A lawmaker wants to create a new department to help kids prepare for school.
Sen. Michael Padilla filed a bill to create the Early Childhood Education and Care Department, which will focus on programs for kids up to 5 years old.
“This is a service that if we make this happen for ourselves, we will see significantly better reading scores at third grade, significantly better math and science scores at eighth grade,” Sen. Michael Padilla said.
Currently $325 million in federal and state funding is spread across different state departments, including PED and CYFD, to help these children.
Padilla says just having one department overseeing the services would better serve the children.
