In the face of deficit, to cut early childhood is like dropping our best performing stock

Today we found out that the state of Minnesota will face a $1.2 billion deficit over the remainder of the biennium (ends June 30, 2011). This is on top of a $6.4 billion deficit originally dealt with by the legislature. The picture does not improve going forward; a $5.4 billion deficit is already projected for the 2012-2013 biennium. This $1.2 billion deficit is the result of a slower than anticipated economic recovery with higher than expected unemployment and lower wages. These factors combine to create a decrease in income tax revenue. Check out Minnesota Budget Bites for more detailed analysis of the budget picture.

One thing from this picture is clear: we must continue to make investing in early care and education a priority. We know this is the best investment we can make for both our short-term and long-term economic prosperity. To cut early care and education to solve the projected $1.2 billion state deficit would be like dropping our best performing stock and is exactly the wrong thing to do.

When parents know their children are well cared for they receive the assurance they need to be productive at work. Plus, giving children access to high quality programs maintains jobs for the trained professionals who work in the field. These investments also lay the foundation for future economic prosperity by ensuring that our youngest Minnesotans will be successful in school, career and life.

Ready 4 K is committed to being a voice for Minnesota’s youngest citizens. We are preparing for the 2010 legislative session and protecting our investments in the face of the $1.2 billion deficit. But we need your help. Join our network today and find out more about how you can be an advocate for children. Stay tuned for more information about Minnesota’s budget picture and its impact on Minnesota’s youngest children and families.

Join Ready 4 K by Giving to the Max!

Jumpstart your year-end giving by joining Ready 4 K and participating with GiveMN.org in Give to the Max day on November 17.

GiveMN.org is a new online forum connecting donors with local and national nonprofits and charities.

From 8am on Tuesday, November 17 to 8am on Wednesday, November 18 donations to Ready 4 K through GiveMN.org will be partially matched through a $500,000 fund donated by GiveMN.org partners. Also, all transaction fees are covered by GiveMN.org partners, so Ready 4 K will receive 100% of your contribution.

With your gift, Ready 4 K will continue to advocate for the resources and programs to give young Minnesotans the opportunity to develop the skills they need to be ready to learn in kindergarten.

Click the donate button to visit Ready 4 K’s GiveMN page and mark your calendar to come back November 17.

Early Lessons: a radio documentary

What has been the biggest, fastest expansion of public education in American history? Preschool. A new radio documentary by American Radio Works, Early Lessons, examines how early child care and education are changing public schools.

Starting with the Perry Preschool Project in the early 1960s researchers have begun to note how quality early learning can have a lasting impact on the lives of individuals and bring positive outcomes for society. Early Lessons describes how the Perry Preschool Project was conceived and the surprising outcomes from the study. It's fascinating to listen to the teachers from the Perry Preschool talk about how they developed their developmentally appropriate curriculum. They were focused both on giving the children the confidence and desire to learn as well as mastering skills that would help them improve their IQ scores, a measure that was believed to be crucial for a child's future success.

The results from the Perry Preschool study has also changed how we define the success of a program. The results from the project indicated that while the IQ score gains can "fade out" over time, the program participants benefited in other ways not measured by IQ - more likely to own a home, have a savings account, stay out of prison, have a higher paying job and more. These other benefits have an even greater impact on the community as a whole, beyond an individuals supposed IQ score, this is where the return on investment can be measured.

The Perry Preschool Project continues to be a cornerstone piece of research that influences public policy in Minnesota and around the nation.

The challenge is taking the good pieces of the Perry Preschool and replicating them in cost effective ways. Pieces like the quality of the program and the developmental appropriateness of the curriculum are more easily measured and can be replicated. The more challenging thing is to replicate the activities and lessons that gave the children the skills and motivation to continue to do well in school and later in life.

On the American Radio Works website you can listen to the documentary, download the audio or read the transcript.

Change the first 5 years and you change everything

Child Poverty in Minnesota Increases

The Children's Defense Fund - Minnesota has released their 2009 Kids Count Data book, The Building Blocks for Successful Children. According to this research, 140,000 children in Minnesota lived in poverty in 2008 - an increase of more than 20% from 2000. These numbers do not include any additional families that may have fallen into poverty due to the current economic recession. CDF estimates that an additional 44, 000 - 56,000 children could now be counted as living in poverty.

Poverty is a significant predictor for a child's future success in school and in life. Without investments in the early years to lay a solid foundation, these children will struggle to become our future leaders.

From the CDF press release:

KIDS COUNT Fact Sheet

Losing Ground:
• 11 percent of Minnesota’s children lived in poverty in 2008.
• 24 percent of Asian children in Minnesota live below the poverty level in 2007, the worst among all 32 states participating in KIDS COUNT with enough Asian children to produce reliable estimates.
• 88,000 Minnesota children did not have health care coverage in 2008, an increase from 2007.
• 270,247 (33 percent) Minnesota children received free/reduced price lunch during the 2008-2009 school year.

