Millett submits bill to create department to oversee, coordinate early childhood programs

AUGUSTA — Legislation from Sen. Rebecca Millett, D-Cape Elizabeth, would create a department to govern and coordinate early childhood education programs, with the goal of improving Maine children’s overall education outcomes. LD 1607, “An Act To Create the Department of Early Care and Learning,” was the subject of a public before the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee on Monday.

“When there is an absence of a formal governance structure, there is a lack of coordination, duplication and fragmentation in the administration of services, and children and their families pay the price,” said Sen. Millett. “If Maine children are our future, and if our children’s outcomes and success are largely determined by the care and education they receive in early childhood, don’t we have a responsibility to do everything we can to ensure that their early care and education is the best it can be?”

LD 1607, which is a concept draft, would create the Department of Early Care and Learning as a cabinet-level state agency within the executive branch of state government. The department would assume primary responsibility for matters regarding children under age 6, including the care, health care and education of children who are now the responsibility of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education.

The absence of formal governance of early childhood programs and services leads to disconnected and uneven experiences for children, the Education Commission of the States concluded in a December 2018 report.

Eight states have already established effective systems for governing early childhood programs: Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Mississippi.

The bill faces further action in the committee and votes before the Maine Senate and House.