I wanted to share the outcome of the 2011 legislative session with you in terms of its impact to Florida's early learning system; its consequences will be felt by the children and families of each and every community in the state. As it currently stands, statewide we will have a reduction in the number of children currently participating in Florida's school readiness program. The highlights of the session are as follows:

Subsidized School Readiness Program (SR) - this program assists working poor families with the cost of child care: Children Learn While Parents Earn.

• In the 2009-10 fiscal year, the School Readiness program suffered a reduction of $38 million. The impact of that reduction was not immediately felt because American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus) dollars were used to fill the budget gap. Since the legislature was not able to fully restore the budget during the 2011 session, we will have $27 million less statewide. Our tri-county coalition share of this reduction is approximately $600,000.
• There is also a federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (one of the funding sources for the School Readiness program) reduction of $32 million statewide. Our tri-county coalition share of this reduction is approximately 400,000.
• In total, we will have over $1 million less for the fiscal year 2011-2012.

Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) - this program is in our state constitution and provides free pre-kindergarten for all four-year-olds in Florida.

• There was a 7% reduction in the Base Student Allocation (BSA). This is the reimbursement that early care and education providers, including the public school system, receive per student.
• To make up for the reduction in the BSA for providers (to help keep provider revenues level), the teacher-child ratios (class size) were increased to 1:11 and 2:20, so there will be more 4-year-olds in every classroom.
• Administration and program support (quality assurance, provider certification, eligibility determination) was reduced from 4.5% to 4%. This will most certainly result in scaled back quality improvement efforts.

Over the next couple of months our Board of Directors will have to make some difficult decisions to ensure that we serve as many children as possible with the limited funding we currently have.

The success of a child can be measured in many different ways; however, the foundation of that success is measured by the investment offered. It is our responsibility as a Coalition to ensure that all children are prepared for success in school—the Building Blocks to Educational Success. With the continued assistance of local providers, parents and the community, we can achieve that goal.

Sincerely,