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From Ready 4 K

The Legislature is in the final weeks before the constitutional deadline to reach an agreement on the Minnesota budget. Currently, there remains a $5 billion deficit over the next two years. It’s important that legislators continue to hear from you as they make important decisions on how to resolve this deficit.

The House and Senate have stated that they aim to resolve this deficit without raising revenues. This all-cuts approach would be devastating to Minnesota children and families. Invest in Minnesota is promoting a campaign, “20 Ways in 20 Days”, to share the potential impact of an all-cuts approach. On Thursday, the story related to child care. You can read the story here.

All legislators are getting a paper copy of the story every day, so you can reference this when you connect with legislators.

Currently, the House and Senate are proposing significant cuts to child care and other programs that support early learning. See our side by side comparison of Governor, House and Senate budget proposals.

We need you to contact your legislator and tell them that providing for our youngest Minnesotans is vital to our future prosperity.

Feel free to use your own words and share from your own perspective. The message we want to convey is that we want to maintain investments in early childhood and Minnesota’s future and that we need a balanced approach to resolving the budget deficit that includes revenues in order to do that. Here’s an example:

“The path to Minnesota’s future prosperity begins with the well-being of all our children, and the state is wise to continue investing in high quality early childhood programming and services. Quality settings and positive adult interactions lay a strong foundation in the early years and increase the probability of successful outcomes in school and life, in turn giving the state a 16 to one return on its investment. Conversely, a weak foundation increases the odds of later difficulties and raises costs to the state. We need a balanced approach to the budget deficit that includes revenues so that we can invest in our future prosperity. We can either lay the foundation now or pay the price later.”

Thank you for your ongoing efforts to support our youngest Minnesotans.

From Ready 4 K

Today, the Secretary of State’s office announced openings on the Governor’s Early Learning Council.  Governor Dayton’s Executive Order 11-05, announced at the Voices for Children Day Rally, creates the Early Learning Council, which replaces and builds on the work of the Early Childhood Advisory Council formed by Governor Pawlenty in 2009.

Under Governor Dayton’s order, the Council will consist of up to 30 members, 26 of whom are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Governor. Governor Dayton is interested in including individuals with the following expertise, affiliations, or backgrounds on the Council:

a) Representatives of local government groups
b) Representatives of local school districts
c) Individuals with Head Start expertise
d) Providers of early childhood supports and services
e) Representatives of higher education
f) Individuals whose families received early childhood supports or services (minimum 2 parents)
g) Individuals from non-profits involved in early childhood issues
h) Members of the business community
i) Representative of the philanthropic community

The Early Learning Council makes recommendations to the Governor and the Minnesota Legislature to ensure every child is ready for kindergarten and affordable quality early childhood education and care is available to all children.

Governor Dayton is interested in appointing people to the Council who represent Minnesota’s diversity across race, geography, age and perspective.  The Council will meet quarterly at the Minnesota Department of Education offices in Roseville; mileage will be reimbursed.  Please consider submitting an application or encouraging your colleagues to apply.  Governor Dayton will also appoint two parents who are recipients of early childhood services.

To apply for the Early Learning Council download an application form at the Secretary of State’s Open Appointments page.  When submitting your application, include:
—Open Appointments Application Form - completed, signed & dated
—Letter of Interest
—Resume or Biography

The Early Learning Council is poised to play a pivotal role in early childhood policy and systems building efforts over the next few years.

From Ready 4 K

This Week @ the Capitol

This week at the Capitol saw late nights as the omnibus budget bills made their way off the floors of both bodies. While the proposed cuts were largely left intact, positive and negative action was taken on the Quality Rating and Improvement System in the Education bills of both chambers.

