In 2006, Governor Tim Kaine established the Start Strong Council to explore the development of an expanded 4-year-old prekindergarten initiative, and early in 2007 proposed to the General Assembly an ambitious new prekindergarten program to be delivered by public schools, Head Start, and child care programs that could demonstrate certain levels of quality in a quality rating system (QRS) under development.

2007 Legislative Session: Half Loaf Better Than None?

The Virginia General Assembly appropriated $2.6M for a preK pilot within the existing school-based Virginia Preschool Initiative. No funds were appropriated for the development of implementation of the quality rating system; however, it is anticipated that the Governor will use other resources including a $100,000 corporate donation to cover the QRS’ administrative costs.

With an appropriation far below the requested amount, the Kaine Administration is proceeding with prekindergarten pilots in 10 communities serving 300 additional children.Grantees include school districts and local governments, which then partner with community-based providers to deliver services.

At an August 16 news conference, Gov. Kaine announced a new scaled-back preK proposal, a targeted expansion of the existing Virginia Prekindergarten Initiative program to serve an additional 17,000 children by 2012. The targeted approach and lower, $75M price tag are expected to improve prek’s chances in the 2008 legislative session. The new “Start Strong Prekindergarten Initiative” retains a commitment to diverse delivery by private non-profits and other child care operators.

Work continues on the development of a quality rating system. Draft standards were prepared by the Alignment Project in May. ECEC submitted comments on the draft standards, which resulted in a number of changes. Partial roll out in 2007-2008 will help refine the standards further before actual ratings are given in 2008-2009.