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State Representative Jim Davnie
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-0173
For more information contact: Ted Modrich 651-296-5809
HOUSE BRIEFS
EARLY CHILDHOOD
Early childhood education proved to be a controversial issue during this last legislative session and the subsequent special session. It’s notable that the bipartisan Early Childhood Caucus, of which I was a founding member, never met during the session.
The E-12 legislation that was passed in the regular session completely overlooked Minnesota’s youngest learners: it contained not one word about early childhood education. Gov. Dayton vetoed the legislation.
Unfortunately, little good news for early childhood came out of the special session. The education bill passed by legislative Republicans abandons the expansion of the early childhood quality rating system (known as Parent Aware). Similar to the way in which consumers can look at product ratings online before purchasing, this system gives parents the opportunity to see ratings for early care and education programs before enrolling their children in them. It had strong backing from the childcare and business communities but was divisive within the GOP so was not included in the final bill.
Toward the end of May, the Obama Administration announced $500 million in funding for new Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grants. This could have been a tremendous opportunity to move our early childhood system forward for our youngest children. However, a statewide quality ratings system is necessary to successfully compete for early learning awards. This is another missed opportunity by the new GOP legislative leadership. I am among a group of legislators who will be looking for ways to strengthen Minnesota’s application for these dollars even with this setback.
It should also be noted that the 40% school funding holdback (totaling $780 million) will affect not only K-12 funding, but early education program funding as well. This is regrettable, since early childhood education programs are the types of proven reform our state needs to close the achievement gap. This is an investment in our future -- and one worth making.
It’s no longer in question that early childhood education must be a priority; rather, it’s a question of how we can best move forward even when our resources are scarce. Despite the periodic setbacks that we may encounter, please be assured that I'll continue to advocate for investing in early childhood education to the fullest extent possible in challenging economic times.
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