End of Session @ the Capitol

What a weekend! You've probably read in news reports that the 2010 Legislative Session wrapped up this morning, with a brief special session called in order to complete the work in a timely matter. The good news for early care and education is that there were no permanent cuts made to early childhood programs, most notably to child care assistance. A brief update is below, and we'll send out a more complete summary soon.

Saturday's session of the Legislature began with the good news that the Governor had signed the Early Childhood Policy bill into law, despite some heavy lobbying to veto the bill by key Republican members. For once, common sense and a commitment to continue to build an effective high quality early care and education system prevailed. See our Omnibus Bill Tracker for a complete summary of the new law.

The weekend was marked by fits and starts of floor sessions, conference committees and leadership meetings. Disagreements and clarifying of positions between all bodies over early enrollment of childless adults from General Assistance Medical Care to Medical Assistance, which would qualify for federal matching funds, was at the crux of the debate. As negotiations continued, the House and Senate passed an Omnibus Supplemental Budget bill late Saturday/early Sunday morning, which included a mix of cuts, K-12 payment shifts, medical surcharges and no tax increases. This set in motion a series of offers and counter-offers by the DFL-controlled legislature and the Republican Governor throughout the day on Sunday.

At nearly 11:45pm, legislative leaders and the governor announced a deal requiring a brief special session, which was called at 12:01am on Monday, to pass the contents of the agreed-upon bill.  The bill was approved by both legislative bodies at 10 AM today and is headed for the Governor's signature.  In the end, child care fared pretty well, given the challenges of the budget deficit and the legislative-governor politics.  The legislation will take the Basic Sliding Fee underspending, but that is only a one-time move and no permanent cuts were made to child care. In addition, no reductions were made in other early childhood programs.

A successful albeit messy legislative session. We'll get out a complete legislative wrap up in the coming days!
 

Look for an end-of-session summary the early part of next week. And thank you for all you’ve done this year. Early care and education certainly wouldn’t faired as it has thus far without your support!

Ready 4 K @ the Capitol - May 14, 2010

This week at the Capitol, the Health and Human Services Conference Committee finished their work, the House E-12 Education Budget bill passed the full House, and the conference committee report for the Omnibus Early Childhood Policy bill passed both bodies. While it feels like a lot happened this week, it seems we’re at virtually the same place as we were last week in terms of budget negotiations.

The Health and Human Services Conference Committee met throughout the past weekend late into the night, and wrapped up their bill Wednesday morning at 2am. Child care was in play up to the last budget offer, with its funding being pitted against other worthwhile budget areas, but in the end, the House position prevailed and no permanent cuts to child care were made. The final bill did include using the $7.5 million of “underspending” in the Basic Sliding Fee child care program, but it’s a one-time cut that will not result in families being kicked out of programs. Rep. Nora Slawik is owed a lot of credit for holding the line against permanent cuts. 

Unfortunately, the Governor vetoed the HHS bill, adding yet another issue to be dealt with in the waning days of the 2010 Legislative Session. Read his veto message here.

Even though education budget bills have passed both bodies, the differences between the House and Senate bills seem impossible to resolve in the next two days, and it is unlikely that a conference committee will be appointed. There is of course the matter of the K-12 funding shift, which could end up in a separate final budget package as well.

We have some initial indications that the Governor may indeed sign the Early Childhood Policy bill. The conference committee report passed by wide margins with bipartisan support in both bodies, and we can expect action on the bill today or tomorrow. Follow Ready 4 K on Twitter for breaking news on the bill.   Our Omnibus Bill Tracker includes a summary of the provisions in the bill. 

As we head into the final weekend of the Session, much is still unknown. Closed-door negotiations are taking place, with key legislators making appearances in the Governor’s office at times. Even though the Governor is at his Fishing Opener today and tomorrow, his staff and Republican leaders continue to meet with DFLers to hammer out a deal. Because it’s the second year of the legislative session, they cannot pass bills on Monday, the final day, so we expect a solution to emerge by Sunday. There is speculation that this may not happen, which would likely mean that legislators would be called back for a special session. And given that all 201 legislators are up re-election, this is not an attractive prospect.

Look for an end-of-session summary the early part of next week. And thank you for all you’ve done this year. Early care and education certainly wouldn’t faired as it has thus far without your support!

