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!