1999 Minnesota Statutes

     124D.15 School readiness programs. 

    Subdivision 1.    Establishment; purpose.  A district or 
 a group of districts may establish a school readiness program 
 for eligible children.  The purpose of a school readiness 
 program is to provide all eligible children adequate 
 opportunities to participate in child development programs that 
 enable the children to enter school with the necessary skills 
 and behavior and family stability and support to progress and 
 flourish. 

    Subd. 2.    Child eligibility.  (a) A child is eligible 
 to participate in a school readiness program offered by the 
 resident district or another district if the child is:  

    (1) at least 3-1/2 years old but has not entered 
 kindergarten; and 

    (2) receives developmental screening under section 121A.17 
 within 90 days of enrolling in the program or the child's fourth 
 birthday.  

    (b) A child younger than 3-1/2 years old may participate in 
 a school readiness program if the district or group of districts 
 that establishes the program determines that the program can 
 more effectively accomplish its purpose by including children 
 younger than 3-1/2 years old. 

    Subd. 3.    Program eligibility.  A school readiness 
 program must include the following: 

    (1) a comprehensive plan to anticipate and meet the needs 
 of participating families by coordinating existing social 
 services programs and by fostering collaboration among agencies 
 or other community-based organizations and programs that provide 
 a full range of flexible, family-focused services to families 
 with young children; 

    (2) a development and learning component to help children 
 develop appropriate social, cognitive, and physical skills, and 
 emotional well-being; 

    (3) health referral services to address children's medical, 
 dental, mental health, and nutritional needs; 

    (4) a nutrition component to meet children's daily 
 nutritional needs; 

    (5) parents' involvement in meeting children's educational, 
 health, social service, and other needs; 

    (6) community outreach to ensure participation by families 
 who represent the racial, cultural, and economic diversity of 
 the community; 

    (7) community-based staff and program resources, including 
 interpreters, that reflect the racial and ethnic characteristics 
 of the children participating in the program; and 

    (8) a literacy component to ensure that the literacy needs 
 of parents are addressed through referral to and cooperation 
 with adult basic education programs and other adult literacy 
 programs. 

    Subd. 4.    Program goals.  School readiness programs 
 are encouraged to: 

    (1) prepare an individualized service plan to meet each 
 child's developmental and learning needs; 

    (2) provide parent education to increase parents' 
 knowledge, understanding, skills, and experience in child 
 development and learning; 

    (3) foster substantial parent involvement that may include 
 having parents develop curriculum or serve as a paid or 
 volunteer educator, resource person, or other staff; 

    (4) identify the needs of families in the content of the 
 child's school readiness and family literacy; 

    (5) expand collaboration with public organizations, 
 businesses, nonprofit organizations, or other private 
 organizations to develop a coordinated system of flexible, 
 family-focused services available to anticipate and meet the 
 full range of needs of all eligible children and their families; 

    (6) coordinate treatment and follow-up services for 
 children's identified physical and mental health problems; 

    (7) offer transportation for eligible children and their 
 families for whom other forms of transportation are unavailable 
 or would constitute an excessive financial burden; 

    (8) make substantial outreach efforts to assure significant 
 participation by families with the greatest needs, including 
 those families whose income level does not exceed the most 
 recent update of the poverty guidelines required by sections 652 
 and 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 
 (Public Law Number 97-35); 

    (9) use community-based, trained home visitors serving as 
 paraprofessionals to provide social support, referrals, parent 
 education, and other services; 

    (10) create community-based family resource centers and 
 interdisciplinary teams; and 

    (11) enhance the quality of family or center-based child 
 care programs by providing supplementary services and resources, 
 staff training, and assistance with children with special needs. 

    Subd. 5.    Services with new or existing providers.  A 
 district is encouraged to contract with a public or nonprofit 
 organization to provide eligible children developmentally 
 appropriate services that meet the program requirements in 
 subdivision 3.  In the alternative, a district may pay tuition 
 or fees to place an eligible child in an existing program.  A 
 district may establish a new program where no existing, 
 reasonably accessible program meets the program requirements in 
 subdivision 3.  Services may be provided in a site-based program 
 or in the home of the child or a combination of both.  The 
 district may not restrict participation to district residents.  

    Subd. 6.    Coordination with other providers.  (a) The 
 district must coordinate the school readiness program with 
 existing community-based social services providers and foster 
 collaboration among agencies and other community-based 
 organizations and programs that provide flexible, family-focused 
 services to families with children.  The district must actively 
 encourage greater sharing of responsibility and accountability 
 among service providers and facilitate children's transition 
 between programs.  

    (b) To the extent possible, resources must follow the 
 children so that children receive appropriate services in a 
 stable environment and are not moved from one program location 
 to another.  Where geographically feasible, the district must 
 actively promote colocating of services for children and their 
 families. 

    Subd. 7.    Advisory council.  Each school readiness 
 program must have an advisory council composed of members of 
 existing early education-related boards, parents of 
 participating children, child care providers, culturally 
 specific service organizations, local resource and referral 
 agencies, and representatives of early childhood service 
 providers.  The council must advise the board in creating and 
 administering the program and must monitor the progress of the 
 program.  The council must ensure that children at greatest risk 
 receive appropriate services.  If the board is unable to appoint 
 to the advisory council members of existing early 
 education-related boards, it must appoint parents of children 
 enrolled in the program who represent the racial, cultural, and 
 economic diversity of the district and representatives of early 
 childhood service providers as representatives to an existing 
 advisory council. 

    Subd. 8.    Prioritizing services.  The district must 
 give greatest priority to providing services to eligible 
 children identified, through a means such as the early childhood 
 screening process, as being developmentally disadvantaged or 
 experiencing risk factors that could impede their school 
 readiness. 

    Subd. 9.    Child records.  (a) A record of a child's 
 progress and development must be maintained in the child's 
 cumulative record while enrolled in the school readiness 
 program.  The cumulative record must be used for the purpose of 
 planning activities to suit individual needs and shall become 
 part of the child's permanent record.  The cumulative record is 
 private data under chapter 13.  Information in the record may be 
 disseminated to an educator or service provider only to the 
 extent that that person has a need to know the information.  

    (b) An educator or service provider may transmit 
 information in the child's cumulative record to an educator or 
 service provider in another program for young children when the 
 child applies to enroll in that other program. 

    Subd. 10.    Supervision.  A program provided by a board 
 must be supervised by a licensed early childhood teacher, a 
 certified early childhood educator, or a licensed parent 
 educator.  A program provided according to a contract between a 
 district and a nonprofit organization or another private 
 organization must be supervised and staffed according to the 
 terms of the contract.  

    Subd. 11.    District standards.  The board of the 
 district must develop standards for the school readiness program 
 that reflect the eligibility criteria in subdivision 3.  The 
 board must consider including in the standards the program 
 characteristics in subdivision 4. 

    Subd. 12.    Program fees.  A district may adopt a 
 sliding fee schedule based on a family's income but must waive a 
 fee for a participant unable to pay.  The fees charged must be 
 designed to enable eligible children of all socioeconomic levels 
 to participate in the program. 

    Subd. 13.    Additional revenue.  A district or an 
 organization contracting with a district may receive money or 
 in-kind services from a public or private organization. 

    HIST: 1991 c 265 art 7 s 6; 1993 c 224 art 4 s 8; 1994 c 647 
 art 4 s 11; 1997 c 162 art 1 s 3,4; 1998 c 397 art 3 s 
 20-27,103; art 11 s 3; 1999 c 205 art 1 s 70