Priorities for the Year Ahead

Looking ahead to the remainder of 2023, the Early Childhood Advisory Council has identified a set of priorities that will substantially impact the lives of young children and their families. These priorities are both ambitious and essential, requiring the active participation and collaboration of the ECAC and its partners to be fully implemented. By improving and enhancing the infrastructure of the early childhood system, these priorities have the potential to create lasting and positive change for South Carolina’s children.

Increase participation in publicly funded preschool programs.

According to the Education Oversight Committee (EOC), over 50% of four-year-olds living in poverty did not receive services from state-funded, full-day 4K or Head Start during the 2021-22 school year, and this trend is expected to continue in the current year. This underscores the gap that persists between eligibility and enrollment in high-quality early education programs statewide and presents an opportunity to increase school readiness for children living in poverty.

Increase availability of quality child care, particularly in high need areas. A range of initiatives are underway to create opportunities for families to find the early care and education their children need. These projects include addressing workforce shortages through substitute teacher pools and bolstering capacity by offering grants to new and existing providers.

3

Recruit and retain early education professionals. The provision of quality child care depends on the availability of skilled teachers and related professionals. Recruitment and retention efforts will include bonuses, scholarships, credentialing opportunities, and other compensation incentives. To facilitate access to higher education, efforts will be undertaken to expand and update articulation agreements between higher education institutions. Early educators will also be supported in their work through training, coaching, and consultation.

Provide families with the ability to apply for publicly funded programs at times and in ways that meet their needs.

Streamlining processes for eligibility determination and enrollment of children and families into services helps families navigate mixed-delivery systems. A key initiative in this area is the development of a new application portal on first5sc.org, which allows families to apply at once for programs across multiple agencies, state and local entities, as well as funding sources.

Integrated early childhood program data helps stakeholders make informed decisions and target resources to meet the needs of South Carolina’s youngest children and their families. Data sharing initiatives will make aggregate-level data publicly available, while maintaining privacy and security of individual-level data.

As part of the ongoing effort to optimize South Carolina’s early childhood system, an amendment to For Our Future: South Carolina’s Birth through Five Plan is included in this report. This amendment addresses a specific area that was identified during a review of the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) plan completed in 2019, which was a requirement of the grant. While the ECAC plan approved in December 2021 built upon the PDG B-5 plan and the plans of individual ECAC agency members, a review of the two plans revealed a difference related to transportation services.

The PDG B-5 plan includes an objective to expand transportation services for families, which was not addressed in For Our Future. To ensure that the strategies outlined in For Our Future align with the objectives of the PDG B-5 plan, an amendment has been made to Objective 2.4 and a new strategy, 2.4.5, has been added to address transportation services specifically.

GOAL 2: South Carolina’s youngest children are actively supported by their families and communities.

OBJECTIVE 2.4

South Carolina’s communities provide children with healthy environments, enriching opportunities, sufficient transportation, and community resources like libraries, schools, outdoor learning environments, community centers and museums.

2.4.5

Expand transportation services for families so they can access services and enriching experiences.

These changes were approved and adopted by the Early Childhood Advisory Council on April 20, 2023, and reflect the ongoing commitment of the ECAC and its partners to improving the lives of young children and their families across the state of South Carolina.