Family Home Visiting: A Proven Strategy for School Readiness

Today's StarTribune and MinnPost both featured a articles on a critical program reaching some of the families most at-risk for sending children to school unprepared. The Minnesota Visiting Nurses Association (MVNA) sends nurses to visit with pregnant teens and teen mothers and new research is showing the important role these visits have in helping these babies one day start school fully prepared.


The nurses visit with the young moms and work with them to answer questions, connect them with resources and share important information about what to expect with their new baby. The Wilder Foundation has completed the first of a two year study on the program in Minneapolis. From the report, MVNA's nurses met with 523 pregnant and parenting teens in the city between Jan 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009. Of these mothers, 83 percent were first-time moms and 27 percent were foreign born. The largest ethnic groups represented were African-American (43%) and Hispanic (27%). Ninety-five percent of these babies were born at a healthy weight (compared to 90% in the control group) and 95 percent were born at full term (compared to 89%). Both of these are key early indicators for future health and development.

The value of such a program is how it serves some of the hardest to reach families as early as possible and can connect them with other services that will help them get their children prepared to learn, which leads to an even greater return on investment.

Ready 4 K has long advocated for voluntary home visits to be viewed as a critical piece of a quality early learning system. We made significant progress in 2007, when Ready 4 K was successful in securing additional resources for Minnesota's Family Home Visiting Program and making changes to the law to include school readiness as a goal of the program. As a result of our efforts, Ready 4 K is a member of the Minnesota Dept. of Health's Family Home Visiting Steering Committee, which oversees the implementation and evaluation of the program.

We continue to form alliances and work with a diverse group of stakeholders to ensure that this funding remains intact, and thus far we've been successful. One important step in doing this has been to join forces with the Coalition for Targeted Home Visiting, whose mission is to find a secure and stable funding source for targeted home visiting. The Coalition includes members from public health, schools, community programs, and other deliverers of home visiting, and keeps a watchful eye on the legislative process, both federally and at the state level.

The Coalition is also a member of Minnesota's Future, an alliance of early childhood advocacy organizations advancing a set of shared policy recommendations to Minnesota's next Governor that will improve children's development and readiness for school and for life. In fact voluntary home visiting and parent education programs for every first-time parent is one of the five points on Minnesota's Future platform for the next governor.

Ready 4 K @ the Capitol - May 7, 2010

This week at the Capitol finally feels like it should in early May at the Capitol: conference committees began meeting, new funding cuts came forward, and twists and turns are keeping everyone on their toes.

The Health and Human Services Omnibus Budget Bill was finally sent to conference committee yesterday, and conferees began reviewing the side-by-sides. They pledged to get their bill done by Sunday evening, meaning those Saturday evening plans and Mother’s Day celebrations will likely take a back seat to the legislative process. If your Representative or Senator is serving on the HHS conference committee, look for an action alert today. Conferees include: HOUSE: Huntley, Thissen, Clark, Abeler, Hosch, Murphy, E.; SENATE: Berglin, Sheran, Lourey, Prettner Solon, Dille, Lynch.

Your calls and emails made a big difference this week, as the Omnibus Early Childhood Policy bill passed the House and Senate early in the week and was approved by the conference committee today. We expect the final bill to be approved by both bodies and hopefully signed by the Governor in the next few days. Check out the Ready 4 K home page and the Omnibus Bill Tracker for more details.

Early in the week, we learned that the Senate had proposed a $1.3 million cut to Head Start to help minimize a proposed cut to the school districts of Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth. We were of course shocked that the Senate would play politics with low-income families, and again, your calls and emails to the Senate are helping to put a stop to the proposal. It’s not wrapped up yet, but we feel somewhat confident that, at least for now, the cut to Head Start is not on the table.

The big news of the week was that the Supreme Court ruled that Govenor Pawlenty’s unallotments last year exceeded the authority granted by the state’s unallotment statute. The Minnesota Budget Project sums it up nicely by saying, “It is still unclear whether the Governor’s other $2.7 billion in unallotments are immediately impacted. If the other unallotment actions aren’t reversed by this ruling, it at least opens the door for affected parties to bring forward additional lawsuits to overturn other unallotment actions. There is already a lawsuit pending regarding the Governor’s unallotment of the Renters’ Credit. So, we’ll have to wait and see what the budget implications will be.” Read their full article on the decision here.

Ready 4 K and our allied organizations will be holed up in a stuffy hearing room all weekend, and likely into next week, fighting for young children. Feel free to call, email or stop by with any questions. And of course, follow our activity on Twitter.