Reaching for new horizons in education

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) — Early childhood education center owners around Kentucky have pledged their support for Senator Danny Carroll’s Horizons Act, a $300 milion bill that would fund programs to improve early childhood education.

He started the legislative discussion with a vocabulary lesson.

“Today I’m gonna ask you to rethink the way that you look at childcare, the way that you look at daycare, and I’m going to ask you to lose those words from your vocabulary,” he said.

He continues by saying learning begins at birth, not age five. Therefore, “daycare” should actually be called “early childhood education centers.”

According to Dr. Sarah Vanover, right now the Commonwealth is facing an education workforce crisis.

“The past three to four years have exacerbated that workforce demand, and that’s probably one of our primary demands that we need to seek,” Dr. Vanover said.

The Horizons Act calls for more funding to programs that would help raise teacher pay, get rid of education deserts and tackle workforce challenges facing the education industry.

“What are we missing,” Sen. Carroll asked. “Could it be that we’re missing properly educating our youngest students? Could it be that since these are the years that the brain is developed should we not take more advantage of those years to make sure, that these students, that they have a quality education?”