HF 3200

as introduced - 86th Legislature (2009 - 2010) Posted on 02/25/2010 08:57am

A bill for an act
relating to early childhood education; creating an early childhood community
partnerships grant program; 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.165] EARLY CHILDHOOD COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Establishment. new text end

new text begin A grant program is established to support children's
healthy development and increase children's school readiness by supporting community
partnerships. Early childhood community partnerships must promote children's school
readiness from before birth to kindergarten by coordinating and improving access to:
new text end

new text begin (1) community and school-based early care and education services;
new text end

new text begin (2) health services, including children's mental health and special needs services; and
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new text begin (3) other family support 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 Eligibility; application. new text end

new text begin (a) An applicant for a grant must be a school
district or consortium of school districts, a tribal school, a county, a nonprofit organization,
or a community-based organization interested in collaborating with community-based
early childhood care and education providers to maximize the services available to
eligible families. Only one grant will be made in a geographic area. Collaboration among
partners is encouraged.
new text end

new text begin (b) An interested applicant must submit a plan to the commissioners of education,
human services, and health in the form and manner the commissioners determine, to
implement an early childhood community partnership. A representative of the applicant
must oversee the community partnership.
new text end

new text begin (c) Interested applicants must show how they will measure kindergarten readiness
across the five developmental domains used in the kindergarten readiness assessment,
and must show how they will measure child development and progress over time, using
developmentally appropriate assessments beginning whenever a child receives a service.
new text end

new text begin (d) Interested applicants must have a plan for increasing the number of children
in quality early learning programs and increasing the number of quality early learning
programs in their community.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Program components. new text end

new text begin (a) Grant recipients must 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, health care providers, and other
appropriate partners that:
new text end

new text begin (1) provide for an ongoing assessment of local resources and needs for high-quality
early care and education services, health and mental health services, and other social
services that support healthy child development and strong families;
new text end

new text begin (2) develop and implement, in consultation with an advisory committee under
subdivision 4, a plan to improve the healthy development and school readiness of children,
from before birth to kindergarten, particularly those most at risk of school failure,
including a plan for promoting culturally competent services;
new text end

new text begin (3) use the Minnesota Child Care Resource and Referral Network to provide parents
with information on quality early care and education services, and financial aid options for
their children from birth to kindergarten;
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new text begin (4) provide high-quality early care and education settings for children from birth to
kindergarten;
new text end

new text begin (5) connect families to health, mental health, special needs and early intervention
services, adult basic education, English language learning, family literacy programs, and
other relevant social services, as needed;
new text end

new text begin (6) promote shared professional development activities in early care and education
settings that integrate curriculum, assessment, and instruction and are aligned with
kindergarten through grade 12 standards;
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new text begin (7) provide meaningful kindergarten transition services for families that begin one
school year before a child enters kindergarten;
new text end

new text begin (8) 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;
new text end

new text begin (9) provide training, support, and resources to family, friend, and neighbor caregivers
in order to improve and promote children's health, safety, nutrition, and school readiness;
new text end

new text begin (10) provide outreach and support for early childhood developmental screening;
new text end

new text begin (11) prepare for the implementation of a quality improvement and rating system; and
new text end

new text begin (12) assign an unduplicated student identification number to each child participating
in the program.
new text end

new text begin (b) An applicant must agree to provide a local match for any grant money it receives,
of which may be through local levies, private resources, or in-kind contributions. The
local match may be from an early childhood levy. A grant recipient must use the grant,
and the local match, to supplement but not supplant existing early childhood initiatives
in the community.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Advisory committees. new text end

new text begin Each early childhood community partnership
grantee must have an advisory committee, which may be a preexisting early childhood
committee or a newly formed early childhood advisory committee. To the extent feasible,
a newly formed early childhood advisory committee must include representatives from
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, health care providers, parents of young children,
and other appropriate partners.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 5. new text end

new text begin Application review; grant awards. new text end

new text begin (a) Only those applicants who meet
the requirements of this section are eligible to receive a grant.
new text end

new text begin (b) Grants are awarded for a two-year time period. Two types of grants are awarded
to qualifying applicants: planning grants and implementation grants. Planning grants are
for communities to form and build partnerships, and shall not exceed $....... per grantee.
Implementation grants include funding for the collaboration as well as the direct services
described in subdivision 3. Upon review, grantees that achieve their set outcomes will be
awarded a 15 percent increase in the second year of the grant.
new text end

new text begin (c) The commissioners must determine the amount of each grant based upon the
number of children and families the grantee expects to serve, and the nature of the
programs and services the grantee expects to provide or facilitate.
new text end

new text begin (d) To the extent feasible, the commissioners must award grants in each of the
governor's economic development regions and in each county in the seven county
metropolitan area.
new text end

new text begin (e) Grant recipients must use the grant to implement this program and must not use
the grant to supplant existing early childhood initiatives. The Departments of Education,
Human Services, and Health must provide technical assistance to grantees on quality
improvements and ratings, appropriate assessment tools, collaboration, and other needs
upon request.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 6. new text end

new text begin Evaluation. new text end

new text begin The commissioners of education, human services, and health
must provide for an evaluation of this grant program and must report to the appropriate
committees of the legislature by January 15, 2012.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2011.
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Sec. 2. new text begin APPROPRIATION.
new text end

new text begin $....... is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner of education in
fiscal year 2012 for the early childhood community partnerships grant program under
Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.165.
new text end