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.)