Gaining Ground:
• Students dropping out of school has declined 57 percent since 2000.
• 6,277 children were abused and neglected, a 33 percent decrease from 2002.
• 10,895 children were arrested for a serious crime, down from 15,398 in 2000.

The Children's Defense Fund - Minnesota also has county-level data that shows how children are living compared to other years.

US House Approves Legislation to Support Quality Early Learning

It was an exciting week last week, as the US House passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (H.R. 3221) by a vote of 251 to 171 on Thursday. The bill includes $8 billion for the new Early Learning Challenge Fund which would provide competitive grants to challenge states to build comprehensive, high-quality early learning systems for children up to age five. The Senate is expected to take up their version of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act soon. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, be sure to thank the Minnesota representatives who voted in favor of the legislation, Reps. Ellison, McCollum, Oberstar, Peterson and Walz. You can be connected to your representative by calling (202) 225-1904 or find out who represents you by clicking here.

Senator Harkin is New Chair of HELP Committee

The sad passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass) last month left vacant the chairmanship of the powerful Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP), which oversees the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Head Start, education for young children with disabilities and special needs, Title I, and Higher Education.

We are pleased to announce that longtime friend to Minnesota and champion of education, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) has graciously accepted the chairmanship, while Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark) will replace Sen. Harkin as Chair of the Agricultural Committee, which is responsible for child nutrition programs including the Child and Adult Care Food Program. Read his announcement here.

Innovation for Family, Friend and Neighbor Care continues

Today in Minnesota is the second of a two day national meeting on Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) care. The meeting is put on by the national Build and attendees from various Build states are attending. Ready 4 K is the home of Build in Minnesota. According to the National Build Initiative, the goals of the meeting include:

• Increase dialogue and build momentum among all stakeholders to advance support for Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) caregivers.
• Provide a forum for peer-to-peer and expert information and strategy sharing to examine emerging models and the lessons that can be taken from them.
  
• Foster an understanding of how to integrate FFN care into early childhood systems and how to create and advance a policy agenda for FFN care.
• Foster an understanding of how the strengths of FFN care relate to our long-standing conceptions about quality and quality improvement, particularly related to cultural compatibility between a child’s family life and his/her child care life.
• Stimulate thought about next steps to forward our shared agendas in the field.

Minnesota was chosen to host this meeting partly because of the groundbreaking legislation passed in 2007 that made Minnesota the first state to dedicate money to supporting Family, Friend and Neighbor caregivers. Richard Chase from Wilder Research published a case study of Minnesota's success, State Policies for Supporting Family Friend and Neighbor Care.

There's also exciting things happening around the country. Representatives from Washington state and Illinois also share what is happening in their states. In Illinois, great innovation is happening by using dollars from their Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) to reimburse FFN providers when the children they care for participate in the state's Pre-K program four days a week and have a weekly home visit.

The next steps in Minnesota are:

• to continue DHS FFN pilots with CCDF quality set-aside/ARRA stimulus funding (see Ready 4 K's Milestones article, "Family Friend and Neighbor Grants Renewed")
  
• create a webpage on the Child Care Resource & Referral network website devoted to FFNs
• further work from systems building efforts such as Build and MECCS and state departments to improve quality of FFNs
  

Take Action! US House to Vote on Early Learning this Week!

What’s Happening

This week, Congress is going to vote on the most major piece of federal early care and education legislation in almost a decade. The Early Learning Challenge Fund, included in H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, would support critical quality improvements for young children.

The legislation would provide $1 billion a year for eight years to states to develop and enhance high-quality early learning opportunities for all young children, especially those at-risk of not coming to school ready to learn.

This bill, paired with existing supports for current providers, sends a strong signal about the need to invest in comprehensive initiatives at the state level to increase the quality of early learning programs to ensure that children succeed. The bill will also create federal partnerships to help improve the quality of early care and education programs for children from birth to five in all educational settings.

What you can do

Please e-mail and call your US Representative today and urge them to:

Support the Early Learning Challenge Fund included in H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009. This bill supports critical quality improvements so that young children are prepared for school. It will give states like Minnesota the support we need to deliver high quality early learning programming for young children. Please support the Early Learning Challenge fund in H.R. 3221.

See Ready 4 K's Action Page for more information.

Deadline: End of the day, Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Find your US Representative here (enter zip in upper left corner). If you know your US Representative, you can reach the main Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to them.

photo by kimberyfaye

Momentum for Early Care and Education at the Federal Level

More resources to states in support of early care and education are one step further in the political process. Demonstrating a strong commitment to early childhood, Congress is proposing $8 billion over eight years to states in the form of Early Learning Challenge Grants. The Early Learning Challenge Grants are part of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 (also known as SAFRA or HR 3221). SAFRA passed the House Education and Labor Committee today with a 30-17 vote. The Early Learning Challenge Grants are under Title IV of SAFRA.

What does this bill do?

