1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to early childhood education; creating an early childhood community 
1.3 	partnerships grant program; appropriating money;proposing coding for new law 
1.4 	in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 124D.
1.5 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 	Section 1. [124D.165] EARLY CHILDHOOD COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS.
1.7 		Subdivision 1.Establishment. A grant program is established to support children's 
1.8 	healthy development and increase children's school readiness by supporting community 
1.9 	partnerships. Early childhood community partnerships must promote children's school 
1.10 	readiness from before birth to kindergarten by coordinating and improving access to:
1.11 	(1) community and school-based early care and education services;
1.12 	(2) health services, including children's mental health and special needs services; and
1.13 	(3) other family support services that stabilize, support, and assist families in 
1.14 	meeting their children's health and developmental needs.
1.15 		Subd. 2.Eligibility; application. (a) An applicant for a grant must be a school 
1.16 	district or consortium of school districts, a tribal school, a county, a nonprofit organization, 
1.17 	or a community-based organization interested in collaborating with community-based 
1.18 	early childhood care and education providers to maximize the services available to 
1.19 	eligible families. Only one grant will be made in a geographic area. Collaboration among 
1.20 	partners is encouraged.
1.21 	(b) An interested applicant must submit a plan to the commissioners of education, 
1.22 	human services, and health in the form and manner the commissioners determine, to 
1.23 	implement an early childhood community partnership. A representative of the applicant 
1.24 	must oversee the community partnership.
2.1 	(c) Interested applicants must show how they will measure kindergarten readiness 
2.2 	across the five developmental domains used in the kindergarten readiness assessment, 
2.3 	and must show how they will measure child development and progress over time, using 
2.4 	developmentally appropriate assessments beginning whenever a child receives a service.
2.5 	(d) Interested applicants must have a plan for increasing the number of children 
2.6 	in quality early learning programs and increasing the number of quality early learning 
2.7 	programs in their community.
2.8 		Subd. 3.Program components. (a) Grant recipients must develop collaborative 
2.9 	partnerships among school-based early childhood programs, kindergarten teachers and 
2.10 	other school officials, community-based Head Start, and child care programs including 
2.11 	licensed centers, family child care homes, and unlicensed family, friend, and neighbor 
2.12 	caregivers, early intervention interagency committees, health care providers, and other 
2.13 	appropriate partners that:
2.14 	(1) provide for an ongoing assessment of local resources and needs for high-quality 
2.15 	early care and education services, health and mental health services, and other social 
2.16 	services that support healthy child development and strong families;
2.17 	(2) develop and implement, in consultation with an advisory committee under 
2.18 	subdivision 4, a plan to improve the healthy development and school readiness of children, 
2.19 	from before birth to kindergarten, particularly those most at risk of school failure, 
2.20 	including a plan for promoting culturally competent services;
2.21 	(3) use the Minnesota Child Care Resource and Referral Network to provide parents 
2.22 	with information on quality early care and education services, and financial aid options for 
2.23 	their children from birth to kindergarten;
2.24 	(4) provide high-quality early care and education settings for children from birth to 
2.25 	kindergarten;
2.26 	(5) connect families to health, mental health, special needs and early intervention 
2.27 	services, adult basic education, English language learning, family literacy programs, and 
2.28 	other relevant social services, as needed;
2.29 	(6) promote shared professional development activities in early care and education 
2.30 	settings that integrate curriculum, assessment, and instruction and are aligned with 
2.31 	kindergarten through grade 12 standards;
2.32 	(7) provide meaningful kindergarten transition services for families that begin one 
2.33 	school year before a child enters kindergarten;
2.34 	(8) develop and implement an evaluation plan to determine the effectiveness of 
2.35 	the collaboration, the level of parent satisfaction, and children's kindergarten readiness 
2.36 	before and after participating in the program;
3.1 	(9) provide training, support, and resources to family, friend, and neighbor caregivers 
3.2 	in order to improve and promote children's health, safety, nutrition, and school readiness;
3.3 	(10) provide outreach and support for early childhood developmental screening;
3.4 	(11) prepare for the implementation of a quality improvement and rating system; and
3.5 	(12) assign an unduplicated student identification number to each child participating 
3.6 	in the program.
3.7 	(b) An applicant must agree to provide a local match for any grant money it receives, 
3.8 	of which may be through local levies, private resources, or in-kind contributions. The 
3.9 	local match may be from an early childhood levy. A grant recipient must use the grant, 
3.10 	and the local match, to supplement but not supplant existing early childhood initiatives 
3.11 	in the community.
3.12 		Subd. 4.Advisory committees. Each early childhood community partnership 
3.13 	grantee must have an advisory committee, which may be a preexisting early childhood 
3.14 	committee or a newly formed early childhood advisory committee. To the extent feasible, 
3.15 	a newly formed early childhood advisory committee must include representatives from 
3.16 	school-based early childhood programs, kindergarten teachers and other school officials, 
3.17 	community-based Head Start, and child care programs including licensed centers, 
3.18 	family child care homes, and unlicensed family, friend, and neighbor caregivers, early 
3.19 	intervention interagency committees, health care providers, parents of young children, 
3.20 	and other appropriate partners.
3.21 		Subd. 5.Application review; grant awards. (a) Only those applicants who meet 
3.22 	the requirements of this section are eligible to receive a grant.
3.23 	(b) Grants are awarded for a two-year time period. Two types of grants are awarded 
3.24 	to qualifying applicants: planning grants and implementation grants. Planning grants are 
3.25 	for communities to form and build partnerships, and shall not exceed $....... per grantee. 
3.26 	Implementation grants include funding for the collaboration as well as the direct services 
3.27 	described in subdivision 3. Upon review, grantees that achieve their set outcomes will be 
3.28 	awarded a 15 percent increase in the second year of the grant.
3.29 	(c) The commissioners must determine the amount of each grant based upon the 
3.30 	number of children and families the grantee expects to serve, and the nature of the 
3.31 	programs and services the grantee expects to provide or facilitate.
3.32 	(d) To the extent feasible, the commissioners must award grants in each of the 
3.33 	governor's economic development regions and in each county in the seven county 
3.34 	metropolitan area.
3.35 	(e) Grant recipients must use the grant to implement this program and must not use 
3.36 	the grant to supplant existing early childhood initiatives. The Departments of Education, 
4.1 	Human Services, and Health must provide technical assistance to grantees on quality 
4.2 	improvements and ratings, appropriate assessment tools, collaboration, and other needs 
4.3 	upon request.
4.4 		Subd. 6.Evaluation. The commissioners of education, human services, and health 
4.5 	must provide for an evaluation of this grant program and must report to the appropriate 
4.6 	committees of the legislature by January 15, 2012.

4.7 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective July 1, 2011.

4.8 	Sec. 2. APPROPRIATION.
 4.9 	$....... is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner of education in 
4.10 	fiscal year 2012 for the early childhood community partnerships grant program under 
4.11 	Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.165.