TL;DR: The County Commission decided to defund the organization that provides financial assistance to ensure quality, affordable childcare for low-income and working families, losing a dollar-for-dollar match from the state. A once $1,000,000 funding level is gone for our community, and hundreds of families will be losing childcare because…?

Anyway – here’s some more info:

The Early Learning Coalition is ” the community’s one-stop resource for information about early learning experiences in Sarasota County.”

And by early learning, they mean education from a childcare provider before Kindergarten. They:

• Help families find quality and affordable child care (did I email them in a panic when I was 12 weeks pregnant with my first child? YEP. And did I get a quick response with a list of providers to check out? ALSO YEP.)
• Connect families to other community programs and services
• Provide technical assistance for current childcare providers to enhance their services.
• Offer information about starting a new program for potential providers.
• Assist providers with questions about the VPK and School Readiness program.

To put it simply, they really are the one stop shop for early learning in Sarasota.

Considering the overwhelmingly positive outcomes from quality early learning, it’s a pretty simple investment by our community.

Children in early childhood education programs are:

• Less likely to repeat a grade
• Less likely to be identified as having special needs
• More prepared academically for later grades
• More likely to graduate from high school
• Higher earners in the workforce

Those benefits to individual children ripple and impact the entire family. With reliable child care in place, parents:  

• are more available to work
• can better support their families
• have more discretionary income
• are less dependent on social services to make ends meet

So when parents can work full time, have money to spend, and end reliance on social programs…no one wins more than the economy. An investment in 0 – 5 learning programs can yield a $4 – $9 dollar return per $1 invested. 

The research is clear. And repetitive to the point of ad nauseum. So when the Sarasota Board of County Commissioners decided against funding the Early Learning Coalition last year – it was really confusing. The BCC has historically funded the ELC for about $500,000 for a few decades. This investment draws down a match from our State, so annually, the ELC receives about $1,000,000 to support working, low-income families through financial aid to attend preschool.

If you work in the non-profit sector, you are likely familiar with the Human Services Advisory Council (HSAC), who reviews grant requests and makes recommendations to the BCC for funding decisions (from our tax dollars that get re-invested into the community for things like housing, jail prevention, mental health, hunger, and safety).

There is a process. There is a scoring rubric. There is a LOT of work that goes into this grant request – as there should be. Government funding should be treated with accountability and respect and transparency – this process supports that.

The ELC scored high on their grant request, and HSAC recommended full funding to ensure that our community received the $500,000 match from the state government.

Despite the evidence of ROI, despite the organization’s score, and despite the community’s outpouring of support for the ELC last year, the Board of County Commissioners decided that the ELC would not receive funding.

But not this year. This year, our County Commission voted against a $1,000,000 of support that goes directly to families in our community and hundreds of working-class families will be left without critical financial support to keep their children safe, learning, and preparing for Kindergarten.

So as election season approaches, consider more than who you want making our policy decisions, and question what process they use to make theirs. It’s the least we can do.