The focus of this legislation is to encourage states to develop a comprehensive quality early learning system for children birth to five, particularly for children who are at risk of starting school not fully prepared. The system needs to include:

• Early Learning Standards Reform
• Evidence-based program quality standards.
• Enhanced program review and monitoring of program quality.
• Comprehensive professional development.
• Coordinated system for facilitating screenings for disability, health, and mental health needs.
• Improved support to parents.
• Process for assessing children’s school readiness.
• Use data to improve child outcomes.

There will be two types of challenge grants, Quality Pathways grants for states that already have many of the system components in place and Development grants for states that have pieces of a system but need resources to move to a comprehensive system. States can use the grants to further several aspects of a quality early learning system such as professional development of the early learning workforce, a quality rating system, improving the quality of programs, parent outreach and coordination with other programs that serve children and families. Because of the comprehensive nature of the system, all types of early learning settings would be eligible to receive resources including child care, Head Start and school based programs.

What does this mean for Minnesota?

This will mean more resources for our state to help more kids start kindergarten fully prepared. Minnesota has pieces of a quality early learning system and federal resources will help families and children be able to access higher quality early childhood opportunities.

What’s next?

The bill will need to be heard by the full House and take a floor vote. The Education and Labor Committee is hoping to take the bill to a floor vote before Congress takes their August Recess. A companion bill has not yet been introduced in the Senate. The earliest this will happen is this fall. A Senate version will need to be heard in committees and voted on by the full Senate before going to a Conference committee and eventually being signed by President Obama.

What can you do?

Call your Congressperson and urge them to support the Early Learning Challenge Fund in H.R. 3221.

You can contact your Congressperson by calling the U.S. House at (202) 224-3121.

The Message: Please support the Early Learning Challenge Fund as part of the higher education student loan program changes in H.R 3221. It will provide a significant increase in resources for improving the quality of early childhood education in Minnesota. Raising the quality of early learning and development wherever children spend their time is important to their school and lifelong success.

See our Action Alert page for more information.

Links and resources

On Monday July 20, several national groups held a conference call with Dr. Ruth Friedman, Senior Education Policy Advisory to the House Committee on Education and Labor. You can find an audio recording and transcript of the call here.

There is also a summary of the Early Learning Challenge Grants put out by the House Education and Labor Committee and the full text of the legislation.

Only in Minnesota! National Civic Summit

Today and tomorrow I'm participating in the National Civic Summit, put on by Secretary of State Mark Richie, the Citizen's League and the Minnesota League of Women Voters and sponsored by Target, Best Buy, Blue Earth Interactive, the Midwest Democracy Network, and Genral Mills.

As the Civic Engagement Specialist at Ready 4 K, I get excited about how we can work together to strengthen our communities for young children through shared participation. I strongly believe that we all need to work together to create social change and we all have a roll to play in making it happen.

Presenters from around the country are gathering to discuss how we can create a civil civic society. The opening keynote was given by Nate Garvis (@nategarvis) as he discussed how we can create a civic society were process is more important than issues. We as citizens can’t just be customers of government, we have to be the co-producers. We get the government that we create and it’s time for all sectors of society - nonprofits, business, education, faith - come together to create a process that benefits as many people as possible.

Themes throughout this summit include:

• Voter engagement and participation

• The role of social media in democracy

• Working toward a common good and building strong connections

The National Civic Summit is free and open to the public. If you are in the Twin Cities, stop by the Minneapolis Hilton and join us. If you are not able to be here in person, join the discussion online at http://www.nationalcivicsummit.com/ or by following @civicsummit09 on twitter.

-kat

ps- don't forget to also check out Ready 4 K on twitter @ready4k and Facebook facebook.com/ready4k

Star Tribune Echoes Concerns about Kindergarten Readiness

Today's editorial in the StarTribune once again highlights the need for greater investments in quality early learning experiences for our youngest citizens. Citing the Kindergarten Readiness Study released earlier this month, the editorial shows how a lack of investment has created a lack of progress in getting our children prepared for school. While legislative leaders have taken steps to recognize the importance of high quality early care and education, that support has yet to be translated into funding increases.

Editorial: Make preschool a funding priority

Scores show that talk alone isn't improving early learning

What may be Minnesota's most important educational report card was issued earlier this month, and the marks weren't good. The fall 2008 results of a yearly school readiness assessment of new kindergartners were down from 2007 on all five aspects of development measured.

Fewer than half of the 6,310 kindergartners surveyed -- 10 percent of the state total -- were deemed "proficient" and fully ready for school. About two out of five were rated "in process" toward readiness. On two key measures, language/literacy and mathematical thinking, one child in eight was judged "not yet" prepared.

Those are troubling findings -- particularly since they come in the sixth year of the assessment, five years after the formation of the Legislature's early childhood caucus, and almost a decade after research and grass-roots advocacy efforts coalesced to put early education on state policy agendas.

Despite those efforts, too many children are still arriving in kindergarten behind and, research says, prone to stay behind throughout their school years. "Why would there have been progress?" asked Todd Otis, executive director of the advocacy group Ready 4 K. Though policymakers are talking more about the value of early learning, "we haven't done anything different to change these numbers."

