February 19, 2010 - This Week @ the Capitol
From Ready 4 K
This week at the Capitol, Governor Tim Pawlenty released his supplemental budget, aiming to solve the state’s $1.2 billion deficit. While not the cut many of us thought it would be, or could have been anyway, it still slashes $12 million from early care and education this biennium. The cuts come in the form of a 5% cut to child care provider rates and to Basic Sliding Fee (BSF) child care, the “capturing” of $5 million of BSF funds slated to be redistributed to counties, and a couple other cuts. More details are available here.
Although it is frustrating to see this proposal after years of making progress, it’s important to remember that this only the first step in the budget process. Fortunately, legislative leaders in the House and Senate continue to make early care and education a priority, and we have yet to see their budget proposals. While we remain confident that their proposals won’t do the harm that the Governor proposes, we still need to remain vigilant with our legislators and remind them of the importance in investing in high quality early care and education, and the impact that cuts would have on children and their providers.
Now for some good news….
The House passed their bonding bill on Monday, and now the House and Senate will work out their differences between the two bills, before sending it to the Governor. Both bills still include the $2 million for Early Childhood Facilities, so it’s likely the final one will as well, and we’re hopeful that the Governor will not line-item veto the facility funding again. To be sure though, we’re asking people to contact their legislator and ask them to tell the Governor to support bonding for early childhood facilities. If you know of a specific project in your district that could use the funding, please let him know how critical the program is for its success.
Another key bill we’re supporting was heard in House and Senate committees this week. S.F. 2505/H.F. 2760, which earmarks $500,000 of child care quality dollars specifically for providers to get ready for a quality rating and improvement system, was laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill in the House Early Childhood Committee, and in the Senate Health, Housing and Family Security, the bill was re-referred to the full Finance Committee. This is an important bill that continues to move the state towards a system of high quality early learning. The House Early Childhood Committee also heard more about options for bringing a statewide Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) to scale, and a presentation from the Depts. of Education and Human Services on their quality framework work plan. Listen to the hearing here.
Committees also began reviewing the Governor’s budget in more detail, and taking public testimony. The House Early Childhood Committee heard from a number of providers, parents and advocacy organizations about how devastating the cuts would be to working families and to small businesses that operate child care. One provider noted it could close many of their child care centers. A parent on CCAP testified that without child care assistance, she wouldn’t be able to continue working. Listen to the testimony here.
The Senate Health and Human Services Finance committee will begin taking public testimony next week. See below for information about testifying.
Check out the bill tracker here.
Coming Up @ the Capitol
Next week will be an exciting week, as several national early care and education experts will be in Minnesota to testify in the House Early Childhood Committee. Danielle Ewen, director of Child Care and Early Education policy at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) in Washington, DC, will testify at the House Early Childhood Committee on Tuesday, Feb. 23 about the pending federal legislation that would create an Early Learning Challenge Fund. Approved by the U.S. House and awaiting action in the U.S Senate, the ELCF would establish a competitive grant process to help states build a coordinated and effective early childhood system. Check out Ready 4 K’s Policy Brief on the ELCF.
Visit the legislative schedule page for the most up-to-date hearings.
And don’t forget Voices for Children Advocacy Day on Monday March 1. Activities begin at the Capitol at 9 am with the Read-a-Thon sponsored by the Legislative Early Childhood Caucus and then the rally at 10 AM in the Rotunda. We hope to see you there.
Ride the Head Start bus from the Range!
Contact Arrowhead Head Start Community Relations Manager Jerry Crittenden at 
218-749-2912
x252 or jerry.crittenden@aeoa.org to be put on the list!
Learn more from:
- • Voices for Children
- • Ready 4 K
- • Interfaith Children’s Advocacy Network (iCAN)
- • Parents United for Public Schools
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.
