Press Conference and
Meet & Greet Kick It Off
By: Amanda Ostrander and Roy Miller
Children’s Campaign, Inc.
Pictures of children’s dreams for their future filled the colorful murals behind the campaign leaders and speakers as they took their places at the the podium, Wednesday May 24th, to launch the latest initiative from Children’s Campaign, Inc. The goal is to impact election year discussion about children’s issues, spanning child and maternal health, child protection, high quality UPK and early learning, after-school services and juvenile justice reform.
Scott Clemons, Board Chair of the Children’s Campaign summed up the work to take place in the coming weeks. “Seniors, child care providers, teachers, parents, business leaders and child advocates have united to launch a new advocacy campaign aimed at Florida’s gubernatorial candidates.”
The first press briefing introduced the 5 Promises Campaign co-chairs, Betty Castor and Bill Sublette, and focused squarely on the unfinished business initiated by the voters of Florida themselves - high quality Universal Pre-Kindergarten.
Four years ago voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment creating a free, high quality, universal pre-kindergarten program. Children’s Campaign, Inc. and thousands of advocate volunteers and citizens across the state do not believe the voters got what they requested.
Bill Sublette, former Republican House Educations Appropriations Chair stated, "According to the National Institute for Early Education Research, only one other state in this country had a lower quality rating than Florida’s, and I think I speak for all us when I say our children deserve much, much better in the state of Florida.”
This assessment came on the heels of Picture the Future, a statewide event where preschool children answered the age old question “what do you want to be when you grow up” using crayon and paper. The pictures, which included signed letters on the back to gubernatorial candidates supporting high quality early learning opportunities, were wheeled in using four red wagons each designated to go
to the four front runners for Florida’s top political office.
Over 10,000 children participated in the statewide event organized by the Early Childhood Association of Florida, Generations United, PreK Now, Children's Campaign, Inc., and Spencer Ingram Accounting and Consulting, LLC, which donated a scientific poll creating the first true look
at the future career dreams of Florida’s youngest children.
The results, according to Spencer Ingram, showed police officer and firefighter tie as the number one career choice among, three-, four-, and five- year olds, with doctor, teacher and athlete following closely behind. “ Florida’s children have great dreams for their future," said Ingram. "These figures show that with an early investment the state will reap positive economic returns.” |
Few or none of those future benefits will occur without the public policy in force that reforms Florida's educational system. Betty Castor, former Florida Commissioner of Education and former President of the University of South Florida, said, “If Florida’s leaders truly want to fix Florida’s K-12 educational system, and even improve our university system, then they must start with fixing universal pre-kindergarten."
Legislators skipped the chance this past legislative session to fix core elements of the UPK program, which even its most ardent supporters believe needs substantial improvement including teacher qualifications, hours of availability, appropriate assessments that measure the progress of a child, and increasing the funds allocated. Legislators choose instead to increase reimbursement rates only 60 dollars per child for the coming year.
Suzi Jamrog, President of the Early Childhood Association of Florida, representing over 3,500 providers and teachers, and a lifelong teacher herself said, “Teachers and providers have become very good at stretching dollars and doing more with less. But it is a difficult task, day in and day out, to decide between what preschool children really need and what they deserve. We should be able to provide both.”
When asked by the Florida media if the 2006 Legislature dropped the ball by not using the multi-billion dollar surplus in the state to fund a better pre-k program, Bill Sublette replied, “With the current surplus, this is the time to fund quality early education. If the state cannot do this now, we should be ashamed.”
The previous night, a Meet-and-Greet officially welcomed Betty and Bill as chairs of the 5 Promises effort. Held at the Tallahassee Community College Capitol Center, the event drew representatives from each of the Five Promises, including former and current elected officials, child service professionals, members of the business community, and concerned citizens.
Brought together by their passion for children’s issues, the crowd mingled and networked as they walked around the room decorated in Campaign colors.
The event also allowed participants to hear spirited remarks from both Betty and Bill as they spoke eloquently about the need to bring children’s issues to the forefront in an election year.
Meet-and-Greets will be scheduled across the state and when possible will include the traveling art exhibit featuring selected artwork from Picture the Future and Florida’s preschool “Picassos”.
Follow these links to additional coverage of the statewide press event:
St. Petersburg Times - Early Pre -K Grades Mixed
Tallahassee Democrat - Group Calls for Pre-K Progress
Orlando Sentinel - Pre-K May be Key in Race
Join the parents across the state who signed the letter on the back of their child's career dreams. Send a letter to the next Governor of Florida in support of high quality early learning. Urge each candidate to speak out about his plan to impove early education and UPK by clicking here.
The Children’s Campaign
is a non-profit organization.
To learn more visit www.iamforkids.org |
