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A412, R226, S947
STATUS INFORMATION
Joint Resolution
Sponsors: Senators Courson, Hayes, Matthews, Setzler, Lourie, Short, Fair, Leventis, Land, Alexander, Ford, Gregory, O'Dell, Malloy, Moore, McConnell, J. Verne Smith, Sheheen, McGill, Knotts, Cleary, Richardson, Jackson, Patterson and Hutto
Document Path: l:\council\bills\gjk\20652sd06.doc
Companion/Similar bill(s): 4406
Introduced in the Senate on January 10, 2006
Introduced in the House on January 17, 2006
Passed by the General Assembly on February 1, 2006
Governor's Action: February 21, 2006, Signed
Summary: First Steps to School Readiness Act
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
Date Body Action Description with journal page number
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11/29/2005 Senate Prefiled
11/29/2005 Senate Referred to Committee on Education
1/10/2006 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-10
1/10/2006 Senate Referred to Committee on Education SJ-10
1/10/2006 Senate Recalled from Committee on Education SJ-10
1/10/2006 Senate Placed on Calendar without reference SJ-10
1/12/2006 Senate Read second time SJ-12
1/17/2006 Senate Read third time and sent to House SJ-11
1/17/2006 House Introduced and read first time HJ-44
1/17/2006 House Referred to Committee on Education and Public Works HJ-44
1/26/2006 House Committee report: Favorable Education and Public Works
HJ-2
1/31/2006 House Read second time HJ-18
2/1/2006 House Read third time and enrolled HJ-26
2/15/2006 Ratified R 226
2/21/2006 Signed By Governor
2/23/2006 Copies available
2/23/2006 Effective date 02/21/06
10/17/2006 Act No. 412
View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
11/29/2005
1/10/2006
1/26/2006
(A412, R226, S947)
A JOINT RESOLUTION TO PROVIDE THAT ACT 99 OF 1999, THE SOUTH CAROLINA FIRST STEPS TO SCHOOL READINESS ACT, IS REAUTHORIZED UNTIL JULY 1, 2013.
Whereas, South Carolina's economic future depends upon a well educated workforce; and
Whereas, the General Assembly created in 1999 the South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness Initiative as a "comprehensive, results-oriented initiative for improving early childhood development by providing, through county partnerships, public and private funds and support for high quality early childhood development and education services for children by providing support for their families' efforts toward enabling their children to reach school ready to learn"; and
Whereas, school readiness will play a decisive role in South Carolina's successful attainment of the "No Child Left Behind" requirement that all United States children attain a level of academic proficiency by the year 2013; and
Whereas, First Steps serves a unique role as the only entity solely focused on the determinants of school readiness at both state and local levels; and
Whereas, First Steps was created to ensure collaboration and coordination between all agencies serving children, and to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of all related federal, state, and local programs and funding streams; and
Whereas, the First Steps initiative is designed to empower individual communities to identify and fill county-specific school readiness service gaps; and
Whereas, First Steps has successfully developed a statewide infrastructure to convene partners within the education, business, faith, government, and health communities in the interest of delivering high quality services to children up to age five and their families; and
Whereas, First Steps is a mechanism by which the coordination of early childhood systems and pooling of resources is routinely demonstrated to benefit South Carolina taxpayers; and
Whereas, First Steps partnerships have developed rapport with, and provided extensive support to private early education and care providers in an effort to leverage and expand upon their own substantial efforts to promote quality and ensure the optimal development of South Carolina's children; and
Whereas, First Steps has implemented the "Blueprint for South Carolina's Children", its agency improvement plan, focusing the statewide initiative upon five lines of work with quality, accountability, collaboration, and leadership as its agency-wide guiding principles and school readiness priorities; and
Whereas, the First Steps initiative has achieved substantial national attention for its innovative enabling legislation and its implementation of "Countdown to Kindergarten", a school transition strategy designed with partners to connect high-risk families with the elementary schools that their children will attend; and
Whereas, local First Steps partnerships serve as "laboratories for change", funding research-based strategies that provide models of best practices for use across the State and nation; and
Whereas, First Steps has brought attention and resources to the need for increased, integrated systems coordination and outcomes tracking among child-serving agencies; and
Whereas, First Steps has contributed to the increased school readiness of almost three hundred forty thousand children up to age five years with an average annual investment of less than one-third of one percent of the state's annual budget; and
Whereas, First Steps was the first state agency to assist in extending state funded prekindergarten from half-day to full-day experiences for children, and has overseen the state's first public-private 4k partnerships; and
Whereas, First Steps has leveraged more than thirty million dollars in resources for other child-serving agencies and has leveraged its own state allocated resources by approximately thirty percent annually; and
Whereas, First Steps operates with the highest standards of fiscal accountability and program-based fund tracking; and
Whereas, First Steps provides parents with tools they can use to help their children prepare for school success through a myriad of choices; and
Whereas, First Steps plays a statewide role in the dissemination of public information to communities about school readiness and early learning. Now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
Reauthorized
SECTION 1. Act 99 of 1999, South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness Act, is reauthorized until July 1, 2013.
Time effective
SECTION 2. This joint resolution takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
Ratified the 15th day of February, 2006.
Approved the 21st day of February, 2006.
This web page was last updated on Friday, December 4, 2009 at 3:33 P.M.