You don’t have to be the lead sponsor of a bill.

Not if you can legitimately say that you played a role in moving public policy in the same direction – the right direction, as the bill.

Race to the Tots was the name Senator Bill Ferguson gave to our 2013 bill creating a competitive grant program to stimulate innovation and expand access to high-quality early childhood education.

House Bill 925 did not pass, but it set the stage for a bill that did.

The next year, the Prekindergarten Expansion Act of 2014 was introduced by the O’Malley Administration. Public and private providers could bid for $4.3 million in grants to stimulate innovation and expand access to high-quality early childhood education.

The Kirwan Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education has recommended that the State provide universal access to public and private prekindergarten for all four year olds and low-income three year olds.

That has prompted the introduction of House Bill 1415, which would mandate funding for the Pre-Kindergarten Expansion Grant Program. This program was created by the 2014 O’Malley bill.

I’m not a sponsor of this year’s bill, but I will work with pre-K advocates to ensure it passes.