TECEC Guiding Principles

To secure the social and economic potential of Texas, the Coalition will operate by the following principles:

· Promote the physical, social/emotional, cognitive, language and learning style development that results in children entering school ready to succeed

· Recognize that parent education and parent involvement are critical to child development

· Increase access to care and improve quality of care simultaneously

· Make it easier for parents to access early childhood education and development and build an integrated system including Head Start, Pre-Kindergarten and regulated Child Care 

· Support a voluntary system of quality early childhood education and development that is accessible to all children in Texas ages birth to 5

· Incorporate an evaluation component in our efforts to identify and improve models of early childhood education and development that contribute to school readiness

· Promote public policies that apply findings from research and field experience about how children learn and develop

· Ensure that additional funds appropriated for early childhood education and development are used to supplement rather than supplant existing federal, state or local public dollars spent to provide services for early childhood education and development