That information will then be used to address gaps in services.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. introduced several dozen members of the Early Childhood Commission Friday during at luncheon at the Governor's Mansion.

"We are trying to align and coordinate programs and resources for Utah's children from ages birth through five," said Christine Kearl, state deputy for education. "The goal is school readiness. We want every child to arrive the first day of kindergarten in class ready to be successful in school."

The board is made up of representatives of various community groups in the private and public sectors that may have programs that affect early childhood education. They include United Way of Salt Lake, the state Office of Education, Utah Autism Council, the University of Utah and Head Start.

The Governor's Office received a $10,000 grant from the National Governors Association earlier this year to fund the commission's work.

The commission plans to audit and inventory agencies to create a matrix of what services are available now.

"We want to see where we've got gaps in services and where we have overlapping responsibilities and how we can best target those resources and use them to service children," Kearl said.

When the research is completed, the commission will present a list of recommendations and a strategic plan to Huntsman in April 2008 during an Early Childhood Summit.

Kearl said this is a first for Utah. The state was one of about 10 to receive the NGA grant.

Bruce D. Perry, a neuroscientist and researcher with The ChildTrauma Academy, said research has shown that high quality early childhood programs make a positive difference not only in children's school success rate but other aspects of their lives.

"Early childhood investment is the only way that we are going to solve many of our current social health problems," Perry said. "It takes a visionary politician to step forward into programs that may not have any visible payoff to the taxpayers for five, 10, 15 years."