Read the full Star Tribune editorial here.

Lack of Investment = Lack of Progress

Results from the Minnesota Department of Education’s 2008 School Readiness Study, released this month, confirm what we already know: Minnesota’s lack of additional investment in early care and education has negative consequences. The study, which uses the Work Sampling System to gain a sense of how Minnesota kindergartners are doing in five domains of development, shows that the number of Minnesota children who are rated “proficient” in kindergarten readiness skills has decreased from past years’ studies.

All five domains—physical development, the arts, personal and social development, language and literacy, and mathematical thinking—saw decreases of 3 to 6 percentage points in the number of children rated proficient, with the only domain above 50% proficient being physical development. What does it mean to be proficient? Based on MDE’s definition, “proficient” means that the child can reliably and consistently demonstrate the skill, knowledge, behavior or accomplishment.

In addition, the percentage of children rated as “not yet” ready (indicating that the child cannot perform the indicator) has grown from last year, by as much as four percent.

Does this mean that early learning programs aren’t performing? NO. High quality early learning programs consistently demonstrate good outcomes in terms of school readiness. But the study results aren’t really a surprise. State funding for high quality early learning has been stagnant for years, and has failed to keep up not only with inflation but with the growing need. Early learning programs – like Head Start, School Readiness and child care – that are funded are showing good results, but far too many children lack access to these quality programs. For instance, Head Start funding in Minnesota is sufficient to serve just 1 out of every 3 children who are eligible for the program.

Does funding actually make a difference? Of course it does. For example, in Maryland, where they use a similar method for assessing school readiness, 68% of children are rated proficient (they call it “fully ready”) and the state has consistently shown improvements over the last six years. Since Maryland has increased its investment in early care and education, children’s performance has steadily improved in every domain, including for all racial groups.

Ready 4 K is concerned that even though we know that a majority of our children are coming to kindergarten unprepared, we continue to withhold the resources necessary to move the needle. While the Minnesota Legislature has proposed significant investments in early care and education, those proposals have not been approved. It’s time to reverse this trend, which will not only have the short term benefit of getting out children prepared for school, but better prepare our children for life.

Build or rehab an early childhood facility?

Has an early care and education program you work with been thinking of expanding? Does a program you work with have a building rehab or construction project under way? Then think about putting in a budget request for a capital improvement project!

As you likely know, for the second year in a row, the Governor line-item vetoed $2 million in bonding for the early childhood facilities grant program. Ready 4 K will likely seek funding for the grant program next session, but we are also exploring other avenues to meet the demands for early learning facilities. One way is for local projects to submit budget requests for capital improvement through the "regular" bonding process.

In early May a letter and questionnaire from Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) Director Jim Schowalter was sent laying out the process by which local governments and political subdivisions of the state may request state appropriations for capital improvement projects. Given the difficulty we have had in securing funds for facilities bonding, we would like to encourage those of you with projects on the docket to submit requests to MMB. The deadline is June 25, 2009. If you cannot answer all of the required questions in the questionnaire, you should still submit the application. Please contact Eric Haugee at Ready 4 K (eric at ready4k dot org) if you have questions about this process.

For those who are not affiliated with political subdivisions, you will need to partner with a subdivision, like a city, county or school district, as you similarly would need to if you applied for an early childhood facilities grant. You may want to start by contacting your school superintendent or your city or county administrator.

Once projects are submitted, Ready 4 K can work with the project sponsors to get legislation drafted and introduced. The effect of this will be three-fold. One, it will help to showcase the actual need for early childhood facilities. Two, it will build a broader base of support for bonding for early childhood facilities within local communities. And three, it will build a base of support with local legislators.

This is a great opportunity, and we hope you'll consider submitting a request for your project. Let us know if you do!

(Photo: Steffe)

Communities working together

Last week I had the opportunity to listen to Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone in Harlem, NY. Canada came to Minnesota to speak at the Minnesota Meeting, hosted by the Minneapolis Foundation. Over 1,000 people attended and gave Mr. Canada a standing ovation. The event was covered in numerous local media including MinnPost, HomeTown Source and Twin Cities Daily Planet.

Following the luncheon, Mr. Canada addressed a special hearing of the House Education Policy committee who were joined by other interested members of the House and Senate.

What I found most inspiring is how a community can come together to make a difference in closing the achievement gap.

The HCZ is a non-profit organizing located in a 100-block section of Harlem, NY that is committed to educating all children, providing social-service and community building programs and breaking the cycle of poverty for families. It has been heralded as a model for education and community building by President Obama and has appeared on numerous national news programs.

The principles Mr. Canada bases his program upon are:

• Begin Early
• Provide continuous, high quality programming throughout the child’s educational experience
• Engage and empower parents
• Redesign schools with the success of each child in mind
• Build communities that support children and their learning
• Use clear and timely evaluation methods

Of course, Ready 4 K knows that beginning early is one of the keys to educational success. The HCZ takes it further to provide high quality educational opportunities and a supportive community all the way until the child graduates from college.

