Dear Roundtable Member,

 

The 2022 Legislative Session was a success! Your support made it possible to advocate for policies that support young children and their families and achieve HUGE wins. 

 

This year, Louisiana’s state lawmakers made a  big down payment on our future by appropriating a historic amount of state dollars in early care and education. The Legislature passed the state budget (HB 1) which includes $44 million in funding to improve early care and education—$25 million to expand CCAP and around $18 million to improve rates offered to existing four-year-old programs. Additionally, the Legislature passed a supplemental funding bill (HB 406)  which appropriates $40 million in one-time funding to the Louisiana Early Childhood Education Fund to incentivize cities and parishes to invest in the expansion of high-quality early care and education. The Legislature also included $27 million in funding for Early Childhood Services and Supports over the next three years.

 

In addition to allocating millions of dollars toward early care and education, the Legislature passed HB 460 authored by Representative Ken Brass, which will allow for the expansion of certain parishes in Louisiana to repurpose juvenile justice funding to include preventative services for young children and their families, including increasing access to early care and education and investing in early care and education infrastructure and parental support. Senator Cleo Fields’ bill, SB 47, also passed which requires school districts to work toward offering year-round, full-day prekindergarten to all four-year-olds. Lastly, the Legislature passed SB 169 authored by Senator Beth Mizell which reauthorizes and requires the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Commission to include a task force that will recommend strategies for alternative state and local funding for quality early childhood care and education and workforce compensation and benefits issues within the early childhood care and education field.

 

We are proud to have advocated for these wins which are excellent steps in the right direction toward making sure our children are prepared for success, parents are supported, and employers have a reliable workforce. 

 

Thank you for advocating on behalf of young children and working families in Louisiana!

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