the key is making government an actedive partner rather than a bice stander who watches markets develop elsewhere. by investing in instris, by recruiting companies and by standing with our small businesses and our startups. we are taking steps to make connecticut make sure that connecticut leads again. i am proud that after a long and hard debate, we were able to say with one voice that the status quo was no longer acceptable. that when it comes to public education, we can't keep doing what we've always done and simply hoped for better results. that our kids can't afford it and our state cannot afford it as well. we worked with an eye towards the future and made an historic investment of nearly 100 million dollars from pre-k to high school focusing on district that is we know are most in need. now, reaching kids early is critical to that success and early childhood education had to be a central portion of our education reform. so we created 1,000 new school readiness opening statewide for youngsters at a time when no one thought that that was possible. that's 1,000 more children that wi