CT: Early childhood bill; “so many of our children come to kindergarten unprepared to be there”

May 30, 2025, Connecticut Mirror: CT Senate passes early childhood, special education bill

The bill includes a $10 million grant to create better special education programming in districts

The Connecticut Senate passed a priority bill on Friday evening by a vote of 32-4 after an hours long filibuster from some Republicans.

The bill now heads to the House and, if passed into law, would create a groundbreaking new fund for early childhood education that draws from surplus funds, with up to $300 million invested each year.

Also included in the bill are new supports related to special education for school districts, teachers and students.

Advocates cheered and legislators embraced on Friday night after the passage of Senate Bill 1, calling it a major step forward in a state where the too-small and underfunded early childhood education sector has made it difficult for working families, especially mothers, to pay for and even find quality infant, toddler and pre-K programming for their kids.

Advocates of the bill include Gov. Ned Lamont, who pledged in February to make a game-changing investment in early childhood, drawing on surplus funds. At the time, Lamont was focused on creating a universal pre-K fund. S.B. 1 represents a more wide-ranging effort to create not just free or low-cost pre-K but also slots for infant and toddler care, something that advocates and educators say is sorely needed.

Office of Early Childhood Commissioner Beth Bye said Friday that the governor was feeling great about the bill.

“The governor was very flexible with that (infant and toddler spots),” Bye said, “because he knows that’s a big challenge, too.”

Under the plan, families making up to $100,000 a year would pay nothing for the child care services, which would be run through Early Start programs, while families making more than $100,000 a year would pay no more than 7% of their annual income, with no income limit.

The bill would also improve salaries for workers in those centers so that they’re more in line with public school teacher salaries and includes a health care subsidy program for those workers.

As the Senate prepared to vote on the bill, President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, discussed a report from Dalio Education on “disconnected youth” as a motivator.

Looney said, “so many of our children come to kindergarten unprepared to be there,” and then experience humiliation when they realize they are already behind their peers. He said that sets them on a path toward disconnection from school down the road, whereas the proposed bill would create a chance to come to school prepared for success.

Sen. Ceci Maher, D-Wilton, who is co-chair of the Committee on Children, celebrated the bill’s passage.

“I’m so excited about this transformational bill, for parents, for providers, for advocates, for everyone who has had a hand in this, from the governor to OPM to the office of the treasurer, to the legislature,” she said. “It means we are making a permanent investment in the future of child care in our state, and it is the first state in the union to do this.”