What’s happening in Minnesota (Northside Achievement Zone)

Inspired by a visit to the Harlem Children’s Zone in 2007, leaders in Minneapolis are creating the Northside Achievement Zone. The mission of NAZ:

“Resources and opportunities will be aligned in The Zone to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of all children (birth to 18 years) to promote educational achievement and life success.”

Projects that NAZ is working on include creating a NAZ-tested Seal of Approval for organizations providing high quality programs and collaboration in the Zone, establishing From the Northside to the Campus to prepare kids for success in college and life, and On the Block where neighbors will work together to support youth achievement.

500 under 5, a project working to reach 500 children under aged 5 and their families on the Northside and engage them in early learning opportunities, is part of NAZ.

The Harlem Children’s Zone is an incredible project and Geoffrey Canada brought great enthusiasm to Minnesota. Building on the lessons learned by NAZ on the Northside, we can work together to create a state where all children succeed and supported by their communities.

What's in Store for QRS in Minnesota?

Following the allocation of new federal money this legislative session for Parent Aware, Minnesota’s Quality Rating System pilot, it’s important to have a sense of the issues that have risen as this new system is implemented and evaluated. Particularly useful will be lessons from other states that have launched statewide systems, as well as states that, like Minnesota, are piloting QRSs or are in the development stages of a QRS.

A recent Child Trends issue brief entitled “Issues for the Next Decade of Quality Rating and Improvement Systems” takes a look at what other states have learned, and identifies new research areas about QRS. In many ways, Minnesota is well-poised to benefit from past research, and in fact, the evaluation of our QRS already underway is taking these points into account. Child Trends is a non-profit, nonpartisan research center that studies children at all stages of development, and prepared the brief in conjunction with the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) at the Administration of Children and Families.

For example, the brief notes that new observation tools are needed to determine positive outcomes based on children’s experiences and environments, and to this end, Minnesota is an example of a state using multiple tools to address this. Also, some states have not included parents in the design and planning of their rating systems, and the brief highlights Minnesota as one state that has been intentional about gathering feedback from parents.

I’d encourage anyone interested in gaining a better grasp on the national scene related to QRS to take a few minutes to read the brief. Minnesota is mentioned throughout, and as we move forward with our QRS, its great to be able to learn from other states—and hopefully influence future work around the country.

End of Session Report

Today at the Capitol, the 2009 Legislative Session wrapped-up without fully addressing the $6.4 billion dollar deficit. With no agreement between the DFL-controlled Legislature and the Republican Governor on how to solve the deficit, the Legislature adjourned at midnight, leaving the budget a few billion out of balance. The DFL made a last ditch attempt to solve it by sending the Governor a bill to shift K-12 payments and increase taxes shortly before adjourning. Should the governor not sign the bill, he has pledged to make more line-item vetoes and use unallotment come July 1, as was reported on Friday.

Since last week's update, the Governor signed the E-12 Education bill, leaving intact all of the early childhood provisions. But we can no longer claim zero cuts to early childhood this year, as the Governor line-item vetoed several items when he signed major omnibus spending bills. Specifically:

• He signed the Higher Ed bill, but line-item vetoed all state funding for TEACH early childhood provider scholarships. ($500,000)
• He signed the Bonding bill, but line-item vetoed $85 million worth of projects, including $2 million for Early Childhood Facility Grants.
  

A more complete update and summary will be sent out in the coming days. Until then, please check out our bill tracker. We'll also be monitoring the Governor's unallotment process and keep you up to date on any actions involving early care and education programs.

Thank you for your continued support this session. Despite the small cuts at the end of the day, we can all be proud of the work we did to keep them to a minimum this year. Be sure to thank your legislators for their support of our youngest Minnesotans.

Capitol update for May 8, 2009

This week at the Capitol looks a lot like last week at the Capitol. In fact, last week's update wouldn't be entirely inappropriate to just re-send. Both the Education and Health and Human Conference Committees continue to meet irregularly, making it difficult for those following the committees to, well, follow them.

On a broader sense, DFLers continue to try to get the Governor to accept revenue increases, sending him their first bill of the year to increase taxes to pay for Education, Health Care and Long Term Care, which the Governor promptly and expectedly vetoed. To this point, consider joining Invest in Minnesota's Rally Monday, May 11 at Noon. Invest in Minnesota's non-profit, faith and labor communities will gather at the State Capitol Rotunda for a rally that demonstrates organizational and citizen commitment to raising revenues fairly to maintain adequate funding for jobs, dignity, and public services that meet essential needs in communities.

As was mentioned last week, some early care and education organizations submitted memos to conference committee members out lining our priorities. The memos can be found here.

Here are some other links to useful information:

Ready 4 K omnibus bill tracker (updated and organized by conference committee now)

Legislative side-by-side of bills

• Article 6 of the education bills—early childhood side-by-side
• Article 2 of the human services bills—child care side-by-side (article 13 includes federal stimulus dollar spending, and is not posted on-line yet)

Coming Up @ the Capitol

Please check the legislative schedule page for the most up-to-date schedule information.

