A letter from Jack Jensen regarding Early Childhood Development

Yesterday I testified regarding HB1731, legislation designed to separate Early Childhood Development, Education and Care (ECDEC) funding from Veterans Capital Projects funding. Both programs are currently funded using gambling boat fees (SB 1519 legislation). I am in favor of the separation, but am worried how (ECDCE) is going to be funded in HB1731. The current bill has the money coming from the Lottery funds and there are major problems with this plan:

· The Lottery funds are not stable, especially since HB1731 proposes cutting the prize payouts to fund this HB1731. Then this has happened in other states, lottery revenue declined.
· Any money coming from the Lottery by statue has to be distributed through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). There is no process to have DESE fund the existing ECDCE programs resulting in many programs having to close while these processes are worked out.
· There is no guarantee that money going to DESE would continue to fund existing programs once the procedures are worked out.

I am hearing ECDCE, “will be taken care of” but it is not as simple as finding the money to replace the money lost from SB1519. It must be from a funding source that is stable, accessible through current procedures and allows existing ECDCE programs to continued operations without interruption. Do not be Fooled by promises of “more money” it has to be in a form that we can continue to do the important work we do when the fiscal year ends on June 30th! The Legislature would not close down Veteran’s programs with the promise of increased funding in the future, why would they to it to Early Childhood Programs.

To find your senator please visit
http://www.senate.mo.gov/llookup/leg_lookup.aspx


To find your representative please visit
http://house.mo.gov/member.aspx

Please contact them no later than Tuesday, April 24th. Tell them they need to fix HB1731 by following the guidelines above.

Thank you,

Jack Jensen

Help Prevent Cuts to Missouri’s Children

Missouri's children need your help now to stop budget cuts!

Help STOP Missouri's Race to the Bottom

With the attacks on child care, Missouri is set to hit the bottom when it comes to supporting working families.

Last Wednesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee endorsed a plan to cut child care programs by almost $30 million. This will, in effect, make Missouri LAST IN THE COUNTRY for supporting child care.

CALL THE CHILD CARE PROTECTION HOTLINE NOW: 1-800-253-1960. This will connect you with key senators who need to hear from you today. If you called yesterday, CALL AGAIN.

The cuts were made in the following ways:
* $16 million cut from child care assistance (reducing eligibility to 103% FPL and eliminating child care assistance for 6,109 children in Missouri)
* $13M is cut from grants to create new spaces for infants and toddler, and from contracts to provide training and coaching that increase the quality of care.

Call 1-800-253-1960 to be connected to the following Senators:
Appropriations Chairman Kurt Schaefer
Senate Pro-Tem Rob Mayer
Senator Dan Brown
Senator Rob Schaaf

Tell these Senators:
Do not cut child care assistance funding.
This program helps keep parents at work while providing a safe place for their children to prepare for school.
Missouri is already 49th in the country when it comes to providing child care assistance. Don't put Missouri at the bottom of the list.

Call 1-800-253-1960 RIGHT NOW - Missouri's kids and working families need your help.

Some facts on Missouri's childcare assistance program:
It provides assistance for working families to afford child care.
A $30 million cut would force many families out of the workforce.
Thousands of families rely on this help in order to advance in the workplace and work their way out of poverty.

Call 1-800-253-1960 and tell Missouri's Senators to stand up for Missouri's working families by fully funding child care programs and services.

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