Explanation
Mayor Ginther’s vision for Columbus, America’s Opportunity City, is to create access to a high-quality pre-kindergarten education for every 4-year-old. Addressing early childhood learning means bringing awareness and resources to a critical learning stage in childhood development. Children who come to school ready to learn are more likely to succeed academically and in life.
Children who participate in high-quality pre-kindergarten experiences significantly improve their early literacy, language, and math skills. Ample evidence shows that children who enter school unprepared fall farther and farther behind. Students who get a poor start in their earliest years are likely to struggle in high school and subsequently, fail to graduate.
It is crucial that all families in all communities have access to high-quality early education programs. Unfortunately, 110 Southside families were going to lose access to their early education program at the Reeb Avenue Center as the former provider planned to close their business. Knowing that those families and children needed to be served, Columbus Early Learning Centers (CELC), a non-profit corporation, quickly moved into the Reeb Avenue site and enrolled most of the children from the former provider.
The Office of Education requests the authority enter into a contract with CELC to help support their new operations at the Reeb Avenue location.
This contract will be entered into in compliance with relevant procurement provisions of the Columbus City Codes Chapter 329.30. The Mayor’s Office of Education has neither the capacity nor the expertise to perform this role.
FISCAL IMPACT: This ordinance authorizes an expenditure of $100,000.00 from the 2024 Mayor’s Office of Education General Fund budget. ($100,000.00)
EMERGENCY DESIGNATION:
Emergency designation is requested to provide operational support to CELC as their costs quickly increased due to this unexpected and unbudgeted work.
Title
To authorize t...
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