Read the full story on The Lewiston Tribune

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, half of Idaho families were living in child care deserts. Some rural communities lacked child care centers. Even in metropolitan areas, however, the capacity fell short of meeting the need.

Read the entire article in the Idaho Statesman.

Idaho’s child care system is collapsing, and the resulting effects will be devastating for families, employers, and our economy. Families that depend on affordable, quality care are being left with few options and many providers are at their breaking point, being unable to find staff to operate at needed capacity.

This situation is dire and, if we do not act to support this industry and its early childhood professionals now, the dwindling of available child care availability will only get worse. While this assessment is bleak, we have never had a better opportunity to address the structural barriers to accessing child care than right now, but we need to be clear on what is causing this problem.

Read the full story on The Post Register

Gov. Little recently sought praise from Idahoans for the large budget surplus Idaho is realizing. The surplus is at least $1.4 billion, plus another $2 billion in federal coronavirus funds coming into the state. But Idaho legislators, and Little himself, do not deserve praise for this large of a budget surplus. They deserve ridicule. And they definitely don’t deserve to keep their jobs if this is how little regard is given to what actually matters to Idahoans across the state.

Region II Superintendents

As parents, we want the best possible educational experience for our child(ren), however the reality is that many parents have to work outside the home to make ends meet. Knowing that academic expectations continue to grow for our students in grades K-12, it is important that local school districts create multiple opportunities for our students to be successful. Having access to quality educational programs at an early age, increases a student’s likelihood of academic success.

Studies have identified that preschool programs develop literacy skills such as letter-name recognition, phonological and print awareness which strengthens a student’s ability to develop the skills necessary for reading and writing. Quality early childhood programs engage students in developmentally appropriate practices that include pre-literacy, pre-numeracy activities, language, social and physical development.