April 27, 2006   

 

George Leventhal, President

Montgomery County Council 

Werner Council Office Building

100 Maryland Ave

Rockville, MD 20850                                                                                                                                          

                               

Dear Mr. Leventhal:                 

 

The League of Women Voters testified before the Council on the budget on April 18, 2006.

However, there are two areas we missed and are sending this addendum.

 

The importance of early childhood learning and development has been well established, and the budget generally provides support in this area.  However, training for child care providers to enhance the benefits for three and four year olds is equally important. We ask that you include on your reconciliation list the funds needed for scholarships to Montgomery College for those providers who have not had training in early childhood development and curriculum, and who cannot afford the courses on their own.  These scholarships were cut several years ago, but could and should be reinstated for the relatively small cost of $50,000, with much benefit to our children and their teachers/providers.  We refer to the testimony of John Surr, child advocate and a spokesman for NAEYC, (National Association for Education of Young Children) who is also a League member and member of the Network for Children.  We also concur with his request for an additional $27,000 to be added to the pre-kindergarten training project administered by MCPS, so that participants may keep their training materials, and to enable the hiring of substitute teachers, allowing teachers to attend training during school hours.

 

Thank you for the opportunity to add to our previous testimony.

 

 

 

Sincerely,

Nancy Soreng, President

LWVMC