for every dollar that you pour into an Early Childhood Program the returns are as high as 13 you can talk to any hedge fund investor it'll tell you I don't think there's one thing on the market right now that if you put a dollar in you're going to get 13 bucks Senator Ruiz was one of a handful of committee members who received testimony on preschool mixed Delivery Systems during a senate Education meeting you don't have an early childhood provider that's high quality that a family feels that they can drop their child off in and that person is staying home and is not becoming part of the workforce preschool mixed Delivery Systems use a combination of public and private programs to provide publicly funded preschool slots to kids in diverse communities that meet health safety and performance standards the intent of the hearing was to hear the benefits of and the barriers to mixed Delivery Systems without a robust mixed delivery system we are unlikely to achieve universal access to public preschool in New Jersey the Abbott districts are required through New Jersey Supreme Court mandate to maintain a mixed delivery model by Contracting with all willing and able private providers when space isn't available in school districts however the decision does not apply to other school districts in the state and as a result we've documented a significant decline in the percentage of children in contracted centers an Advocates who testify say providing families with multiple options allows them to choose a program that best meets their family's needs according to a 2024 report on mixed deliver by the New Jersey Department of Education of 283 districts that are participating in the state's preschool program 90 or just under 32% are partnering with community- based providers and I think we can do better recently the US Departments of education and Health and Human Services urg leaders to work with local education agencies and early childhood Partners to serve more children in preschool through a mixed delivery approach however private child care center staff say the recommendation is a lot easier said than done so in the 26 years that we have been a part of the mixed delivery program in Jersey City there is one barrier that stands Out Among the rest and that barrier is that when the collaborating entity the district the Jersey City Board of Education cannot fulfill their part of the contract we as child care centers feel the brunt of their lack of being able to fill their contract other concerns that are directly related to offering services within a mixed delivery model include the ability to staff programs as well as the curriculum used several of our child care facilities do not have have P3 certified staff members and many successful staff members with significant years of experience have difficulty in obtaining their certification Advocates also cited other barriers including the lack of Supportive Services transportation and school Partnerships the hope is that these suggestions presented here today will be used to create policy and laws to support the expansion of preschool mixed Delivery Systems fry Spotlight news on Raven Santana [Music]