HF 3470

as introduced - 86th Legislature (2009 - 2010) Posted on 03/08/2010 09:44am

A bill for an act
relating to early childhood education; modifying the membership and duties of
the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care; amending
Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 124D.141, subdivisions 1, 2.

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

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 124D.141, subdivision 1, is amended to
read:

Subdivision 1.

Membership; duties.

Two members of the house of representatives,
one appointed by the speaker and one appointed by the minority leader; and two members
of the senate appointed by the Subcommittee on Committees of the Committee on Rules
and Administration, including one member of the minority; new text begin the commissioner of health, or
the commissioner's designee; new text end and two parents with a child under age six, shall be added
to the membership of the State Advisory Council on Early Education and Care. The
council must fulfill the duties required under the federal Improving Head Start for School
Readiness Act of 2007 as provided in Public Law 110-134.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 124D.141, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Additional duties.

The following duties are added to those assigned
to the council under federal law:

(1) make recommendations on the most efficient and effective way to leverage state
and federal funding streams for early childhood and child care programs;

(2) make recommendations on how to coordinate or colocate early childhood and
child care programs in one state Office of Early Learning;

(3) review program evaluations regarding high-quality early childhood programs;
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(4) make recommendations to the governor and legislature, including proposed
legislation on how to most effectively create a high-quality early childhood system in
Minnesota in order to improve the educational outcomes of children so that all children
are school-ready by 2020 deleted text begin . deleted text end new text begin ; and
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new text begin (5) make recommendations to the governor and the legislature on how to screen
earlier and comprehensively assess children for school readiness in order to provide
increased early interventions and increase the number of children ready for kindergarten.
In formulating their recommendations, the council shall consider (i) ways to interface
with parents of children who are not participating in early childhood education or care
programs, (ii) ways to interface with family child care providers, child care centers, and
school-based early childhood and Head Start programs, (iii) if there are age-appropriate
and culturally sensitive screening and assessment tools for three-, four-, and five-year-olds,
(iv) the role of the medical community in screening, (v) incentives for parents to have
children screened at an earlier age, (vi) incentives for early education and care providers
to comprehensively assess children in order to improve instructional practice, (vii) how to
phase in increases in screening and assessment over time, (viii) how the screening and
assessment data will be collected and used and who will have access to the data, (ix)
how to monitor progress toward the goal of having 50 percent of three-year-old children
screened and 50 percent of five-year-old children assessed for school readiness by 2015
and 100 percent of three-year-old children screened and five-year-old children assessed
for school readiness by 2020, and (x) costs to meet these benchmarks. The council shall
consider the screening instruments and comprehensive assessment tools used in Minnesota
early childhood education and care programs and kindergarten. The council may survey
early childhood education and care programs in the state to determine the screening and
assessment tools being used or rely on previously collected survey data, if available. For
purposes of this subdivision, "school readiness" is defined as the child's skills, knowledge,
and behaviors at kindergarten entrance in these areas of child development: social;
self-regulation; cognitive, including language, literacy, and mathematical thinking; and
physical. For purposes of this subdivision, "screening" is defined as the activities used to
identify a child who may need further evaluation to determine delay in development or
disability. For purposes of this subdivision, "assessment" is defined as the activities used
to determine a child's level of performance in order to promote the child's learning and
development. Any costs incurred by the council in making these recommendations will
be paid from private funds. If no private funds are received, the council will not proceed
in making these recommendations. The council will report its recommendations to the
governor and legislature by January 15, 2012, with an interim report on February 15, 2011.
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