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Our vision is that all Nebraska children begin kindergarten with the experience they need to become successful students and productive citizens. |
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The 104th Nebraska Legislature, Second Session, will adjourn
sine die Wednesday,
April 20.
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A new Gallup survey for the
Buffett Early Childhood Institute
at the University of Nebraska reveals that
the majority of Nebraskans value and support early care and education and believe more needs to be done to prepare young children for success in school and life.
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Thank you for your support of high-quality early education for Nebraska children.
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Quick Links
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- Psychology Today: Pretend play is vital to normal child development because it nurtures imagination and helps develop self-regulation skills.
- "Colors" is this month's theme in A Year of Play with babies and toddlers by Zero to Three. Suggestions include colorful books to read and talking with children about the colors in their world.
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Nebraska Continues Efforts
to Support a Quality Early
Childhood Workforce
Parents, child care providers and local communities across the state recognize the importance the early years play in determining success in school and later in life. In an effort to contain significant remediation expenditures in K-12 and other systems, the
Nebraska Legislature
in recent years has made targeted investments to close the achievement gap for children most at risk of failing in school before they arrive at kindergarten. While these locally controlled, fiscally accountable investments have been effective, they reach less than 30% of young children most at risk, largely because Nebraska lacks enough skilled early childhood professionals to deliver high-quality early learning opportunities statewide.
To support the
current
early childhood workforce and encourage the
additional
workforce needed, the Legislature recently passed
LB889
,
the School Readiness Tax Credit Act. This legislation will help close the achievement gap at the time it is most effective and least expensive to do so by providing tax credits to the programs and individuals serving children most at risk of failing in school.
Two Tax Credits
LB889 creates two tax credits: (1) a nonrefundable credit for early childhood care providers who serve children at risk and who have demonstrated they offer the level of quality that closes the achievement gap; and (2) a refundable credit for individuals working in the early childhood field with emphasis on community child care providers.
These credits will be available for programs and individual childhood professionals beginning in 2017.
The bill passed on a 42-5 vote on Day 58 of the 60-day session. It was presented to the Governor on April 12.
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Amy Bornemeier
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Senator Deb Fischer
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reintroduced a bill, the
Strong
Families Act
, that would offer
employers incentives to voluntarily
provide paid family or medical
leave to their employees.
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NDE Awards Early
Childhood Grants
Congratulations to public schools in Axtell, Elwood, Gothenburg, Leigh, Ashland-Greenwood, Beatrice, Broken Bow, Kearney, Lincoln, Norfolk, Papillion La Vista, Plattsmouth and Thayer.
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Clockwise from top left: Dean Marjorie Kostelnik, NU College of Education and Human Sciences; Keynote Address by Carol McDonald Connor, University of California, Irvine; Jen Goettemoeller, Senior Policy Associate, First Five Nebraska; attendees gathering at the start of the day, including faculty, graduate students, practitioners and others.
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CYFS Summit on Research in Early Childhood April 7.
Researchers, practitioners and others attended the free, daylong event that included presentations and roundtable discussions on the latest CYFS-affiliated research practices aimed at improving the developmental trajectories of young children
. The day concluded with early childhood poster presentations by graduate students and global research partners.
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