Governor Tom Vilsack today signed legislation that sets aside 24-MILLION more state taxdollars for early childhood education. “Literally today thousands of Iowa’s children are having a good day and they don’t even know it because they’re going to have the opportunity to access pre-school. They’re going to have the opportunity to access quality child care. They’re going to have parents who know how to create creative and stimulating environments at home,” Vilsack says. Vilsack is calling the new intiatives a “Strong Start” and besides more state subsidies for child care, the package calls for pre-school quality checks. “In making the case to our children to stay here or to come back, this is the most powerful reason that we can give and that is that we are a state that will help you take care of your children and grandchildren,” Vilsack says. Gloria Gray, the executive director of Children and Families of Iowa, says child care centers that rely on state subsidies will be able to enroll more kids. “Part of what the legislature did was increase the eligibility for low-income families to qualify for subsidies and then also increased the state subsidy rate,” she says. That rate has been the same for the past six years, and while Gray is pleased lawmakers increased the amount of the childcare subsidy low-income Iowans may get, she’d like even more. “It’s not a full loaf,” she says. “It’s some slices close to half.” Gray says it is progress, though. “To have this kind of attention is wonderful and to have these kind of new initiatives is also wonderful.”
