You
are invited to the next meeting of the
Early
Childhood Directors Group
June
13th – 10:00 am – noon
2021
Hennepin Ave. E., Minneapolis 55413
Join
us for networking and learning with other center directors
June
Discussion Topic:
A Journey in
Reggio Emilia and Pistoia, Italy
Ann
Edgerton, Director of the University of
MN Child Development Center (UMCDC), will give a brief powerpoint
presentation with photos of the early childhood environments she visited. Ann
will also discuss the basic principles of the Italian Approach to early
education in Reggio and Pistoia incorporated at UMCDC.
The agenda for the
June 13th meeting also includes a wrap up of child care
legislation and plans for the Early
Childhood Directors Group “tour of quality centers” this summer.
There
is no charge for this meeting. Questions? Contact Nancy Johnson at njohnson@thinksmall.org
The
Early Childhood Directors Group meets
on the second Thursday - 10:00 am – noon
Think Small’s Minneapolis office
2021 Hennepin Ave. E., Suite 250, Mpls,
55413
Monthly networking meetings are FREE.
Quarterly trainings - $22 fee, 2 hours in-service
To register and pre-pay for trainings
contact Nancy Johnson
Thank Governor Dayton
and Legislative Leaders
New investments in our youngest Minnesotans!
Thank your leaders today. |
For the first time in years, the youngest
Minnesotans can be counted among the legislative session’s winners with a total
of $60 million in new investments. Your constant support and heartfelt advocacy
made this possible. Now we need you to take one last action:
Send a thank you message to your legislators and
Gov. Dayton today!
Governor Mark Dayton and the Minnesota
Legislature have invested $46 million for each of the next two budget cycles
for quality pre-kindergarten early learning scholarships for Minnesota’s most
vulnerable children. The scholarships will help nearly 9,000 kids access
quality early learning programs, preparing them for school and lifelong
success.
This investment in scholarships, combined with
the $20 million investment in CCAP tied to quality in the Health and Human
Services bill, is a substantial win for Minnesota’s youngest and most at risk
children.
Now is the time to thank Gov. Dayton and your
legislators for making these investments.
This incremental increase in investment is part
of an innovative approach to prepare more children for success in school by
helping Minnesota’s youngest children access high quality early learning
programs proven to improve school readiness outcomes.
As advocates, we still have work to do to
continue to build a strong early learning system that benefits every child in
Minnesota. But today, let us take a moment to recognize how far we’ve come and
thank the leaders who have made it possible.
Say thank you to your legislators and Gov. Dayton today.
Click on the link to Think Small’s website below to send your
message:
Or call:
Governor Mark Dayton - 651-201-3400
Speaker of the House Paul Thissen –
651-296-5375
Senate Majority Leader Thomas Bakk -
651-296-8881
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/05/22/politics/all-day-kindergarten-early-childhood-education-bill-signing
Get more details of what passed in the Legislative Update below.
You Are Invited to Policy Hour
Minnesota's Future now hosts Policy Hour, a monthly opportunity for early childhood and school-age care professionals to connect with each other and learn about current policy issues.
Join us on Tuesday, June 4, 2013 to get a wrap up of the legislative session, days after the legislature adjourns. Come and hear all the details of what passed and what didn’t and get any burning questions answered. We’ll also hear from Dan Solomon, staff from Sen. Al Franken’s office, about what’s happening at the federal level.
Noon-1:00 p.m.
Think Small
2021 East Hennepin Avenue - Suite 250
Minneapolis, MN 55413
This forum is open to all! Feel free to bring your lunch!
Questions:
Please contact Sara Benzkofer at sarab@mnaeyc-mnsaca.org.
Legislative Update
May 20th, 2013 - Child
Care Aware MN
Health
and Human Services Omnibus bill (HF 1233) Key Issues for Child Care Centers
§ Restores the
allowable child care assistance absent days to 25 per year, and includes
additional days for a medical exemption.
