Governor Maura Healey’s recent announcement about her Gateway to Pre-K agenda has many early education and care programs wondering, what does this mean for me? 

One part of the governor’s proposal is to expand funding for the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative (CPPI), a state-funded program that helps communities expand access to high-quality preschool programs. Last month Governor Healey’s administration announced that the program has distributed $13.1 million to 21 school districts. This funding “will support 2,456 slots for children across 164 classrooms.”

CPPI focuses on collaboration

CPPI was also featured in part of the discussion at last week’s meeting of the Board of the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC). 

“One of the strengths of this program is that implementation looks different in every community,” Amy O’Leary, the executive director of Strategies for Children, said in her testimony at the meeting. 

“Your investment in this program recognizes the vital role family child care programs, center-based programs, and school districts play in the delivery of preschool. CPPI creates opportunities to build coordination across many settings.”

“By fostering local partnerships and encouraging collaboration,” O’Leary added, “we can create seamless, inclusive and equitable early educational experiences for every child.”

Through this collaborative approach, communities are able to build on their existing early childhood system, meet their own distinct preschool needs, and promote family choice. 

To do this, school districts work with licensed early education and care providers — including family child care and child care centers — to improve affordability for families and to support quality improvement and equitable access to special education and inclusion services. CPPI also provides the flexibility for local leadership teams, made up of community members and school district and city staff, to identify and address local priorities.

It’s an approach that breaks down traditional silos and encourages open communication and shared learning experiences among educators across public and private preschool classrooms. 

Salem’s story

The EEC Board meeting also featured a panel discussion on how Salem, Mass., implements CPPI. Salem’s story starts with being rejected, twice, for CPPI funding. This prompted the city to invest in enhanced early childhood infrastructure, building a foundation for the program that exists today, and enabled Salem to move its preschool expansion work forward. The city then successfully applied for funding, receiving $345,000 in fiscal year ‘22 and $750,000 in both fiscal years ‘23, and ‘24.

“We see pre-K as our work,” Salem Superintendent Stephen Zrike said at the EEC meeting, acknowledging the responsibility that school districts have to partner with birth-to-five providers and the role schools can play in helping to organize community preschool efforts.

Salem’s strategy was to set up the Salem PreK Partnership, uniting the school district, the YMCA, Ashley’s Preschool and Daycare, and Salem Community Child Care. Salem hopes to expand this partnership to two additional community-based child care programs next year. The PreK Partnership used CPPI funding to provide tuition relief for families and increase staff salaries in community-based classrooms, moving the city closer to universal access and pay parity across the different settings in the mixed delivery system. 

Salem also chose to implement a shared curriculum and develop an assessment process, which shows in part that the city is closing literacy gaps. 

To oversee and support this work, Salem convened the Salem Children’s Alliance, hired additional coaches, and provided special education support.

Salem blended CPPI funds with federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. Now, however, with the upcoming expiration of these temporary ESSER funds, Salem faces a sustainable funding challenge as it considers how to sustain and grow this program in the years to come. 

Despite the challenges, Salem’s team is energized.

“It’s so exciting to walk into classrooms right now and see the materials that kids have access to,” Leanne Smith, the principal of the Salem Early Learning Center, said at the EEC meeting about how the city is using some of its CPPI funds to provide differentiated instruction to children who need it. “There’s an element of joy in there because of that.”

* * *

To hear more from the Salem team, be sure to Join the 9:30 Call on Tuesday, April 9th. 

And check out the video of the EEC meeting, as well as a clip of the panel discussion highlighting Salem’s model, and the related slides. 

Finally, please encourage your state representatives and senators to invest in the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative in the 2025 fiscal year state budget process. The House Ways and Means Committee will release its budget proposal in April, so reach out to your state representatives today.