Things are ramping up in the state legislature. The Oregon Head Start Association is working to advance our priorities and protect our funding. We’ve had a successful lobby day to education lawmakers about Head Start. We have also met with the budget writers for the education budget to discuss our needs and our top priorities.
We will have a full recap of the policy bills that are moving that we support after the first deadline, March 21st.
Until then, we wanted to note the following.
Call to Action: On Thursday, March 6, 2024 the legislature will hold a public hearing on the Department of Early Learning and Care’s budget. That bill is SB 5514.
We will have a great panel of 3-4 speakers ready to raise our budget requests, and talk about the program and the needs and challenges that we face.
Our ask of this group - and of parents, staff, family and friends of the program - is to submit quick written testimony. You can do this by clicking the link below and clicking on written testimony. You can just type in text, or you can upload a PDF. You can find some talking points here, but feel free to tell your own story how Head Start has impacted your life or how you have seen the program make a difference in the lives of others. Also, go ahead and cut and paste to share what you want about Head Start. Just please make sure to ask for the $387.843 million dollars!
Click here to submit your testimony for SB 5514.
View the agenda for the Education Joint Subcommittee meeting on March 6th here.