The end is near...

Signaling the legislative session is coming to an end, conference committees have been meeting at the capitol this week. They are going over omnibus bills effecting early childhood education and a host of other issues as they work to resolve our state's budget $6billion deficit. Ready 4 K, along with our allies, has issued memos to conference committee members on the E-12 Education Conference Committee, the Health and Human Services Conference Committee, the Higher Education Conference Committee and the Conference Committee on Taxes. The memos outline priorities and provisions we hope to see, and they are posted on the Public Policy section of our website. Also, you can see a side by side comparison of the early childhood pieces of the bills being discussed in committee on our Omnibus Bill Tracker.

While our representatives are going through the final negotiations on omnibus bills, it is important that we show them our support and gratitude for making early childhood a top priority. In the face of the deficit, neither the House or Senate has proposed cuts to early care and education programs, a sign of a strong commitment to our youngest Minnesotans.

Please call and thank our leaders, Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller for all of their hard work on behalf of our youngest citizens! Also, encourage them to maintain their commitment to Minnesota’s young children as the session concludes.

Capitol update for May 1, 2009

This Week @ the Capitol

This week at the Capitol began in earnest the conference committee process, as all the major conference committees began going section by section through the budget bills, adopting some same and similar language, and hearing testimony on a few provisions. Sitting in a Capitol hearing room on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in May is an important part of the process!

There is not much specific activity to report. In the Education conference committee, some discussion has occurred about both the QRS and the proposed changes to School Readiness. Expect the committee to take action on some of the early childhood provisions on Monday.

Finally, some early care and education organizations are submitting memos to conference committee members, outlining our priorities. As these are completed, they will be posted in the Public Policy section of our website.

Here are some other links to useful information:

Ready 4 K omnibus bill tracker (updated and organized by conference committee now)

Legislative side-by-side of bills

• Article 6 of the education bills—early childhood side-by-side
• Article 2 of the human services bills—child care side-by-side (article 13 includes federal stimulus dollar spending, and is not posted on-line yet)

Coming Up @ the Capitol

Conference committees are expected to meet often and late throughout the week, as the final deadline of Thursday, May 7 approaches. Their work is of course dependent on leadership and the Governor reaching consensus on budget targets, which is not a foregone conclusion at this point. Please check the legislative schedule page for the most up-to-date schedule information.

What you can do
Visit the Capitol to see the action up close. You can always stop by your legislators' office or send them a note on the House or Senate floor. For information on the state legislature, including directions to the State Capitol and State Office Building, visit the Legislature's website.

Capitol Update April 24

This week at the Capitol, the two major activities to note are the passage of the House Omnibus Early Childhood bill, and the release of the Senate Omnibus Health and Human Services bill.



On Thursday, the House Omnibus Early Childhood Bill passed the full House on an 84-47 vote, largely the same as it left committee. Going forward, the child care articles will be conferenced with the Health and Human Services bill, and the early education articles with the Education bill. Expect those conference committees to begin next week.



Read the Pioneer Press article about the bill here.



Rumors were flying all week as to the release date of Sen. Berglin’s Omnibus Health and Human Services bill. It finally was released on Friday, and rejects most of the Governor’s cuts to child care. While the bill does use the unallocated funds in Basic Sliding Fee to help solve the budget deficit, it rejects harmful cuts to the integrity of child care assistance, specifically, it does not include the an increase in parent co-pays or a decrease in provider reimbursement rates. With regards to the federal stimulus dollars, the bill specifies that the quality set aside dollars must be used to continue the Family, Friend and Neighbor grant program, continue the Parent Aware quality rating system, and fund quality improvements to help providers get ready for the rating system. The remaining $22.6 million is used to buy down the increased caseload in MFIP child care. Going forward, we will continue to advocate for continuing the School Readiness Connection pilot.



Be sure to thank Sen. Berglin for her commitment to child care!



Check out our omnibus bill tracker, updated with the proposals included in the Senate Omnibus Health and Human Services bill.

Capitol update for April 17, 2009

This Week @ the Capitol

This week at the Capitol saw further movement of various omnibus bills, including three separate hearings of the House Omnibus Early Childhood bill.

On Tuesday, the House Early Childhood Committee took up its omnibus bill, at which point members had an opportunity to offer amendments. The most noteworthy one deleted the requirement that School Readiness programs serve children for a minimum of 12 hours a week, despite the lack of new funding. It passed unanimously. Other adopted amendments included a provision making it easier for Head Start programs to serve homeless children and their families, clarifying that the QRS is voluntary, and adjusting the uses of the federal stimulus dollars. Amendments to eliminate the Office of Early Learning and the QRS from the bill were defeated. The bill passed out of the committee, had quick stops in Finance and Taxes by week’s end, and will be heard in Ways and Means next week before being voted on by the full House.

