Fund Bright Beginnings!

Let the CMS School Board know that publicly-funded pre-K is a priority!

On January 25th the Board of Education will vote on FY12 funding. including PreK programs such as Bright Beginnings, CMS's pre-K program that reaches educationally at-risk children and improves the skills they need to succeed in school.

Bright Beginnings' current funding level includes nearly $10 million of one-time-only stimulus monies that will expire year-end. To fully fund Bright Beginnings, the Board must restore these funds and maintain the balance of funds currently committed to the critical program.

The proposal is to CUT 75% of the Bright Beginnnings budget!

Why save Bright Beginnings? Because:
1) The achievement gap starts before the first day of school.
2) Bright Beginnings funding is leveraged to serve more than 4,000 children in our community are are at risk of failure.
3) Decades of research across the nation demonstrates the positive impacts and cost-effectiveness of investing in early education.
4) Local evaluation as show that Bright Beginnings is effective in preparing children for K5.
5) The lowest graduation rates in CMS are for children with disabilities. Bright Beginnings is a vital early intervention for children who are educationally at risk.
6) Cutting funding for Bright Beginnings will cost CMS and Mecklenburg County more in the long run: remedial educations costs more and has lower return on investment than early education.
7) Bright Beginnings is a cost effective strategy -- even during a budget crisis!

YOUR ACTION COUNTS!!!

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Save our publicly funded pre-k schools in Charlotte, NC!