HF 2701

as introduced - 90th Legislature (2017 - 2018) Posted on 05/19/2017 09:25am

A bill for an act
relating to education; creating an early learning hub system; appropriating money;
proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 124D.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

new text begin [124D.152] EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND LEARNING
COMMUNITY HUB PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Establishment. new text end

new text begin An early childhood care and learning community hub
planning and implementation grant program is established to develop and support early
childhood care and learning community hubs. An early childhood care and learning
community hub must promote an aligned, coordinated, and family-centered system for the
support and appropriate development of children ages birth to five years, ensure that children
arrive at school ready to succeed, and ensure that Minnesota's young children live in families
that are healthy, stable, and attached by coordinating and improving families' access to:
new text end

new text begin (1) community early care and education services;
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new text begin (2) physical and mental health services;
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new text begin (3) stable housing;
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new text begin (4) parent support, education, and career services, including appropriate prenatal services;
and
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new text begin (5) other family support services, including high quality, affordable child care services
that stabilize, support, and assist families in meeting their children's health and developmental
needs.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Definitions. new text end

new text begin (a) As used in this section, the following definitions apply.
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new text begin (b) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of education.
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new text begin (c) "Council" means the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care
under section 124D.141.
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new text begin (d) "Early childhood care and learning community hub" means any entity designated by
regional partners to coordinate early learning services, as determined by rules adopted by
the commissioner in consultation with the commissioners of health, human services, and
employment and economic development.
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new text begin (e) "Regional partners" includes counties, cities, school districts, service cooperatives,
community colleges, public universities, private educational institutions, community
partnerships, nonprofit service providers, and tribes.
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new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Request for proposals. new text end

new text begin The commissioner shall develop and implement a
process for requesting proposals from entities to become early childhood care and learning
community hubs. Proposals must be submitted in the form and manner specified by the
commissioner by rule. The commissioner must ensure that:
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new text begin (1) the applicant has the capacity to coordinate the provision of early learning services
to the community that will be served by the entity. An entity may meet the requirement of
this clause by submitting evidence that local stakeholders, including but not limited to
service providers, parents, community members, county governments, local governments,
and school districts, have participated in the development of the proposal and will maintain
a meaningful role in the early childhood care and learning community hub;
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new text begin (2) the services coordinated by the entity will be in alignment with the services provided
by the public schools of the community that will be served by the entity;
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new text begin (3) the entity will be in alignment with, and make advantageous use of, the system of
public health care and services available through local health departments and other publicly
supported programs delivered through, or in partnership with, counties and coordinated care
organizations;
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new text begin (4) the entity will be able to integrate efforts among education providers, providers of
health care, providers of human services, and providers of other programs and services in
the community;
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new text begin (5) the entity will use coordinated and transparent budgeting;
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new text begin (6) the entity must have a community advisory body that:
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new text begin (i) has the authority to initiate audits, recommend the terms of a contract, and provide
reports to the public and to the council on the outcomes of the provision of early learning
services to the community served by the entity; and
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new text begin (ii) has members selected through a transparent process and includes both public and
private entities, locally based parents and service recipients, human social service providers,
child care providers, health care providers, and representatives of local governments from
the service area. A majority of the advisory board must be a combination of locally based
parents and service recipients. The members must reflect the racial and socioeconomic
diversity of the community;
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new text begin (7) the entity will serve a community that is based on the population and service needs
of the community and will demonstrate the ability to improve results for at-risk children,
including the ability to identify, evaluate, and implement coordinated strategies to ensure
that a child is ready to succeed in school;
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new text begin (8) the entity will be able to raise and leverage significant funds from local public and
private sources and to secure in-kind support to support early learning services coordinated
by the entity and operate in a fiscally sound manner; and
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new text begin (9) the entity meets any other qualifications established by the commissioner.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Interagency coordination. new text end

