Months before the state Senate proposed reshaping More at Four and Smart Start through budget cuts, the big buzz concerning the early childhood programs was about merging the two agencies.

The Senate lightning bolt hasn't killed the merger idea in the House, Lynn Bonner reports.

One of its architects, Rep. Ray Rapp, is holding a news conference Wednesday featuring Dr. Olson Huff, a pediatrician and big Smart Start champion.

Rapp, the primary sponsor of House Bill 539, proposes moving More at Four from the state Department of Public Instruction to the state Department of Health and Human Services. DHHS would work to merge More at Four with the N.C. Partnership for Children, which oversees Smart Start.

At least one local partnership director thinks it's a good move, but others agree with state education CEO Bill Harrison, that the state should study a merger first.