The other omnibus bills we’re tracking—the Higher Education Omnibus bill, which contains funding for TEACH scholarships and child care assistance grants for college students, and the Public Health and Housing Omnibus bill, which contains funding for Family Home Visiting—also continued moving through the process. Funding for home visiting is currently untouched in the House bill, however, early childhood funding in the House Higher Education bill is being adjusted. The base funding for TEACH scholarships is eliminated, and replaced with one-time funding, but increased in the current biennium from $500,000 to $600,000. Additionally, funding for the higher ed child care assistance grants is increased by $982,000 in the biennium. The Senate leaves the funding at current levels.

The Senate Omnibus Health and Human Services bill has yet to be released.

For a more detailed analysis and comparison of the various omnibus bills, see our new omnibus bill tracker. (Note: this will replace the overall bill tracking going forward.)

Week of the Young Child 2009: April 19-25

The Week of the Young Child is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The purpose of the Week of the Young Child is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.

Here are a few descriptions of recent WOYC events in communities around the country:

"We held a Family Writing Workshop where parents were invited to create a book with their children. A book-writing kit was provided, and children and parents shared their books at a show and tell. The books are now part of our library collection."

"We displayed children's artwork throughout the center and made a DVD slide show of the children. Monday was Parent Appreciation Day, where parents were served light refreshments and received a card from their child. Tuesday was Hat Day. Wednesday was Teacher Appreciation Day, with a pot luck lunch for staff. It was also Beach Party Day. Thursday was Inside Out Day and Friday we had an ice cream social."

"Our city granted us a permit to hold a parade and children's fair celebrating young children. There were over 500 children who paraded down the main street in decorated wagons, tricycles, or on foot. They marched with their child care providers or early childhood teachers. The free fair had booths representing all of the early childhood agencies and other services and also childcare providers."

"A group of parents and children marched to City Hall. The mayor joined us and read a proclamation adopted by our City Council about the Week of the Young Child. Additionally, we held a press conference sharing information about the importance of quality early care and education."

For more ideas and information, visit the NAEYC website.

Capitol update for April 10, 2009

The House Early Childhood Committee released their Omnibus Early Childhood Bill on Tuesday, and took public testimony on it. Ready 4 K Policy and Civic Engagement Director Karen Kingsley testified in support of it, especially the portions of it which effectively begin laying out an early childhood system. However, she did raise concerns about the proposed requirement that School Readiness programs serve children for a minimum of 12 hours a week without additional resources, and that the director of the Office of Early Learning is not a part of the Governor's cabinet, which we think he or she should be.

The bill was laid over, and next Tuesday members of committee will have a chance to offer amendments to the bill before passing it out. It should be noted that Rep. Paul Rosenthal, Vice-Chair of the committee, is working with community members to come up with some new language on the School Readiness 12 hour provision, and we can expect to see that on Tuesday. He is well aware of the concerns that have been raised about the requirement and is working to figure out a good way to proceed.

On Tuesday, the Senate Omnibus E-12 Education bill passed the full Senate, and contains mostly the same provisions as we reported on last week. (It also includes the 12 hour provision, but since it has already passed out of the Senate, the best place to influence the process at this point is the amendment Rep. Rosenthal is drafting and then in the conference committee process.)

Both the House and the Senate have passed their bonding bills, which both include $2 million for early childhood facilities. Conference committee members have been named, and the first meeting is scheduled for next week. Senate conferees include Sen. Keith Langseth (chair), Sen. Tomassoni, Sen. Lynch, Sen. Sieben and Sen. Day; and House conferees include Rep. Hausman (chair), Rep. Scalze, Rep. Wagenius, Rep. Rukavina and Rep. Howes

To track the omnibus bills, please see our updated mid-session bill tracking document.

Capitol update for April 3, 2009

This week at the Capitol, committees packed their schedules in preparation for the coming spring break, beginning on Tuesday, April 7 at midnight. The delay in this week’s update was due to the detailed analysis of the budget, included below!

Of most interest to early childhood advocates was the release of the Senate Omnibus Education Bill on Wednesday, which included a comprehensive package of policy changes, as reported in last week’s update, as well as $14 million in spending.

Not only did the Senate not include any cuts to early childhood on the education side of the ledger, but, under Sen. Tarryl Clark’s leadership, the Senate also recommended continuing the Pre-k Allowances pilot project for another year, expanding the Allowances into several other areas of the state in FY 2011, and also adding them to the base budget beginning in the same year. In conjunction with the Allowances, $500,000 was included in the next biennium for the Parent Aware quality rating system, plus $1 million each additional year going forward. The final bill passed out of the Senate E-12 Education Budget Division on Thursday, was heard and passed out of full Finance on Friday, will be heard in Taxes on Monday, and hopefully pass the full Senate prior to the break. Whew!

