Commissioners Concerned about Raising Revenues

Several county commissioners raised concerns about increasing revenues. To gauge public interest and support for investing in early childhood education, including support for increasing revenue to specifically fund increased investments, a county-wide poll was conducted in May and June of 2017. Of 1,000 total respondents, support for expanding access to high-quality child care and public pre-k was strong across income, age, gender, race, ethnicity, level of education, and households with and without young children. The survey specifically asked respondents whether they would be willing to pay higher taxes to support greater access to early learning programs. Half of respondents were asked if they would pay $10 more per month in taxes to support early childhood education and the other half were asked whether they would be willing to pay $20 more per month in taxes.

Willing to pay $10 more per month in taxes to support early childhood education: 72% of respondents said they would be willing to pay $10 more in taxes each month to increase access to child care for young children; 71% of respondents said they would be willing to pay $10 more in taxes each month to support voluntary, universal public pre-k for four-year-old children.

Willing to pay $10 more per month in taxes to support early childhood education: 71% of respondents said they would be willing to pay $20 more in taxes each month to increase access to child care for young children; 65% of respondents said they would be willing to pay $20 more in taxes each month to support voluntary, universal public pre-k for four-year-old children.

Incomplete Data

Despite a strong history of CMS operating Bright Beginnings and NC Pre-K, little child outcome data was available for participating children. There was great concern over Mecklenburg County 3rd grade end-of-year test scores, with particular attention paid to the large gaps between low-income children and children who were not from low-income families, as well as the gaps between test results for African American and Hispanic children compared to white children. While test scores showed some modest improvement annually, far too many African American and Hispanic children were scoring below grade level in reading and math at the end of third grade. The Executive Committee recommended “MECK Pre-K,” which would follow most of the NC Pre-K rules but embed the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS™), a professional development tool, that research has shown improves interactions between classroom teachers and students and results in greater child outcomes across developmental domains. Bright Beginnings and NC Pre-K do not currently use CLASS™.

The Harvard University/UC Berkeley study was a wake-up call for community action. The Charlotte Leadership Council (CELC), a group of 24+ Charlotte CEOs raised $500,000 to fund a feasibility study with regard to early childhood education expansion in the county. The county manager convened an Early Childhood Executive Committee that met for two years. The first year resulted in the recommendation of a 5-point plan and the second year culminated with an implementation progress report released in February of 2019. The committee will meet during the next year to examine access to early childhood education for children under age three and make additional recommendations.