Smart Start is a North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 public-private

Public-private partnership

Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...

 initiative, founded in 1993, that provides funding to local non-profit organization

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

s throughout the state to "ensure that young children enter school healthy and ready to succeed". Smart Start funding supports child care

Day care

Child care or day care is care of a child during the day by a person other than the child's legal guardians, typically performed by someone outside the child's immediate family...

, efforts to reduce the cost of child care, access to health services, and family support. In 2007-2008, the budget for Smart Start is approximately $205 million, with at least 10% raised privately. Administrative costs for the program are limited by statute to 8%.

History

The program was established in the 1993-1994 legislative session of the North Carolina General Assembly, and signed into law by North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt

Jim Hunt

James Baxter Hunt Jr. is an American politician who was the 69th and 71st Governor of the state of North Carolina . He is the longest-serving governor in the state's history.-Early life:...

 on July 9, 1993. Following initial funding of the program, applications were submitted from around the state. The law limited pilot funding of $20 million to 12 programs, one per state congressional district. The 12 pilot programs covered 18 counties.

By 1996, Smart Start had expanded to 24 local programs, and a state-sponsored audit by Coopers & Lybrand praised its results, saying that it was "easy to see that there is an incredible amount of good being done by Smart Start". The report also recommended financial changes, saying it was not convinced all local programs were ensuring they were getting the best value for their money.

Expanding to 55 counties and a $92 million budget in 1998, studies continued to show improvements around the state. A University of North Carolina

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...

 study concluding that the quality of child care in the 18 counties that were initially funded had improved measurably. Researchers did not conclude that Smart Start was responsible for the improvements, but did note that participation in the program increased the likelihood of improvement.

In 1999, the program announced that it had exceeded its private fundraising goal of $13.9 million by raising a total of $19 million for the year.

By the end of 2000, the program had expanded to all serve 100 counties in the state, with a budget of $263 million.

Criticism

Critics of the program have expressed concern over the inability to measure whether or not it is successful.

Some audits have revealed financial mismanagement, especially at the local level. In fiscal year 2000, more than half of the local agencies either did not get a "clean audit" or didn't spend the required percentage of funds on child care subsidies. Also in fiscal year 2000, the program was cited for overdrawing its bank accounts by $5.5 million. Karen Ponder, the director of the program at the time, responded that the issues were "the kinds of things young organizations always have".

The program also initially drew public ire in North Carolina from parents of children who attended private school and who were home-schooled and from associated religious organizations. This occurred primarily due to statements from North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt that suggested he wished to mandate that all children state-wide must participate in the Smart Start program. These statements were viewed by many in the private education and home-schooled sectors and in the religious community as a government attack on non-public education and parental choice at the primary level and as a possible precursor to the abolition of non-public education in the state, resulting in the forced public school attendance of all state children. Governor Hunt quickly amended his statements, indicating that Smart Start was a completely voluntary program.

Similar Programs

In 1999, representatives from the British House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 visited a Smart Start facility in Durham

Durham

Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...

, North Carolina, studying how to create a similar program in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. They were impressed enough to say they would "push hard" to implement their program in a similar manner to Smart Start.

South Carolinians

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

 looked at Smart Start while creating a similar program called First Steps in 1999.

Awards & Grants

• 1998 - $20,000 from the Ford Foundation
  Ford Foundation
  The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
  
   and Harvard University
  Harvard University
  Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
  
  's John F. Kennedy School of Government
  John F. Kennedy School of Government
  The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University is a public policy and public administration school, and one of Harvard's graduate and professional schools...