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Fall 2006
Commentary
Early Childhood Caucus:
Building for Minnesota Children's Success
by State Rep. Nora Slawik
Question: What do 160 Minnesota legislators from urban, rural and suburban districts, including Democrats and Republicans from the House and the Senate, have in common?
Answer: Membership in the bipartisan, bicameral Early Childhood Caucus.
Initially formed in 2002, the purpose of the Early Childhood Caucus is to influence and shape public policies that impact Minnesota's youngest children, their families and caregivers. The caucus seeks to educate legislators, create dialogue, build consensus and provide direction for legislative action.
Successes in the 2006 session included more than $22 million in new funding for school readiness programs, including increased funding for Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE), funding to reinstate the Minnesota School Readiness Kindergarten Assessment, a 6 percent increase in child care provider reimbursement rates, funding to reduce the Basic Sliding Fee for child care, and money to help school districts pay for preschool screening.
While Minnesota made gains with early childhood programs this year, we are clearly falling behind the 39 other states that have implemented state-funded school readiness programs. State legislatures are under intense pressure to increase funding for school readiness programs for three reasons: the need to increase third-grade test scores to comply with No Child Left Behind standards, concerns about the achievement gap for kindergartners and the rapid expansion of beneficial research from economic data to brain studies.
To help young children reach their potential, we need a commitment from our top leaders from government, business and the nonprofit sector to reach a comprehensive and coordinated vision of school readiness.
The Early Childhood Caucus is considering strategic decisions in four
major areas of policy:
Financing
To get all Minnesota children ready for school, legislators need to make fundamental decisions about the best sources of revenue and how those funds get distributed. Other states use a variety of methods to raise revenue, such as implementing a per-pupil weighting for four-year-olds, parent fees and targeted taxes. Options for distributing funds can often include partnerships with schools or centralizing funding in state government.
Program Design
Fundamentally, legislators need to decide whether to move forward with a targeted program for low-income children or expand to universal pre-kindergarten for all children. Legislators have debated the work of Art Rolnick and his proposed scholarship program targeting low-income children, yet there is no clear consensus on the program design.
Governance
Minnesota early childhood programs are spread across state government agencies and legislative committees, funded through different sources and delivered through a variety of public and private providers. Legislators are interested in pursuing options that create a clearer vision for these stakeholders to thrive in.
Quality Standards
With more than 70 percent of Minnesota mothers working, the school readiness system needs quality child care and education standards to help children succeed. An executive veto in June reversed legislation for a pilot program to test the Northstar Quality Rating System. In this session, we need to find a set of standards we can all agree on.
More than anything, the Early Childhood Caucus has demonstrated the growing consensus surrounding early childhood education programs. Study after study has demonstrated that early childhood programs, in particular, have been shown to provide one of the greatest dollar-for-dollar returns of any investment the state makes.
By focusing our attention on strategic investments that enhance access to quality early childhood programs, it's our hope that we can help build the necessary foundation for our children to be successful.
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Nora Slawik, State Representative District 55B in Maplewood, is co-chair of the Minnesota Legislature Early Childhood Caucus.
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More
Information from the
Fall 2006 Edition of Giving Forum
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Thank you to the sponsors of this issue of Giving Forum:
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| $5,000 Sponsor |
Anonymous Sponsor
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| $3,000 Partner |
Minnesota Initiative Foundations |
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© Copyright 2006 Minnesota Council on
Foundations
Reproduction in any form without the written permission of the publisher
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