I commend leaders like Jeremy Fischer, who work arduously to publicly fund pre-K for Maine families.

My organization, the Maine Association for the Education of Young Children, is working toward the vision Jeremy shared in his column, where state funding is conditioned on partnerships between school districts and child care programs. His experience in Head Start, our nation’s first public preschool option, shaped his influential early education advocacy in Maine. And hundreds of parents, Head Start directors, school district leaders, child care administrators and educators, advocates, and municipal and state leaders have worked hard for decades to bring public preschool options to Maine.

First, this calls for celebration. Next, well, my friends and colleagues will tell you I am never satisfied with what is and am always looking at how we can make things better for young children.

So next, let’s commit to one of the core tenets of the early education section of Build Back Better: to equitably distribute public preschool funds across our early childhood sector to child care centers, family child care, Head Starts and elementary schools. And, let’s work to ensure all of these options for families offer full day pre-K, so our young children don’t have to transition in the middle of the day between classrooms and programs.

We can celebrate all the progress we have made and work together to ensure that the best early care and education in our country is in Maine.

Tara Williams
Cumberland

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