§ Extends CCAP to
adoptive parents when one parent is working and the other is disabled.
§ Includes the
Governor’s proposal to tie 3 and 4 star rated programs to the accreditation
differential. 3 star programs would receive 15% above the maximum CCAP rate
and 4 star programs would receive 20% above the maximum CCAP rate.
§ Includes
language heard earlier in the session to create a new process for
approving/accepting new accrediting bodies to be recognized with the
accreditation differential.
§ Also adds the
Governor’s proposal for CCAP rate simplification (which will provide
updated rates for some providers).
§ Increases continuity
of care by allowing a 30-day reinstatement period for families served by
Basic Sliding Fee (allowing children to stay in high quality care regardless of
some changes in their parent’s schedules).
§ Allows families
headed by a parent under 21 years of age who is pursuing a high school
or General Equivalency Diploma and does not qualify for MFIP benefits to be eligible
for MFIP child care assistance (rather than potentially being put on a waiting
list for the BSF program).
§ Strengthens
program integrity by aligning disqualification periods and withholding
authorizations or payments for up to three months to a provider in violation of
licensing or CCAP rules.
§ Establishes a
child care provider fraud investigation and data analysis
E-12 Education Omnibus Bill (HF 630)
Key Issues for Child Care Centers
E-12 Education Omnibus Bill (HF 630)
Key Issues for Child Care Centers
• Includes $46 million for the 2-year biennium ($40
million of new investment plus the existing $6 million) for pre-k
scholarships for 3- and 4-year olds and their younger siblings.
• Caps annual total of scholarship at $5,000.
• Llimits scholarship use to 3- and 4-star rated programs
beginning in 2016 statewide,
• Provides
scholarships for the babies of teen parents.
• Allows children
receiving scholarships to keep their scholarships until they enter
kindergarten.
• The bill does not
include a provisional rating process as originally proposed (i.e.
allowing programs to accept scholarships by committing to/while going through
the rating process).
• Funds expansion of all-
day Kindergarten statewide at $130 million
• Provides base funding for School Readiness, ECFE, Health
& Developmental screening, Educate Parents Partnership, Kindergarten
entrance assessment.
===============================================================
FREE Parent
Aware Orientations in Ramsey and Hennepin County
Think Small is
hosting FREE Orientation sessions for child care centers and family child care
providers intending to participate in the July 1 - December 31, 2013, Parent
Aware or Building Quality cohorts.
Please call Amanda
at 651-233-2264 to sign up for an Orientation.
WEDNESDAY - May 29th – 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Think Small Mpls
office – 2021 E. Hennepin Ave., Mpls
55413
TUESDAY - June 11th - 6:30
– 8:30 pm
Think Small St.
Paul office – 10 Yorkton Court, Roseville 55117
A
recent NYTimes article by Eduardo Porter documents lagging U.S. investment in
quality Early Childhood Development:
Quotable facts
from the article:
If education is supposed to help redress
inequities at birth and improve the lot of disadvantaged children as they grow
up, it is not doing its job.
…the difference in cognitive
performance (of children whose mothers had graduated from college than of those
whose mothers dropped out of high school) was just as big at age 18 as it had
been at age 3.
“The gap is there before kids walk into
kindergarten,” Mr. Heckman (Nobel Laureate in Economics) told me. “School
neither increases nor reduces it.”
The U.S. gap is enormous, one of the widest among the 65 countries
taking part in the Program for International Student Achievement run by the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
American students from prosperous backgrounds
scored on average 110 points higher on reading tests than disadvantaged
students, about the same disparity that exists between the average scores in
the United States and Tunisia. It is perhaps the main reason income inequality in the
United States is passed down the generations at a much higher rate than in most
advanced nations.
Mr. Heckman and Mr. Cunha estimated that raising high
school graduation rates of the most disadvantaged children to 64 percent from
41 percent would cost 35 to 50 percent more if the assistance arrived in
their teens rather than before they turned 6.
