Solving the Preschool Puzzle

In April 2008, seven regional forums were held in communities across the Commonwealth to provide information on the Governor’s pre-K proposal, legislative and budget action, and best practice strategies for community planning and service delivery. Led by the Executive Director of the Governor’s Working Group and hosted in partnership with United Way Success By 6, the forums discussed the latest information on the VPI initiative and state-level policy and program activities and provided opportunities for regions to share information and best practices with each other.

A resource guide for public and private early childhood leaders was developed in conjunction with these regional forums; Solving the Preschool Puzzle not only offers detailed information about collaborative, innovative approaches to deliver early childhood services, but also provides samples of Memoranda of Understanding to demonstrate how programs have partnered and braided funding streams and contact information for individuals across the state that are already employing these best practices in their programs. Best practice models covered include:

• the Pre-K pilots;
• School Readiness Councils;
• Single Point of Entry;
• Braiding Funds and Blending Programs;
• the Quality Rating and Improvement System; and
• Transition Practices.

Download Solving the Preschool Puzzle (pdf 4.17mb)

Start Strong Initiative  

On December 17, 2007, in his speech to the Joint Money Committees, Governor Kaine announced details of his pre-kindergarten, unveiling a voluntary program that gradually will expand access to high-quality preschool for more of Virginia’s four-year-olds. The expansion will build on the existing network of public and private providers, removing barriers to access such as geography and family income, serving an additional 7,000 at-risk four-year-olds by the end of the biennium. The full program will be phased-in over the next two budget cycles, eventually reaching 30,000 of Virginia’s at-risk four-year-olds through the Virginia Preschool Initiative, to better prepare them for learning.

Start Strong builds a flexible network of preschool providers, including public schools, private centers, Head Start programs, and faith-based facilities. By the year 2012, up to 67% of Virginia’s four-year-olds could be enrolled in a high-quality preschool setting. It will cost approximately $125 million annually at full implementation, approximately $75 million more than the $50 million the state currently spends each year on programs for at-risk four-year-olds. Fiscal details on the initial steps of this phase-in will be announced with the Governor’s budget proposal in December.

View the Governor's money committee speech for more details.
 
 

About Start Strong:
Frequently Asked Questions

• Why Pre-K
• How Start Strong Works
• Paying for Start Strong
• Start Strong Pilot Programs
• Faith-Based Programs
• Other Questions

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Start Strong Council

In one of his first official acts, Governor Kaine created the Start Strong Council to develop expanded access to quality pre-kindergarten for Virginia’s four-year-olds.

Council members include legislators, representatives from the public school system, private providers of early childhood education programs, elected local government officials, community and business leaders, and parents.

The Governor's charge to the Council was to develop recommendations for cultivating public-private partnership to provide for preschool service delivery in both public schools and private community settings; and to recommend strategies for governance to be shared across state and local lines through local councils made up of key child-serving agencies and organizations in each region or locality.

In July, 2007, the Council completed its intensive study of preschool opportunities for Virginia and presented six key recommendations to Governor Kaine (pdf, 36k).

• Executive Order 7, creating the Start Strong Council
• Council members