Latham: Lynn early child excellence initiative underway

LYNN – Local educators are busy selecting teachers to carry out a $3.7 million early childhood education program and taking other steps to make the federal grant award to Lynn’s public schools a reality.The federal funding award announced in September by U.S. Sen. John Kerry and U.S. Rep. John Tierney will help an estimated 300 pre-school children master the basic learning tools they need once they are enrolled in Lynn’s public schools.The initiative’s goal is to double the number of academically at-risk children currently served by public school pre-school programs.Organizers will work with the 18 center-based preschool classrooms in Lynn where 41 languages are spoken.”It’s underway. We’re thrilled to be involved,” School Superintendent Catherine Latham said on Monday.The funding will also allow three local institutions – Operation Bootstrap, North Shore Community College and the Lynn Public Library – to offer services to educate families and encourage support for children’s literacy development.University of Massachusetts-Boston will also collaborate with Early Childhood Associates, which is a New England-based national training and research small business owned by women to implement the early literacy training Steps to Success to six early literacy coaches who will provide ongoing classroom-based coaching to teachers.Three-quarters of Lynn’s pre-kindergarten to fifth-grade students do not speak English as their primary language or have very limited English proficiency and 16 percent of students receive special education services.”I think getting to children as early as we can is the key to academic life,” Latham said.Lynn is launching its early childhood initiative as legislators seek to prioritize this facet of education as one of their priorities.State Early Education Commissioner Sherri Killins described growing wait lists for early education programs – 22,774 children were on the latest list, according to Killins, and would require $215 million to fund their care.In addition, she said, budget cuts and scarce resources were preventing the Department of Early Education and Care from filling openings when students leave early education programs.The department received a $537 million budget in the fiscal year that began July 1, a figure reduced by about $16.5 million when Gov. Deval Patrick implemented executive branch budget cuts last week.Advocates described gains the state has made through federal stimulus funds. Massachusetts has received:- $23.9 million for child care development;- $10.1 million for Head Start programs;- $10.3 million for pre-school-age children with special needs;- $7.4 million for programs for infants with special needs.In addition, the state received nearly $1 billion in state stabilization funds that have been applied broadly to education spending needs.Supporters also have their eyes on a $650 million federal “innovation fund” for early education and an “Early Learning Challenge Fund” that offers grants and matching funds for early education quality improvements.