By Drew Adams
Murray, KY – An advocate for early childhood education says more attention needs to be paid to existing programs in rural communities. June Widman serves on the Early Childhood Advisory Council. The panel met for the first time Wednesday in Frankfort. Widman says sound, quality child care should not go unnoticed:
"If we want to increase the availability of quality programs for young children, let's look where young children already are instead of saying it could only be done at school or could only be done under the auspices of Head Start."
Members of the new council admit they face funding challenges in the coming years. A substantial amount of funding for previous early childhood initiatives came from the master tobacco settlement Those monies continue to shrink with each passing year.