News

The Early Childhood Development and Health Board held its First Pinal County public forum at Central Arizona College, June 20th, 2007, to raise public awareness of the need for comprehensive early childhood education in Arizona.

The forum was designed to develop public understanding of the need for a comprehensive system that provides accessible, affordable and high quality services to prepare children up to age five to succeed in school and life.

The forum also gave members of the public an opportunity to address the Board about critical issues parents, providers and the public face regarding barriers to proper early childhood development and health in their homes and communities.

Background Information:

In November 2006, the voters of Arizona passed "First Things First", a statewide ballot initiative that funds a voluntary system of early care and education.  The initiative consisted of three primary components:

Dedicates in perpetuity a funding stream of at least $150 million statewide for outcome based early development and health programs at the local and regional level.  This funding is collected from a tax on tobacco products.  Ninety percent of these dollars are dedicated to programs and only 10% will be applied to administrative costs.  This includes stringent public accountability provisions, outcome based standards and audit requirements in order to apply and comply.

Establishes a governance model with a nine member board (ECHD Board) appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the State Senate to serve six-year, staggered terms.  The Superintendent of Public Instruction and the agency director of the Departments of Health and Economic Security also serve as non-voting, ex-officio members. 

Establishes a delivery system rooted in local communities.  The board will identify and designate regions throughout Arizona.  Each region will have a volunteer Regional Partnership Council and a regional coordinator.  Each region will be responsible for conducting a comprehensive regional needs and assets assessment and setting funding priorities based on the outcome of that assessment. Each region will request funding from the statewide board (based on a formula) to achieve the outcomes they have identified. 

The Goals of the Board are to:

• Improve the quality of early childhood development and health programs.
• Increase access to quality early childhood development and health programs.
• Increase access to preventive health care and health screenings for children through age 5.
• Offer parent and family support and education concerning early child development and literacy.
• Provide professional development and training for early childhood development and health providers.
• Increase coordination of early childhood development and health programs.
• Increase public awareness about the importance of early childhood development and health.

The mission is to increase the quality of, and access to, early childhood programs that will ensure a child entering school the first time comes healthy and ready to be successful.  This mission will principally be achieved through regional grants tailored to the specific needs and characteristics of the communities the region serves, and with a focus on demonstrating how improved outcomes around the six goals will be attained given the challenges the region faces.