What will California expect of preschoolers? Your input needed!!

The California Department of Education is developing “early learning foundations,” documents that describe what typically developing children can be expected to be able to do at age three and at age four. The first set of “foundations” will be on:
Social/emotional development
English learners
Language and literacy
Mathematics

The department prepared a first draft of the foundations and held invitational sessions in March where “stakeholders” could provide feedback.

Then they revised the foundations and developed new drafts, which you can see online at http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/psfoundations.asp

In April and May they will be holding dozens of “regional input sessions” around the state, open to anyone who wants to go and provide feedback on the second draft, which is planned to go up on the web site April 9. This is a crucial opportunity for people who know and care about young children to influence the expectations that will help shape California’s preschool educational policies!!!

You can see a complete list of times and places for these sessions at:
http://www.sonoma.edu/cihs/cpin/pdf/All%20Region%20Input%20Sessions%20%20(3).pdf

In addition, there will be four public hearings on the foundations, all held 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m:
May 11, 2007 - California Department of Education, Sacramento
May 16, 2007 - Fresno County Office of Education
May 17, 2007 - San Mateo County Office of Education
May 22, 2007 - Los Angeles County Office of Education

I don't really know what the difference is between an "input session" and a "public hearing," but whatever, these are all places and times where you can go and express your views.

You can also provide feedback through the web site where the foundations are posted.

Parents and child care/preschool teachers are the ones who really know little kids. Your experience and wisdom are necessary to make this come out right!

Wanted: the political courage to raise revenues!

California advocates for children should take some inspiration from Illinois, where the governor and the teachers’ union are now fighting for a new tax on business transactions to fund a new $10 billion investment in schools.

The funds would boost school spending by 23% in the next year, increase the amount spent on each student, and expand preschool programs.

The new tax would raise money from the service sector -- the only part of the economy that’s expanding. One of the reasons California is in a constant budget crisis is that the sales tax, a major source of revenue, only applies to sales of goods, stuff, while a larger and larger part of our economy is services. A sales tax on some services is only one of many practical, good ideas for raising revenue from the people who can afford to pay. For more ideas, see http://www.caltaxreform.org

Of course businesses in Illinois are claiming, as they always do when asked to carry some of the weight, that the new tax would drive businesses out of the state. Governor Blagojevich says that the business lobbyists are really interested in convincing legislators ''to get off of tax fairness and go back to taxing people.''

''It will be Armageddon, but we are on the side of the Lord and we will prevail,'' Blagojevich told a cheering audience of 1,200 teachers.

Advocates for children, whatever their personal theology, have an obligation to reject the current bad political choices and change the political balance--with a powerful campaign demanding that the state raise enough revenue to meet kids’ needs.

You can read about the Illinois effort at:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/292664,031107blago.article

Push for better health care

With SCHIP (Healthy Families in California) up for federal reauthorization this year and several health care reform proposals in the California legislature, advocates are pushing for better health care for children and adults.

The Children's Defense Fund has two campaigns for health insurance for all children in the US:

Covering All Children in 2007 is a campaign to ensure that all children have comprehensive health and mental health care. For more information, contact the Children's Defense Fund, 202-628-8787, http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=healthy_child

Elect Susie is a fictional presidential campaign for Susie Flynn, a 10-year-old girl who is calling for health insurance for all children in the US. For information about the campaign (sponsored by the Children's Defense Fund), visit http://www.electsusie.com

Health Access and organizations representing seniors, labor, and people of color are pushing for better health care in California:

It's Our Health Care is a campaign for quality, affordable health care in California. It will include outreach to gather health care stories and concerns, town hall meetings around the state, house parties, and opportunities to communicate with policymakers about health care reform proposals. For more information, contact Health Access, 916-442-2308, http://www.itsourhealthcare.org

Health Access also has a new-ish blog at http://www.health-access.org/blogger.html

Get active on children's issues

Lots of advocacy events are heading our way this spring -- great ways to get active for children and families, or if you're already active, here's some events you can use to get other folks involved! Here's some info on the ones I know about so far ... but sign up for our monthly email bulletin to keep up-to-date.

Mar 30: Eliminating Childhood Obesity Town Hall Meeting is an opportunity to discusses strategies for reducing childhood obesity and supporting children's health through communities and schools. Los Angeles. For more information, contact the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, la@rwjf.org

Apr 22: Week of the Young Child is a day to bring attention to the needs of children and their families. For more information, contact the National Association for the Education of Young Children, (800) 424-2460; http://www.naeyc.org/about/woyc

Apr 22: Earth Day is a day for children to learn about and participate in activities related to the environment. For more information or events in California, contact Earth Day Network, (202) 518-0044; http://www.earthday.org

Apr 30: Día de los Niños is a day to honor and celebrate children. For more information, contact National Latino Children's Institute, http://www.nlci.org/DLN2004/dlnmain.htm

Apr 30: National Healthy Schools Day is a day to support school environments that are clean and in good repair to better foster health and learning. For more information and a guide with event ideas, contact Healthy Schools Network, Jen Sentar, 202-543-7555, http://www.healthyschools.org/nhs_day.html

May 1: Worthy Wage Day is a day to increase awareness of the need for adequate wages for child care providers to ensure quality care for children. For more information, contact the Center for the Child Care Workforce, 202-662-8005; http://www.ccw.org/about_wage.html

May 2: Stand for Children with Parent Voices is an opportunity to advocate for quality early childhood programs with hundreds of parents from all over California. Sacramento. For more information, contact Parent Voices at 415-882-0234

May 15: ENACT is an opportunity for advocates to talk with legislators about nutrition and physical activity. Sacramento. For more information, contact California Center for Public Health Advocacy, Alyssa Walker, 530-297-6000, http://www.cfpa.net/ENACT2007/index.htm

May 24: California Afterschool Challenge is an opportunity to thank legislators for recent laws that have expanded and enhanced afterschool programs -- and to call for additional afterschool funding. For more information, contact California School-Age Consortium, Annie Nogg, (415) 957-9775, http://calsac.org/events_page.asp?eventID=546