Last December, an expert panel created a five-year plan to overhaul Connecticut’s early childhood education system — and now, nearly a year later, despite challenges with funding, stakeholders are reemphasizing their commitment to make child care more accessible as the 2025 legislative session approaches. In a panel hosted by the Office of Early Childhood Tuesday morning, state commissioners, national experts and lawmakers gathered to stress the importance of a family-centered model that, beyond providing care and education for children, also targets workforce development for both parents and educators. “I want this to be the most family-friendly state in the country,” Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday. In March 2023, Lamont established the “Blue Ribbon Panel,” a group of public and private sector leaders, early childhood experts, educators and parents tasked with designing a strategic plan for the state’s child care system. The group proposed a five-year overhaul that would cost over $2 billion to implement, encompassing higher wages, simplified credentialing and expanded benefits for teachers; more parent subsidies and flexible child care schedules; grants to help stabilize providers; thousands of new child care slots; and myriad technical system improvements among other goals.  The plan phased in dozens of “key action steps” over the next five years, starting with workforce development, teacher benefits and compensation, and improvements to system infrastructure in the first three years. That’s followed by expanded affordability and access for families in years 2 to 5. “The plan set an ambitious goal for Connecticut, so we’ve got to get there. We’re proud of the plan, and we’re proud of our progress, but guess what? We’re nowhere near done. We still have really important work to do,” Early Childhood Commissioner Beth Bye said. “We need to improve access. We need to let families know what we’re doing so they know where to access services. We can build the best system, but if they don’t know, … [then] we’re not helping their children, and we’re not helping them succeed,” Bye added. “We need to keep equity at the core, and we’ve heard that again and again. We have to simplify the system, and … we need to recognize the life-changing work that our early childhood professionals do every single day. We need to recognize that with improved wages and working conditions and supports.” Office of Early Childhood Commissioner Beth Bye spoke about the importance of expanding care for young children and the benefits it has on the economy in Connecticut. Early this legislative session, education groups, including those advocating in early childhood care, K-12 and higher education, saw a clash for financial resources. Lawmakers initially included $150 million for K-12 education financing reforms in the preliminary $26 billion budget adopted for the 2024-25 fiscal year, but Lamont wanted to scale that down to $111 million by trimming increases for magnet, charter and vocational-agriculture and science schools — and then redirect some of the funds to help accelerate growth in child care funding.  It didn’t go far, with outcry from several education stakeholders, including Education Committee Co-chair Jeff Currey, who said in February that the measure seemed as if the different education systems were “pitted against each other.” Instead, lawmakers passed a $370 million budget stabilization plan and thereby avoided adjusting the preliminary $26 billion budget adopted June 2023 for 2024-25. The bill included $18.8 million for the CT Care 4 Kids program, a partnership between the state and various child care services. It also included $8.2 million for other child care and early childhood development programs. But despite these challenges, Bye doubled down on the state’s commitment to better fund the early childhood care system. “I’ve been an advocate in early childhood, since the Worthy Wagers … and I can assure you that no governor, no administration, has led on these issues the way that Gov. Lamont has,” Bye said. “His presence today is a sign of engagement.” At Tuesday’s panel, Bye, Lamont and other stakeholders listened to national experts who weighed in on Connecticut’s plan and many of whom had praises for the state’s efforts. “As I looked through your plan and saw that you were looking for ways that you could bring more affordable housing to some of your families, you’re looking at the entire ecosystem and recognizing that education is just one component,” said Barbara Cooper, the senior vice president of professional learning at Start Early, a nonprofit early childhood charity. “When you’re truly looking at it through an equity lens, you’re looking at that whole child, you’re looking at that whole family … Not only are we going to have high quality early learning, but we want to also make sure that families have the jobs that they need and that they have the housing that they need. With that type of comprehensive approach, then you’re ultimately building the state that you want for the future.” Among those who spoke alongside Cooper were Ellen Galinsky, the president of the Family and Work Institute, a national research nonprofit focused on family life and child development and Michelle Kang, the CEO of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. “I think starting with infants and toddlers is something that you did right. I think having a mixed delivery system is something that you did right. I think paying attention to the workforce and equity at the center is something that you did right. … I think there’s a real focus on creating a more simplified system that I think is really wonderful,” Galinsky said, while also drawing on points for improvement. “The only thing that I think I would call for more of is a child development focus on kids, paying attention to what we know on how relationships are most important to kids, but what’s happening to the kids in those relationships. What are they learning? What is that infant learning? Not just numbers and letters and colors, but what are the competencies? What are their feelings about themselves?” The panelists also stressed the importance of environment and ensuring that both children’s and educators’ psychological needs were being met. For children, that means access to spaces where they can develop important relationships and feel they belong. For educators, that looks like better compensation to recruit and retain them in the field. “If you look at the groups who are undervalued and underpaid and under respected, it’s all women’s professions. It’s nursing. … It’s teaching,” said Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz. “There was a move a couple of decades ago to try to pay teachers more, and we did it because there was a statewide campaign to do that. So if we can do it for elementary teachers and above, why can’t we do that for early childhood education?”