Governor Dan McKee and his state agencies are currently in the process of crafting the FY 2025 state budget. RIght from the Start has weighed in sharing our priorities — designed to ensure all Rhode Island kids and families get off to the right start — in a number of letters to state agency leaders:
Executive Office of Health & Human Services (read our letter)
- Adopt continuous Medicaid coverage birth through age 5.
- Increase Early Intervention rates and implement more strategies to recruit and retain our Early Intervention workforce.
- Sustain current Medicaid rates for the First Connections program.
- Expand access to infant/early childhood mental health services.
- Establish an Early Childhood IDEA task force with RIDE to improve access to high-quality early childhood IDEA services for children with developmental delays and disabilities from birth through kindergarten entry.
Department of Human Services (read our letter)
- Increase the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) family income eligibility to 85% of state median income and the exit limit to 100% of state median income.
- Remove the child support requirement in CCAP policy.
- Increase CCAP provider rates, particularly for infants under 18 months.
- Address Rhode Island’s early educator staffing crisis by sustaining and expanding the Child Care WAGE$ program and the CCAP for Child Care Educators program.
- Sustain and increase funding for Rhode Island Early Head Start and Head Start programs.
- End deep child poverty by raising the RI Works cash assistance benefit to 50% of the federal poverty level.
Department of Education (read our letter)
- Expand investments in high-quality, voluntary preschool in both community-based and public school settings to move toward the goal of serving all 3- and 4-year-olds. Ensure expansion includes these components:
- Increase preschool teacher compensation to parity with comparably qualified and experienced kindergarten teachers.
- Ensure that the Early Head Start and Head Start model is sustained and expanded when expanding access to preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds.
- Ensure that investments in infant/toddler early care and education programs grow as preschool investments grow by establishing a 30% infant/toddler set aside funding benchmark.
- Include family child care options in preschool expansion.
- Remove restriction on child/family residence for community-based RI Pre-K classrooms.
- Establish an Early Childhood IDEA task force with EOHHS to improve access to high-quality early childhood IDEA services for children with developmental delays and disabilities from birth through kindergarten entry.
Department of Health (read our letter)
- Sustain Medicaid rates for the First Connections home visiting program.
- Secure state match to draw down new Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting federal funds.
- Develop a plan for universal, voluntary home visiting for families with newborns.
Department of Labor & Training (read our letter)
- Expand Temporary Caregivers Insurance (paid family leave) to 12 weeks and increase the wage replacement rate to 90% of wages.
- Invest in Rhode Island’s early education workforce by expanding the Real Jobs program to meet demand in the early childhood sector.
Department of Revenue (read our letter)
- Increase Rhode Island’s Earned Income Tax Credit to 30% of the federal credit, comparable to levels in MA and CT.
- Generate additional state revenue to invest in child care and early learning by implementing the Revenue for Rhode Island proposal.
We urge Governor McKee to incorporate these priorities into his FY 2025 state budget, and we look forward to working with the Governor and state agencies to invest in and implement policies that support Rhode Island’s young children and their families.
