Kindergarten for all children, provided that all jurisdictions are encouraged and enabled to use community-based settings for some of their Pre-Kindergarten classes.
4. Government supplements for professional development and staff retention:
   MDAEYC supports sufficient funding for the professional development and associated compensation and benefits of all early childhood professionals who seek them, as provided in our public policy priorities.
5. Administration of Child Care Subsidies:
   MDAEYC will work with MSDE and with other early childhood advocates to improve systemically the administration of child care subsidies.
6. Support Licensing Professionals and Enforcement:
   MDAEYC supports new electronic systems designed to make observations more objective, efficient and with quicker, detailed feedback to early childhood programs. MDAEYC also supports licensing professionals’ request to hire more specialists and replace those that retire.  Oversight of early childhood programs is a critical component to maintaining Maryland’s status as a national leader in early childhood education.  We need to ensure, at the very least, that we are replacing licensing specialists as they retire.  Their numbers are dropping, putting children’s health and safety at risk.  In current conditions, each Maryland licensing specialist, on average, oversees the safety compliance for more than 2,000 students.  The caseload per inspector is too large to ensure children's health and safety, and to meet legal requirements regarding the frequency of inspections.  The National Association for Regulatory Administration recommends a caseload ratio of no more than 50 facilities per specialist, less than half of the current caseload in Maryland.  We seek to remedy this situation both to ensure that licensed programs meet all requirements and to enforce consequences for programs operating without a license.

Membership Input on Priorities and Action Agenda;
MDAEYC surveys its membership annually to determine these public policy priorities and action agenda, as is proposed in the Preschool for All Business Plan.  We welcome our members' input at any time.  If you have a comment, question, or suggestion about Public Policy, please let us know!

Volunteer for MDAEYC!

MDAEYC encourages all members to get more involved in the public policy process that supports our work with children and their families. Please get in touch with our public policy committee to volunteer.

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