new text begin In coordination with the commissioners of health,
human services, and employment and economic development, the commissioner shall
develop high-level goals and expectations for concrete outcomes for children in Minnesota
that are consistent with the purposes of the early childhood care and learning community
hubs in subdivision 1 and that will inform and guide the work of the early childhood care
and learning community hubs. The commissioner shall also develop useable, measurable,
and actionable metrics related to those goals and expectations that early childhood care and
learning community hubs may adopt.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 5. new text end

new text begin Eligibility; application. new text end

new text begin (a) An applicant for a grant must be an entity designated
by regional partners interested in collaborating with community-based early childhood care
and education providers to maximize the services available to eligible families.
new text end

new text begin (b) An interested applicant must submit a plan to the commissioner, in the form and
manner the commissioner, in coordination with the commissioners of health, human services,
and employment and economic development, determines, to implement an early childhood
care and learning community hub that is located in an appropriate community location. The
application must include criteria to ensure (1) that the early childhood care and learning
community hubs and the providers of early care and learning services with which the
community hub works are accountable for outcomes; (2) that services are provided in a
cost-efficient manner; and (3) that the services provided and the means by which those
services are provided are focused on the outcomes of the services. An applicant must include
in the plan a community-based assessment of the existing resources and needs for providing
high quality early care and education services, health and mental health services, and other
social services that support healthy families and safe neighborhoods. An applicant must set
forth high-level goals and expectations for concrete outcomes that are consistent with
high-level goals and expectations set forth by the commissioner but tailored to the existing
resources and needs of the local community. The applicant must identify metrics related to
those goals and expectations that are measurable and actionable. An applicant must provide
a plan for data tracking, sharing, and coordination.
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new text begin (c) Interested applicants also may apply to make prekindergarten to grade 3 school
readiness and academic success a community hub component.
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new text begin Subd. 6. new text end

new text begin Designating hubs. new text end

new text begin (a) When determining whether to designate an entity as an
early childhood care and learning community hub, the commissioner shall balance the
following factors:
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new text begin (1) the entity's ability to engage the community and be involved in the community;
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new text begin (2) the comprehensiveness of the programs and services the grantee expects to provide
or facilitate;
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new text begin (3) the level of need for additional early childhood care and learning resources in the
community;
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new text begin (4) the entity's ability to produce outcomes that benefit children;
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new text begin (5) the entity's resourcefulness;
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new text begin (6) the entity's use, or proposed use, of evidence-based practices; and
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new text begin (7) the number of children and families the grantee expects to serve.
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new text begin (b) In making awards, the commissioner shall consider whether or not the grantee expects
to include a prekindergarten to grade 3 school readiness and academic success grant
component in its early childhood care and learning community hub program. The
commissioner must award 60 percent of grant funds to applicants serving school districts
having 50 percent or more of enrolled children eligible for the federal free and reduced-price
lunch program in the preceding school year. The remaining 40 percent of grant funds are
available to other applicants. To the extent feasible and sufficient applications are made,
the commissioner must award grants in each of the governor's economic development
regions and in each county in the metropolitan area. Grant recipients must use the grant to
implement this program and must not use the grant to supplant existing early childhood
initiatives.
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new text begin Subd. 7. new text end

new text begin Program components. new text end

new text begin Grant recipients must:
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new text begin (1) provide for an ongoing assessment of local resources and needs for high quality early
care and learning services, health and mental health services, and other social services that
support safe neighborhoods and healthy families;
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new text begin (2) develop and implement, in consultation with a community advisory body under
subdivision 3, clause (6), a plan to improve the healthy development and school readiness
of children from before birth to kindergarten;
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new text begin (3) develop collaborative partnerships among school-based early childhood programs;
kindergarten teachers and other school officials; community-based Head Start and child
care programs including licensed centers, family child care homes, and unlicensed family
friend and neighbor caregivers; early intervention interagency committees; county, city,
and tribal social service agencies; and other appropriate partners to achieve the goals and
purposes of the early childhood care and learning community hub in this section and in the
local application and plan developed by the community hub;
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new text begin (4) provide meaningful kindergarten transition services for families that begin one school
year before a child enters kindergarten;
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new text begin (5) collaborate with health care providers and insurers in the community, local public
health departments, school districts, and other entities to ensure that meaningful early
childhood development and health screenings, including mental health screenings, are made
available to all children in the community and that necessary treatment and services are
provided to address concerns identified in the screenings;
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new text begin (6) develop and implement an evaluation plan to determine the effectiveness of the
collaboration, the level of parent satisfaction, and children's kindergarten readiness before
and after participating in the program;
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new text begin (7) assign an unduplicated Minnesota Automated Reporting Student System number to
each child participating in the program; and
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new text begin (8) report annually on or before August 1 to the commissioner regarding the
implementation and status of its work under this section.
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new text begin Subd. 8. new text end

