Oregon Legislature finds $l million for Early Head Start | OregonLive.com

Oregon Legislature finds $l million for Early Head Start | OregonLive.com

Oregon Legislature finds $l million for Early Head Start

By Bill Graves, The Oregonian

April 07, 2010, 7:00AM

Brent Wojahn/The OregonianTyshun Brewer, Early Head Start teacher, ( with back to camera) leads a lesson at Albina Head Start in NE Portland last summer.
In a move that has escaped much public attention, the Oregon Legislature in its February special session came up with $1 million for the state's first spending on Early Head Start, a program to help prepare disadvantaged children under age 3 for school.

The state money will allow the federal Early Head Start program to add about 64 children to the 1,700 it now serves in Oregon. It is another step in building high-quality preschool services from birth to age 5 for Oregon children from low-income homes, advocates say.

The move reflects the Legislature's commitment to early childhood education, given that lawmakers approved the expansion at a time when they were scrambling to find money to fill a $185 million hole in the current two-year budget.

Ready for School, a coalition of early childhood education advocates, has been lobbying for a state commitment to Early Head Start for more than a