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)
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