{"id":37419,"date":"2020-02-28T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging2.threadalaska.org\/thread-blog\/thread-legislative-connection-know-the-issues-3\/"},"modified":"2020-02-28T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T18:00:00","slug":"thread-legislative-connection-know-the-issues-3","status":"publish","type":"thread-blog","link":"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/thread-blog\/thread-legislative-connection-know-the-issues-3\/","title":{"rendered":"thread Legislative Connection: Staying Informed on the Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"blog_content\">\n<p>High quality early childhood education programs benefit children, families and our economy. Having a high quality early education helps children to succeed<br \/>\n    in school and life.These programs also help working families participate in the workforce and avoid lost earnings and benefits. <\/p>\n<p>In 2019, the importance of supporting early childhood gained national momentum as more states moved towards policies and funding to expand high quality<br \/>\n    child care and preschool options for families.<\/p>\n<p>For Alaska, the conversation around access to affordable, high quality early childhood education was elevated last year as we examined our priorities and<br \/>\n    values during the state budget process.<strong> thread <\/strong>was happy to see the final FY20 budget include support for continued early childhood<br \/>\n    programs and services.<\/p>\n<h3>Stay Up-to-Date!<\/h3>\n<p>As the new Legislative year begins to unfold,<strong> thread <\/strong>will be tracking legislative priorities related to early childhood education on a<br \/>\n    national, state and local level.<strong>thread<\/strong> is hopeful the growing awareness of and support for early childhood education will result in<br \/>\n    much needed investment and policy change to benefit our families and youngest children.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>UPDATE<\/b>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktoo.org\/gavel\/video\/?clientID=2147483647&amp;eventID=2020021368\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Watch Early Childhood Education Lunch &amp; Learn<\/a>,<br \/>\n        recorded on Feb. 27 at the Alaska State Legislature, with Stephanie Berglund,\u00a0<b>thread<\/b>; Tamar Ben-Yosef, All Alaska Pediatric Partnership;<br \/>\n        Abbe Hensley, Best Beginnings; and Kristin Ramstad, Child Care Development, RurAL CAP. Sponsored by Rep. Rasmussen &amp; Rep. Tuck<br \/>\n        \n    <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Local Issues<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.adn.com\/alaska-news\/anchorage\/2020\/01\/29\/anchorage-assembly-votes-to-send-5-alcohol-tax-to-april-ballot\/\">Proposed Alcohol Tax to Expand Early Childhood Education<\/a><br \/>\n        <br \/>The Municipality of Anchorage Assembly voted to send a 5% alcohol tax to the April 7 election ballot. If approved by voters, the estimated taxes<br \/>\n        raised would fund programs including directed resources to expand early childhood education. <\/li>\n<li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.juneau.org\/beta_transfer\/clerk\/ASC\/FC\/2012\/documents\/AEYC_Request.pdf\">Juneau Child Care Initiative: Hiring, Educating, and Retaining Teaching Staff (HEARTS)<br \/><\/a>The<br \/>\n        City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ) Assembly increased funding this year for the highly effective HEARTS education awards for child care teachers.<br \/>\n        The awards are proven to increase recruitment and retention and increase qualifications. The CBJ Assembly also funded a child care loan start up<br \/>\n        fund, and approved a plan for child care capacity and quality incentives. The proposal is part of the budget process this year, anticipated to<br \/>\n        start in July 2021. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>State Budget &amp; New Legislation<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li> <a href=\"https:\/\/omb.alaska.gov\/fiscal-year-2021-proposed-budget\/\">Proposed Alaska State Budget FY21<\/a><br \/>\n        <br \/> In December 2019, Governor Dunleavy announced the proposed FY21 State budget. As proposed, the budget provides flat funding (no increases or cuts)<br \/>\n        for early childhood education programs or services. thread is encouraged funding for early childhood education remains intact under the current<br \/>\n        proposal.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.akleg.gov\/basis\/Bill\/Detail\/31?Root=SB%20%20%206\">Pre-Elementary Program Expansion (SB6)<\/a><br \/>\n        <br \/>Filed last year, SB6 continues into the new Legislative session with alignment with the Alaska Reads Act. SB6 expands PreElementary programming<br \/>\n        (PreK) to school districts each year for the next 10 years. Sponsored by Senator Begich.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.akleg.gov\/basis\/Bill\/Detail\/31?Root=sb151\">Alaska Reads Act (SB151)<\/a><br \/>\n        <br \/>In January 2020, Governor Dunleavy together with Alaska lawmakers announced a bipartisan bill that will create a comprehensive statewide K-3 reading<br \/>\n        policy, with the goal of improving reading outcomes. This bill also expands access to PreK for 4 and 5 year olds. Sponsored by Governor Dunleavy<br \/>\n        and Senator Begich. <\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.billtrack50.com\/BillDetail\/1166434\">Education Tax Credit-Employer Child Care Cost (HB188)<\/a><br \/>\n        <br \/>Rep. Zach Fields is proposing legislation that would expand the Alaska Education Tax Credit to include contributions employers make towards child<br \/>\n        care and child care facilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>National Issues<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/childcareworks.org\/take-action\/ccdbg-funding\/?utm_campaign=2019%20Cost%20of%20Care&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_yEpsPt9P-_BW_VYU4QySczmlgMBIivLVk14S9QAkMD97K91dw0Lvpy1Wt4BXOtRQ3IMs50zz84IxU5jHiqLFgiS5Dta4M2XWV03CXhseAV1aWrAg&amp;_hsmi=78317320&amp;utm_content=78317320&amp;utm_source=hs_email&amp;hsCtaTracking=9707c4bd-d61b-4b16-88a3-c4484f1ef9fa%7Cf3bd5742-67cd-4380-977e-09bdc7e05e14\">Ask the Senate to Increase CCDBG Funding<\/a><br \/>\n        <br \/>Contact your Senators today to ask them to support an increase in Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) funding, providing access to affordable<br \/>\n        and quality child care across the county. thread will continue to monitor U.S Congressional conversations and decisions related to this fund.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Stay Informed <\/h4>\n<p>Staying informed and engaged in these issues has never been easier. Follow these easy steps to begin: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sign up for <strong>thread\u2019s <\/strong>Action Center. You will receive email alerts and news keeping you up to date on what early childhood education<br \/>\n        policy is moving and how you can take action.<\/li>\n<li>Contact your Legislator and tell them what\u2019s important to you and why. They work for you! <a href=\"http:\/\/akleg.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Find out who represents you<\/a>!<br \/>\n        Scroll to the bottom and enter you r address in the WHO REPRESENTS ME box. <\/li>\n<li>Visit <strong><a href=\"\/thread\/policy-and-research\/take-action\/toolkit-intro\/advocacy-ways-to-engage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">thread\u2019s<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"\/thread\/policy-and-research\/take-action\/toolkit-intro\/advocacy-ways-to-engage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> advocacy site<\/a> to learn more.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","news_tags":[],"event_category":[],"news_categories":[],"class_list":["post-37419","thread-blog","type-thread-blog","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>thread Legislative Connection: Staying Informed on the Issues - Thread<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/thread-blog\/thread-legislative-connection-know-the-issues-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"thread Legislative Connection: Staying Informed on the Issues - Thread\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"High quality early childhood education programs benefit children, families and our economy. 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