Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed two bills this week that will improve pre-kindergarten access and increase child development programs that education leaders hope will address the achievement gap between minority and disadvantaged students and their white counterparts.

"This legislation will help to ensure early education programs are available to the children who need them most and that the state continues to achieve higher quality child-development programs," Schwarzenegger said Friday.

SB 1629, sponsored by Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, establishes the Early Learning Quality Improvement System Advisory Committee to evaluate child development programs providing services from birth to age 5. The committee will use a quality rating scale to help parents make decisions about services.

AB 2759, sponsored by Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, makes funding to expand preschool easier to obtain by consolidating the five existing early childhood education programs under one umbrella: the California State Preschool Program. The law will expand preschool options and reduce administrative overhead, state education leaders said, and better ensure that children in need have access to child development services.

Education leaders, including state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, lauded passage of the bills.

"Ensuring the access for our children to the highest quality preschool experience possible is an
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absolutely imperative," O'Connell said. "The single most daunting challenge facing public education in our state today is the achievement gap."