1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to early childhood education; modifying the membership and duties of 
1.3 	the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care;amending 
1.4 	Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 124D.141, subdivisions 1, 2.
1.5 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 124D.141, subdivision 1, is amended to 
1.7 	read:
1.8 		Subdivision 1.Membership; duties. Two members of the house of representatives, 
1.9 	one appointed by the speaker and one appointed by the minority leader; and two members 
1.10 	of the senate appointed by the Subcommittee on Committees of the Committee on Rules 
1.11 	and Administration, including one member of the minority; the commissioner of health, or 
1.12 	the commissioner's designee; and two parents with a child under age six, shall be added 
1.13 	to the membership of the State Advisory Council on Early Education and Care. The 
1.14 	council must fulfill the duties required under the federal Improving Head Start for School 
1.15 	Readiness Act of 2007 as provided in Public Law 110-134.

1.16 	Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 124D.141, subdivision 2, is amended to read:
1.17 		Subd. 2.Additional duties. The following duties are added to those assigned 
1.18 	to the council under federal law:
1.19 	(1) make recommendations on the most efficient and effective way to leverage state 
1.20 	and federal funding streams for early childhood and child care programs;
1.21 	(2) make recommendations on how to coordinate or colocate early childhood and 
1.22 	child care programs in one state Office of Early Learning;
2.1 	(3) review program evaluations regarding high-quality early childhood programs; 
2.2 	~~and~~
2.3 	(4) make recommendations to the governor and legislature, including proposed 
2.4 	legislation on how to most effectively create a high-quality early childhood system in 
2.5 	Minnesota in order to improve the educational outcomes of children so that all children 
2.6 	are school-ready by 2020~~.~~; and
2.7 	(5) make recommendations to the governor and the legislature on how to screen 
2.8 	earlier and comprehensively assess children for school readiness in order to provide 
2.9 	increased early interventions and increase the number of children ready for kindergarten. 
2.10 	In formulating their recommendations, the council shall consider (i) ways to interface 
2.11 	with parents of children who are not participating in early childhood education or care 
2.12 	programs, (ii) ways to interface with family child care providers, child care centers, and 
2.13 	school-based early childhood and Head Start programs, (iii) if there are age-appropriate 
2.14 	and culturally sensitive screening and assessment tools for three-, four-, and five-year-olds, 
2.15 	(iv) the role of the medical community in screening, (v) incentives for parents to have 
2.16 	children screened at an earlier age, (vi) incentives for early education and care providers 
2.17 	to comprehensively assess children in order to improve instructional practice, (vii) how to 
2.18 	phase in increases in screening and assessment over time, (viii) how the screening and 
2.19 	assessment data will be collected and used and who will have access to the data, (ix) 
2.20 	how to monitor progress toward the goal of having 50 percent of three-year-old children 
2.21 	screened and 50 percent of five-year-old children assessed for school readiness by 2015 
2.22 	and 100 percent of three-year-old children screened and five-year-old children assessed 
2.23 	for school readiness by 2020, and (x) costs to meet these benchmarks. The council shall 
2.24 	consider the screening instruments and comprehensive assessment tools used in Minnesota 
2.25 	early childhood education and care programs and kindergarten. The council may survey 
2.26 	early childhood education and care programs in the state to determine the screening and 
2.27 	assessment tools being used or rely on previously collected survey data, if available. For 
2.28 	purposes of this subdivision, "school readiness" is defined as the child's skills, knowledge, 
2.29 	and behaviors at kindergarten entrance in these areas of child development: social; 
2.30 	self-regulation; cognitive, including language, literacy, and mathematical thinking; and 
2.31 	physical. For purposes of this subdivision, "screening" is defined as the activities used to 
2.32 	identify a child who may need further evaluation to determine delay in development or 
2.33 	disability. For purposes of this subdivision, "assessment" is defined as the activities used 
2.34 	to determine a child's level of performance in order to promote the child's learning and 
2.35 	development. Any costs incurred by the council in making these recommendations will 
2.36 	be paid from private funds. If no private funds are received, the council will not proceed 
3.1 	in making these recommendations. The council will report its recommendations to the 
3.2 	governor and legislature by January 15, 2012, with an interim report on February 15, 2011.