Switching to the human services side of things in the Senate, Sen. Berglin is not expected to release her budget prior to the break. While child care has typically not fared as well in the Senate, this year the federal stimulus dollars may help reverse this trend to some degree. On Thursday, representatives of Child Care WORKS, the Minnesota Child Care Association, and the Minnesota Child Care Resource and Referral Network testified before the Senate Health and Human Services Budget Division in support of legislation to direct the $26 million in child care development fund dollars included in the federal stimulus package. Along with our allies, we are recommending using the $3.4 million in required quality set aside dollars to continue the Family, Friend and Neighbor grant program, fund Parent Aware, and fund provider training in preparation for a statewide QRS. The bill also specifies that the remaining $22.6 million should be spent to increase provider reimbursement rates, eliminate the basic sliding fee waiting list, and continue the School Readiness Connections pilot. It was laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill.

Over in the House, Rep. Nora Slawik’s committee heard the House companion to the federal stimulus bill, several bills related to child care licensing, and Ready 4 K lobbyist Eric Haugee testified in support of legislation charging the Early Childhood Advisory Council to conduct a comprehensive inventory of early care and education program funding and usage. Both it and its Senate companion passed their committees, and are waiting for votes on their respective floors.

Coming Up @ the Capitol

Like springtime in Minnesota, expect a somewhat unpredictable week. Will is rain? Will it snow? Maybe the sun will come out? While you should check out the legislative schedule pages for up-to-date hearings, the following items are currently scheduled.

What you can do

Visit the Capitol to see the action up close. You can always stop by your legislators' office or send them a note on the House or Senate floor. For information on the state legislature, including directions to the State Capitol and State Office Building, visit the Legislature's website.

Voices for Children Advocacy Day brings energy to the capitol!

On March 19, more than 800 children, parents and early care and education providers gathered at the Capitol to raise their voices for our children! During the rally in the capitol rotunda, Rep. Nora Slawik, Rep. Sandy Peterson, and Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher spoke to the enthusiastic crowd showing their support for Minnesota’s children. Sarah Caruso, president of the Minnesota Children’s Museum and chair of the Governor's Early Childhood Advisory Council and Todd Otis, president of Ready 4 K also spoke. Parents of children in early childhood programs across the state gave testimonials about their wonderful experiences with the programs their families have benefited from. The Teddy Bear Band gave a special performance, bringing even more energy to the event. The kids were so excited they couldn’t stop cheering!

Children filled the Great Hall throughout the morning enjoying all sorts of fun activities.

Included in the activities were hilarious stories from the St. Paul Public Library, songs by musicians from the MacPhail Center for Music, necklace-making stations from Lakeshore Learning, and exciting games from the Minnesota Children’s Museum. The kids got crafty making flowers to give to our representatives. Colorful posters with their work were created with the message “Plant the Seeds: Help Children Bloom." The messages were hand delivered by the children to the Speaker of the House.

The day ended with great news for the world of early childhood. The Speaker of the House announced that the House majority caucus has made a commitment to investing in early childhood care and education!

Capitol update for March 20, 2009

This week at the Capitol, little happened in terms of early childhood care and education legislation moving through the system. But that doesn’t mean that the week wasn’t crammed with happenings about early childhood!

Governor’s Supplemental Budget

To account for the growing budget deficit as announced earlier this month and the infusion of federal stimulus dollars into the state coffers, the Governor revised parts of his budget this week. The only change to early childhood is a delay in the CCAP rate cuts and copay increases to Oct. 1, 2010. (His previous budget had CCAP cuts beginning in July 2009.)

Voices for Children Day

Thursday was Voices for Children Day at the Capitol. Over 800 children, parents and providers showed up and raised their voices for children! Sarah Caruso, president of the Minnesota Children’s Museum and chair of the Governor's Early Childhood Advisory Council spoke, representatives from ECFE, Head Start, school-based programs and child care gave rallying speeches, and Rep. Sandy Peterson, Rep. Nora Slawik, and Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher all spoke to the crowd. Thanks to all who attended, met with their legislators, and kept the issue in front of their legislators. We couldn’t have done it without you. Photos of the event will be posted at the Ready 4 K and Voices websites for photos from the event.

House Targets

Ready 4 K and our allies have been working very hard to ensure that early care and education is a top priority for legislators as they set their budget targets….and it paid off. Right on the heels of Voices for Children, the leadership of the House DFL (Speaker Kelliher and Majority Leader Tony Sertich) announced that education, including early childhood, would be spared from any cuts by the House. This is a tremendous victory given the daunting budget deficit, and is a recognition by legislators of the high return on investment the state gets when it invests in quality early learning.

In other happenings, we remain concerned about the use of unallocated funds in Basic Sliding Fee child care. This week, the Senate HHS Finance Committee proposed using a portion of the funds to fill a hole in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program. We will continue to work with committee chair Sen. Berglin to find a long-term solution to the distribution of the BSF funds.

Next week's schedule will be a bit hard to predict, with committees jamming their agendas as the first bill deadline approaches on Thursday. Hearings may be long, go in and out of recess often, and be announced at the last minute. If you are interested in a particular bill, check out the Ready 4 K bill tracker.