Petition to Keep Early Childhood Lab Open Started in Response to SFA Announcement

If you haven't heard, an announcement was made by Stephen F. Austin State University about the closing of the Early Childhood Laboratory on the SFA campus. For those that don't know, the ECHL is for children from birth to the age of five years old. According to a letter written by the Provost of SFA that was posted to the SFA Early Childhood Laboratory Facebook page, the decision to close the ECHL was made based on financial considerations, and that "university leadership determined that continuing to operate the program is no longer financially sustainable."

Petition to Save the Early Childhood Laboratory

Naturally, the announcement about the ECHL drew lots of backlash. Numerous posts were made on social media sites, and a petition was even started on Change.org under the title, "Save Stephen F. Austin's State University Early Childhood Lab".

According to the petition, the Stephen F. Austin State University Board of Regents are considered the decision makers in this process, and they are the ones responsible for making the change that the petition is aiming for. As of the writing of this article, that petition has over 600 signatures.

Process for Closure of SFA ECHL

This is not going to be an immediate change for SFA. According to the letter that was mentioned earlier, this will take place in what is referred to as a "phased transition plan that will gradually conclude operations of the ECHL over approximately the next five years." They will stop accepting infant enrollments with the upcoming 2027 school year. Because of the phased transition plan, any children that were already enrolled will be able to complete the program.

READ MORE: SFA's Campus Master Plan Proposes Exciting Changes Ahead

Regardless of what happens with the petition, it sounds like SFA leadership is truly looking out for the future of the university and its students. These aren't easy decisions to make, but they have to be made.