MICHIGAN
CHILD CARE TASK FORCE MINUTES
Meeting Minutes for March 3, 2004
MCCTF Co-Chair Contact
Information:
Lisa Brewer,
Michigan 4C Association
T.E.A.C.H. Director
866-648-3224, ext.27
brewer@mi4c.org
Richard Lower,
Michigan's Children
Policy Associate
800-330-8674
Richard@mhsa.ws
Future SCHEDULE for the
TASK FORCE
April 7 -Lake
Ontario Room, 3rd floor, State of Michigan Library
May 5 - Lake Ontario Room, 3rd floor, State of
Michigan Library
State of Michigan
Library, Lake Ontario Room, 3rd floor, 717 West
Allegan,
Lansing, MI 48909-7507; (517) 373-1580
Co-Chair Richard Lower
called the meeting to order at 9:45 a.m.
Introductions were
done.
The Task Force turned
immediately to the guest speaker, Dan DeGrow,
Superintendent of St. Clair Intermediate School District
(SCISD). Mr. DeGrow discussed the recent SCISD millage
proposal on the ballot in June 2003. The proposal was for
0.9 mills to provide $4 million annually for two years to
retain ASAP-PIE programming for children age
zero-to-five. The ballot proposal was soundly defeated,
10,100 "No" to 3,900 "Yes," or 72%-to-28%, respectively.
Technically, the campaign was well run, decently funded
and supported by good volunteers. However, some community
problems existed:
1. Teachers in
the area did not support the proposal because the PIE
teachers were non-union;
2. Other, existing
early childhood organizations were unenthusiastic
because ISDs would get lots of money to do things
already underway by other groups.
3. $4 million per year
was seen as just too much.
4. Many people see
pre-K programming as a responsibility of parents and
not a thing for government or the public school system
to worry about.
SCISD learned some things
from this as it works to develop a zero-to-five
system:
1. The millage
asked for too much annually: the proposal should have
been for $800 thousand per year for ten years.
2. ISDs have to work
better with other agencies and organizations in the
community, and particularly not try to do things
already being done by others. It has pledged not to
duplicate existing services as it promotes
zero-to-five programming.
SCISD continues to
promote zero-to-five programming. ASAP-PIE worked,
especially home visits to parents, in getting
kindergarten-entry children ready to succeed. Consistent
with the lessons learned, the ISD has facilitated
community meetings by calling other agencies together to
form a united effort. SCISD has allocated $100,000 to
continue parent visits, however, through other agencies
that provide these services already. The ISD has
established a zero-to-five toll free phone number based
on broad based community discussions that pointed out
such a number had not existed at the county level and was
needed.
The ISD is hosting a
Summit on early childhood on March 29; this Summit is
targeted at leaders from outside the early childhood
field. This Summit hopes to "find holes" in the
zero-to-five system within the county and begin taking
steps to plug those holes.
SCISD is "starting from
scratch" to build a zero-to-five system that will last,
particularly once Michigan's fiscal situation turns
upward. The system will probably be anchored in the local
Multi-purpose Collaborative Body (MPCB).
An important challenge is
getting the local K-12 school districts committed to
zero-to-five programs; currently the school districts
have other priorities: (1) Dealing with the "No Child
Left Behind Act" and dealing with a foundation grant that
has not grown in recent years to keep pace with
inflation.
There were many comments
and questions from the audience.
BUSINESS OF THE TASK
FORCE
Department of Education,
Judy Levine
1. Michigan
School Readiness Programs: the mid-year reports are
going out this week and are due back on March
26.
2. State Aid MSRP: the
Comprehensive Community Need and Resources Assessment
(CNRA) is going on line this week. Head Start run
programs are asked to complete their portion of the
CNRA by March 22. For Fiscal Year 2005, the Governor
has proposed elimination of language that lets a
school districts substitute MSRP with ASAP-PIE types
of programs. Funding for State Aid programs continues
at $72.2 million.
3. Competitive MSRP:
The FY 2005 budget proposes a continuation of $12.25
million. Technical assistance (TA) sessions will be
held on April 20 in Lansing and April 23 in Gaylord.