new text begin Prekindergarten to grade 3 school readiness and academic success grant
component. new text end

new text begin (a) Interested applicants also may apply to the commissioner to include as part
of the early childhood care and learning community hub a prekindergarten school readiness
and academic success component that:
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new text begin (1) provides high-quality prekindergarten programming for three- and four-year-old
children with appropriate community early care and education partners that:
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new text begin (i) where applicable, has an upper level rating based on the Parent Aware system under
section 124D.142;
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new text begin (ii) offers programs meeting Head Start performance standards; or
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new text begin (iii) satisfies other commissioner-determined quality standards;
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new text begin (2) aligns prekindergarten through grade 3 standards, curriculum, and assessments;
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new text begin (3) coordinates prekindergarten through grade 3 programs through colocation where
possible;
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new text begin (4) provides meaningful transition activities for four-year-old children that begin one
school year before a child enters kindergarten;
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new text begin (5) promotes ongoing parent involvement from prekindergarten through grade 3; and
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new text begin (6) uses periodic, age-appropriate child assessments to determine program effectiveness.
new text end

new text begin (b) If an early childhood care and learning community hub applies for and receives a
prekindergarten to grade 3 school readiness and academic success grant under this
subdivision, the grant shall be equivalent to ten percent of the total appropriated to any
individual or entity in the region covered by the early childhood care and learning community
hub pursuant to sections 124D.13, 124D.135, 124D.15, 124D.151, 124D.16, 124D.162, and
124D.165 in the immediately prior fiscal year. The individuals and entities in the region
covered by the early childhood care and learning community hub must transfer
appropriations, grants, or other revenues under sections 124D.13, 124D.135, 124D.15,
124D.151, 124D.16, 124D.162, and 124D.165 to the early childhood care and learning
community hub. The early childhood care and learning community hub may allocate those
funds at their discretion for the purposes in this subdivision. The early childhood care and
learning community hub shall coordinate with Head Start programs to enhance the use of
funds appropriated under sections 119A.50 to 119A.545 to best serve the region. The early
childhood care and learning community hub shall work with the commissioner of human
services to enhance and coordinate the use of funds authorized and appropriated under
chapter 119B to best serve eligible children and families in the region. The commissioner
must provide for an evaluation of this grant program and must make recommendations
concerning the program to the legislative committees with jurisdiction over education policy
and finance by January 15, 2019.
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new text begin Subd. 9. new text end

new text begin Matched funding. new text end

new text begin The commissioner may require that, as a condition of
receiving funding as a designated early childhood care and learning community hub under
this section, the community hub provide matching funding. The percentage of matching
funding shall be determined by the commissioner and may vary for each fiscal year. County,
city, school district, and private funds may be used for matching purposes. Any money
received by an early childhood care and learning community hub is subject to the restrictions
of this section.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 10. new text end

new text begin Administrative costs. new text end

new text begin An entity designated as part of an early childhood care
and learning community hub may not use more than 15 percent of the money received by
the entity from the council to pay administrative costs of the entity.
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new text begin Subd. 11. new text end

new text begin Evaluation. new text end

new text begin The commissioner must provide for an evaluation of the grant
program and must make recommendations concerning the program to the legislative
committees with jurisdiction over education policy and finance by January 15, 2019.
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new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2017.
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Sec. 2. new text begin Appropriation.
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new text begin $....... in fiscal year 2018 is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner for
purposes of the early childhood care and learning community hub planning and
implementation grant program under Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.152.
new text end