Ready 4 K at the Capitol

This Week @ the Capitol

This week at the Capitol provided more direction for the legislative session, as the February Forecast was released on Tuesday. It showed that the total state budget deficit has grown by nearly $2 billion—25%—since the last forecast was released in November, totaling $6.4 billion for the next two-year budget cycle. A portion of the federal stimulus funds recently approved by Congress will be available to help solve the deficit, which brings the remaining shortfall to about $4.8 billion. More information on the forecast is available at the Minnesota Management and Budget Department.

The Senate Health and Human Services Budget Division heard testimony on the budget forecast, and how it relates to Health and Human Services. Senator Linda Berglin, chair of the committee, asked specifically about the unallocated Basic Sliding Fee funds—inaccurately referring to it as a “surplus”—and whether it made sense to tie child care to MFIP growth in this economy. Ready 4 K and our allies will be working to help clarify that the “surplus” funds are not that, but represent under-spent funds by counties due to the difficulty of predicting child care use throughout the year, and should be used to serve families and children—not balance the state budget.

Tuesday also saw more bills making their way through the process, as the House Early Childhood Committee moved legislation to fund the Minnesota Reading Corps program and Words Work for early literacy. Both bills were referred to the House K-12 Division. The committee also heard testimony about the wonderful work that the St. Paul Public Schools and Resources for Child Caring are doing with Project Early Kindergarten, and some testimony from child care providers about ParentAware.

In the same committee on Thursday, a bill to fund after school programs was heard and laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill. Also, you may remember that last week the bill to continue the three early childhood pilot programs was tabled. At this hearing it was removed from the table and laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill.

To track this and other legislation, check out the Ready 4 K bill tracker.

This week as well, Dr. Bruce Perry, a nationally recognized expert on childhood trauma, visited Minnesota. He spoke at two legislative committees about the effects of and solutions to early childhood trauma. Visit childtrauma.org to learn more.

Federal Stimulus

Ready 4 K continues to provide analysis about the federal stimulus package. We are working with our allies to offer suggestions about potential uses for the funds, and have created a webpage to help do that.

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.