SF 481

2nd Engrossment - 88th Legislature (2013 - 2014) Posted on 03/21/2013 08:45am

A bill for an act
relating to education finance; establishing an early learning scholarship program;
expanding access to quality early learning and care; appropriating money;
amending Minnesota Statutes 2012, section 13.319, by adding a subdivision;
proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 124D.

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

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2012, section 13.319, is amended by adding a
subdivision to read:

new text begin Subd. 9. new text end

new text begin Early learning scholarships. new text end

new text begin Section 124D.143 governs data under the
early learning scholarship program.
new text end

Sec. 2.

new text begin [124D.143] EARLY LEARNING SCHOLARSHIPS.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Early learning scholarships established. new text end

new text begin The Office of Early
Learning must oversee the early learning scholarship program in consultation with the
Minnesota Departments of Education, Human Services, and Health.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Duties. new text end

new text begin The Office of Early Learning shall administer the early learning
scholarship program, establish participation standards for children and their families,
develop criteria for qualifying providers based on section 124D.142, and contract for
administrative services as necessary with a resource and referral organization under
section 119B.19, or other nonprofit or public entity.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Definitions. new text end

new text begin (a) The terms defined in the subdivision apply to this section.
new text end

new text begin (b) "Director" means the director of the Office of Early Learning.
new text end

new text begin (c) "Eligible program" means a Head Start program under section 119A.50, school
readiness program under section 124D.15, or other school district child-based program
designed to provide early education services to children not yet in kindergarten, licensed
center-based child care program under chapter 245A, or licensed family child care
program under chapter 245A or other program providing early learning opportunities.
new text end

new text begin (d) "Income" has the meaning given in section 119B.011, subdivision 15.
new text end

new text begin (e) "Parent" means the parent or legal guardian of a child.
new text end

new text begin (f) "Rated program" means an eligible program that receives one, two, three, or four
stars under the quality rating and improvement system established in section 124D.142.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Participant eligibility. new text end

new text begin The parent of a child who will be at least three
years of age as of September 1 of the year of application, is eligible to apply for an early
learning scholarship if the family's income is at or below 185 percent of the federal
poverty level. The director of the Office of Early Learning may specify the form and
manner of the application for a scholarship. The director may establish a method to
determine family income but a parent meets this requirement by documenting their child's
identification through another public funding eligibility process, including the free and
reduced-price lunch program, National School Lunch Act, United States Code, title
42, section 1751, part 210; Head Start under federal Improving Head Start for School
Readiness Act of 2007; Minnesota Family Investment Program under chapter 256J; the
Federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; and child care assistance programs
under chapter 119B and no further information to verify income is required. A parent
under age 21 who is pursuing a high school or general education equivalency diploma is
eligible for an early learning scholarship, if they have a child age zero to five years old and
meet the income eligibility requirements.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 5. new text end

new text begin Scholarship amount. new text end

new text begin The director annually shall determine the maximum
scholarship amounts based on the annual early care and education provider market survey
results adjusted for inflation as determined by the director, and may establish a range
of scholarship amounts taking into account the child's level of need and geographic
location. The director shall establish a scholarship amount schedule according to the
eligible program's rating under subdivision 3, paragraph (f). The maximum amount of
the scholarship may not exceed $8,000, at the discretion of the director. The scholarship
amounts may be designed to be layered around other assistance programs available to that
child. The director shall not consider local funds allocated to support an early learning
program when layering scholarships around other assistance programs. Eligible providers
must be notified of the scholarship allocations available in their geographic location.
After the first year of the scholarship award, the director must reduce the scholarship
amount by 20 percent if the child does not make one year's growth towards being ready
for kindergarten.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 6. new text end

