Supporting FSBA's Priorities for Advancing Education

Supporting FSBA’s Priorities for advancing education with the following:

• Autonomy on School Start Times: Empowering school districts to determine the best start time based on community stakeholder input, addressing local factors like transportation, logistics, and student health. 

• Fully fund VPK in Title I Schools and Improve CLASS training Delivery: Fully fund Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) in Title I schools to ensure equitable access to high-quality early education. Advocate for a shift to in person training for Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) training currently mandated by state statute.

Participation in high quality VPK has been linked to significant effects on third grade reading proficiency and better academic outcomes in second grade as compared to non-VPK participants (Maxwell 2017). Previous research on Florida’s VPK system (Bassok, Miller, & Galdo, 2016) so far has found that:

• Florida is a national leader with respect to state preschool access for 4-year-olds.
• Florida's preschool program (VPK) increased child care availability by 13%.
• VPK increased preschool participation by 4-year-olds.
• The program led to drops in preschool participation among 3-year-olds.

Ensuring quality VPK with a tool such as the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) is essential for achieving the improved academic outcomes for all students (Allee, Clark, Bai, & Roberts, 2022).