Quality Rating System Experiences Set-Back in House
The House took up its Omnibus Education bill late Tuesday evening, working late into the night to complete its work. Funding and language were included in the bill to move forward the Parent Aware QRIS and early childhood scholarships. An initial amendment from Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Jordan), a long-time opponent of investments in early care and education, attempted to reduce the funding for the scholarships and put the savings into the general education formula. This was soundly rejected by a 112 - 16 vote. Threatening to hold up the Education bill over QRIS and the scholarships, Rep. Buesgens offered another amendment stripping QRIS from the bill and directing the early childhood scholarships to at-risk children, with no requirement that the scholarships be used in quality settings. Despite strong opposition from many members, the amendment was adopted 66-60.

While this is indeed a set-back to the years of work on this proposal, it highlights the degree to which the atmosphere has shifted at the Capitol and the need for continued education of many legislators. Read MinnPost’s story on the vote.

In all likelihood, the Omnibus Education bill will be vetoed by Governor Dayton, as it includes many other provisions that he does not support. We will continue to work with our legislative allies to ensure that the QRIS will move forward by the end of the session. Look for ways to raise your voice in the coming days and weeks.

Senate Moves Forward on Rating System
When the Senate took up their Omnibus Education bill, it did not include any language or funding for either the QRIS or scholarships. We had indications that there would be attempts to amend something into the bill in order to establish a positive Senate position on the QRIS heading into conference committee. Sen. Geoff Michel, the original author of the Parent Aware and scholarship proposal, offered an amendment requiring that increases in state funding to improve school readiness must be made “in research-based programs of known quality” consistent with the QRIS framework already in state statute. The amendment provides that new funding will be tied to the QRIS, but it doesn’t actually fund the QRIS.  Sen. Gen Olson, the Education bill’s chief author, supported the amendment as a way to keep the discussion alive, and it was adopted on a voice vote. A similar amendment by Sen. Terri Bonoff, adding the original Parent Aware and scholarship language, was defeated however, as it took funding from the statewide K-12 testing system.  Both Education bills now head to conference committee, where the differences will be worked out.

Health and Human Services Bill
Briefly, the Senate HHS bill passed the full Senate this week, with bill author Senator David Hann trying to argue that the massive child care cuts are not actually cuts, but a reduction in growth of the funding. When fewer families will be served, we see this as a cut. We anticipate the House HHS bill to pass out of its last committee and head to a vote by the full House this week.

As mentioned, Ready 4 K has prepared a number of documents to help you track these bills. Check out our side-by-side comparison of the Governor, House and Senate budget recommendations. And of course, our bill tracker is updated weekly. All of these documents can be found on our 2011 Legislative Session page.  These proposals are fluid, of course, and as the legislative session progresses, we’ll keep you updated.

As parents, we often think about the needs of our children, our spouse or significant other, our pets, our jobs, our civic responsibility, and more. The list of meeting others’ needs seems endless! This month’s article deals with our needs as parents. Of course, our children did not come with instructional booklets when we left the hospital so we must do the best we can to become competent parents.

So, the question is, what do parents need? My first response is the love of our children. As parents, we need to feel that love. We’ve bore them, nursed and fed them, cared for their every need from babyhood and beyond. We’ve invested time, life, and love in their upbringing. We long for their smiles, hugs, and kisses in response. The displays of affection we share with our kids is the “stuff” of life.

Another important need parents have is support and encouragement. My job as a parent educator has taught me that parents need to know that what we’re doing is important work. We need to feel valued by society, family and friends. We need to know that we are not alone and that others are going through the same struggles with their children. Also, a need that goes hand-in-hand with support is education. I don’t know any parent that doesn’t need help from time to time. Whether it be feeding an infant or dealing with toilet learning, helpful information from books, articles, ECFE classes, and other parents can be a lifeline!

In the hustle and bustle of being parents and attending to our children’s needs, we often neglect ourselves. What we so often need as parents is time to attend to our own needs. We need time to relax, time to be alone, and time for our own hobbies or pursuits. We need time to rediscover who we are. This time is necessary not only for our own sanity but to serve as a model for our children. Once we have had this time, we can come back to the job of parenting with a fresh outlook. We can enjoy our children and look forward to their many wonderful stages of growth and development.

                                                                                                                     Jill Phillips

                                                                                                             ECFE Parent Educator