new text begin Award of scholarships. new text end

new text begin (a) The director shall establish application
timelines and determine the schedule for awarding scholarships that meets operational
needs of eligible programs. The director may prioritize applications on factors including
family income, geographic location, and needs of the child. By March 15, eligible
programs may notify the director of the number of scholarship-eligible children who are
eligible under subdivision 4, and who have applied for enrollment in that program. To
facilitate enrollment planning, by April 15, the director shall notify eligible programs that
have provided enrollment information under this paragraph of the scholarship status of
each applicant. To the extent practicable and taking into account family mobility, the
scholarships must be awarded to eligible recipients beginning April 15 of each year for
a child's participation in a program starting in August or September of that year. Any
siblings of a child who has been awarded a scholarship under this section must be awarded
a scholarship upon request provided the sibling attends the same program. A child who
has received a scholarship under this section must continue to receive a scholarship until
that child enrolls in kindergarten or turns six years of age.
new text end

new text begin (b) A three- or four-star rated program that has a waiting list of children eligible for
scholarships may notify the director of the program's desire to serve additional children in
order to accommodate scholarship recipients. The director may designate a predetermined
number of scholarship slots for that program and notify the program of that number.
new text end

new text begin (c) A scholarship recipient may choose any available program and is not required to
enroll in a program with a predetermined number of slots.
new text end

new text begin (d) A child who receives a scholarship who has not completed development
screening under sections 121A.16 to 121A.19 must complete that screening within 45
days of first attending an eligible program.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 7. new text end

new text begin Scholarship recipient choice of programs. new text end

new text begin A scholarship recipient may
choose to apply to any rated program for acceptance. Priority must be given to eligible
programs with a rating of three or four stars. If the scholarship recipient has not been
accepted and subsequently enrolled in a rated program within ten months of receipt of
the scholarship, the scholarship cancels and the recipient must reapply in order to be
eligible for another scholarship.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 8. new text end

new text begin Building quality. new text end

new text begin For fiscal years 2014 and 2015 only, the director must
develop a streamlined process to encourage eligible programs to enter the rating program.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 9. new text end

new text begin Provider reimbursement. new text end

new text begin The director may determine the form and
method of payment to the fiscal agent for each program serving a scholarship recipient. The
director may make quarterly payments on behalf of the scholarship recipient in advance
of the services provided to the child, or arrange other payment methods for providers.
The director may request information as necessary from providers to verify scholarship
payments. A provider must not use any public funds to pay directly for union dues.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 10. new text end

new text begin Earned income calculation. new text end

new text begin Scholarships paid to providers on behalf
of eligible parents must not be counted as earned income for the purposes of medical
assistance, MinnesotaCare, Minnesota Family Investment Program, diversionary work
program, child care assistance, or Head Start programs. Scholarships paid to providers on
behalf of eligible parents must not be considered child care funds for the purposes of the
child care assistance program under chapter 119B.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 11. new text end

new text begin Student identification number. new text end

new text begin The director shall collect from
participating programs data including, but not limited to, demographic, socioeconomic,
participation, and assessment information related to scholarship recipients. Data on
scholarship recipients are private data on individuals as defined in section 13.02,
subdivision 12.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 12. new text end

new text begin Report required. new text end

new text begin The director, in consultation with the children's
cabinet, shall develop and implement a plan to publicize and increase parent awareness of
early learning scholarships. The director must report the results of the outreach efforts to
the legislature by January 15 of each year.
new text end

Sec. 3. new text begin FISCAL YEAR 2014 ONLY.
new text end

new text begin Notwithstanding the timelines in section 2, for fiscal year 2014, only, the director
shall establish an expedited process to award scholarships to eligible recipients attending
three- or four-star rated programs to accommodate those eligible programs with fall
enrollment deadlines.
new text end

Sec. 4. new text begin EARLY CHILDHOOD SCHOLARSHIPS.
new text end

new text begin $78,000,000 in fiscal year 2014 and $105,000,000 in fiscal year 2015 are
appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner of education for transfer to the
Office of Early Learning for early education scholarship awards under section 2. The base
appropriation for this program for fiscal year 2016 is $150,000,000.
new text end