The current early education and child care system consists of duplicative service delivery systems with varying quality and outcomes, and lacks sufficient accountability to ensure achievement of the state's school readiness goal.
Consolidating the governance of early education and child care programs at the state level should help increase accountability, promote a more efficient use of program resources, and improve program planning.
Any change in the governance structure for early education and child care programs should ensure local flexibility and build upon the successes of delivery systems already in place at the local level.
Changing the governance structure for early education and child care programs will not improve school readiness unless it addresses key school readiness issues such as program.