Readers are needed for grant applications. Also, the
Department of Education will conduct programs on how
to write MSRP grant applications.
Family Independence
Agency - Kathi Pioszak
1. A new CHILD
CARE PROVIDER HANDBOOK is available. Contact Kathi to
obtain copies of "Provider Handbook and Reporting
Instructions for Child Care Providers."
2. Major revisions
include changes in: ** Record keeping and reporting to
FIA; ** infant/toddler incentive pay and how to
qualify for that pay; ** information available about
4C; ** the Child and Adult Care Food
Program.
3. The initial
distribution of the hand book is underway to all FIA
child care providers, 4C regional offices, Child Care
Licensing area managers, FIA offices across the state.
Additional orders will be filled after the initial
distribution. The handbook will soon be available on
the FIA web site.
4. Child Development
and Care has eliminated the face-to-face interview
requirement for CDC reviews, effective on March
1.
5. CDC has changed its
authorization levels in order to provide added
controls and prevent overpayments. Contact FIA for
details.
6. Automated recoupment will begin in April. Contact
CDC for details on this.
MDCH Mental Health
Services - Deb Marciniak
1. The next
conference call in the Georgetown University series on
the social-emotional development of young children is
scheduled for March 31, 1:00-2:30 p.m.. To
participate, contact Jackie Cadwell at
517-241-5767.
2. One can obtain a 18
page document called "A Look at Social, Emotional, and
Behavioral Screening Tools for Head Start and Early
Head Start." at:
http://ccf.edc.org/documents/PDF/screentools.pdf
3. On March 26-27 in
Detroit, there will be a training titled "Crying Baby
to Perky Preschooler: How Do Infants Develop Emotional
Self Control?"
4. "The Tomorrow's
Child - Michigan SIDS Statewide & Family
Conference" will be held on April 3 at the Lansing
Sheraton. For information call
1-800-331-7437.
Office of Child and Adult
Licensing - Richard Lower, Steve Manchester
1. The two ad
hoc committees looking at proposed new rules for child
care centers and home based child care continue to
work. Public hearings on center rules are expected in
summer 2004.
2. FIA has posted a
job announcement for the director of OCAL, which is a
bureau director level. Applications are due by the end
of the work day on March 11.
3. Federal
reauthorizations of TANF, Child Care Development Fund
(CCDBG), and Head Start - there is no movement at this
time.
Right Start - Jane
Zehnder-Merrell
1. Right Start
data is now available with new fact sheets for
Michigan and Detroit. This data deals with the
demographics of birth. You can obtain data online for
Michigan's 83 counties and for 35 of Michigan's cities
by visiting the Right Start data at: www.milhs.org and
clicking on "Kids Count"; then, click on "Right Start
2004."
Email Network Update -
Steve Manchester
1. The task
force email network now has 1435 subscribers. At the
MiAEYC conference, we hope to push this number to over
1600. At the national level, Michigan and California
each has just 1000 subscribers to the NAEYC public
policy network; the two states are far ahead of all
other states in number of subscribers. We hope to push
this number to over 1100 at the MiAEYC
conference.
Various people reported
on important appropriations subcommittee meetings that
are scheduled in the coming week.
The Legislative Reception
Held Earlier this Morning
1. The turn out
of legislators was down because the Michigan House
decided to take the week off to read to children. This
action by the House was recently announced after the
task force had committed to the reception. About 40
people attended over-all. Those who attended the
reception shared their experiences.
Steve Manchester
(Michigan AEYC) took notes for these minutes.
SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
Send comments
and suggestions regarding this e-mail network, or
requests to be added or removed from it, to
mcctforce@miaeyc.org.
Please FORWARD THIS NOTICE TO OTHERS; we invite and
courage people to join this e-mail network.
The MCCTF Organizational
Sponsors:
Michigan 4C
Association (Community Coordinated Child Care);
Michigan's Children; Michigan Association for the
Education of Young Children; and Michigan Head Start
Association.
Legislative
Sponsors:
Senator Patricia
Birkholz, Dist. 24; and Representative Michael Murphy,
Dist. 68.