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Minutes taken by
Barbara Rhode, Child Abuse Prevention Services
and SteveManchester, Michigan AEYC
Co-chair Lisa Brewer called
the meeting to order shortly after 9:30. Each person gave a
self-introduction and the group adopted the
agenda.
UPDATES
ON THE BUSINESS OF THE TASK FORCE
The task force's
email/snail-mail network has exceeded one thousand for the
first time; it now has 1002 members.
News from the Michigan Department of Education, Early
Childhood and Parenting Programs, Judy Levine. The 21st
Century grants will be announced after the holidays. A
consultant position in the EC&PP is still open but the
application period will close soon. Two technical assistance
programs for Even Start will take place next week. The
Collaborative Conference, held on in Dearborn on January
22-24, will fill up quickly; interested people should apply
early.
LAME
DUCK LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Lisa Brewer described a
number of bills dealing with child abuse that will be
considered this afternoon by the Senate Committee on
Families, Mental Health and Human Services, chaired by
Senator Bev Hammerstrom.
House
Bills 5583/84 - Steve
Manchester - These bills end deregulation of school-based,
school-age child care as child care centers and regulates,
instead, under provisions of the School Code. The bills were
added to Senator Hammerstrom's committee agenda late
yesterday. The committee will probably pass versions of
these bills that Senator Hammerstrom wrote last year. They
would require, among other things, that schools running
school child care report annually to the community whether
the plan conformed to model SACC standards prepared by the
Michigan Department of Education.
NOTE:
(The Legislature passed Senator Hammerstrom's versions and
sent them to the Governor for his approval or veto on
December 13. The Legislature added an UNEXPECTED CHANGE:
some programs may remain licensed as child care centers or
choose regulation under the School Code. For details about
these bills, go to
http://www.miaeyc.com/public_policy/School_age.htm)
GUEST
SPEAKER: BOB REDMOND,
Superintendent, Branch Intermediate School District - Bob
described his work in promoting collaboration between K-12
school districts and the birth-to-five community. The K-12
community has become increasingly aware that prekindergarten
development of children has a huge impact on what happens in
K-12 schools. So far, too many children arrive at
kindergarten not ready to succeed to the potential available
to them at birth.
About 15 ISDs in southwest Michigan have formed the
"Southwest Gang." The group, composed of ISDs that received
A-PIE grants and those that did not receive them, wants to
promote community collaboration focused on zero-to-five
child development. On January 10 it will host a regional
legislative reception in Battle Creek for all state
legislators from southwestern Michigan.
Mr. Redmond said that A-PIE programs should be available to
all parts of Michigan and not based on competitive grants.
Advocates need to make a case that good child development
benefits everybody and not make a case based on helping
"other poor people"; appeals to self-interest are
politically more effective than appeals to altruism. And,
child advocates need to get better at promoting causes as
well as developing good messages and staying on message.
He believes that the time has come for changing the
education paradigm from "K-12" to "birth-12" or
"zero-to-(age)-18." Early childhood educators are developing
the political clout to make this happen, partly because the
supporting arguments are so strong. Law enforcement
professionals, business leaders seeking a good work force,
teachers who want "ready-to-succeed" pupils -- all recognize
that the basis for their dreams lies in early childhood
development.
The immediate task is to find state funding that will let
A-PIE programs, including PIE-like efforts in non-funded
areas, continue during the budget crunch that will exist
over the next two years. He believes the state can retain
PIE-like efforts for $25 million, which is doable given the
size of the state budget. He includes the "zero-to-three
secondary prevention collaboration grants" and the "
full-day Michigan School Readiness/Head Start programs" as
part of what needs to be preserved.
In the Q&A portion people raised the following points.
We might want a law that lets ISDs seek mills to support
early childhood education/care. During the expected budget
cuts in the Fiscal Year 2004 budget, task force advocates
should support retaining the K-12 "foundation grant" level
at $6700 per K-12 pupil.
MORE UPDATES ON THE BUSINESS OF THE TASK FORCE
Lisa
Brewer led a discussion
on sending a second letter to Governor-elect Granholm about
task force concerns pertaining school age child care (and
HBs 5583/84). After much discussion, the task force reached
general agreement on:
School age child
care should remain as a licensed program under DCIS or
other state agency.
Rules that pertain to school age programs should be
changed to meet the realities of how these programs are
run, particularly with respect to how these programs are
directed.
Licensing that includes state oversight and sanctions for
poorly operating programs offers needed protection to
children.
State policy that permits different child protection
standards based on whether programs are run by public
schools or the private sector creates undue problems.
At the end, the group voted
in support of a new letter to Ms. Granholm saying that
school age child care should remain in licensing with
revised rules that address issues pertaining to program
directors.
Steve
Manchester gave an
update on how the Granholm Transition Team was looking at
early education and care issues. The transition team has met
with a number of ECEC people including many who regularly
attend the Child Care Task Force. The Governor-elect seems
intent in examining concerns related to ASAP-PIE and other
collaborative matters such as zero-to-three collaboration
grants; correcting problems with child day care licensing;
drawing down all federal funds related to ECEC; supporting
professional development through programs such as
T.E.A.C.H.®; preserving other preschool programs such as
Michigan School Readiness Programs and full-day
school-readiness/Head Start. The big issue in Granholm's
first year will be serious budget deficits of roughly $1.8
billion ($1,800 million) in the FY 2004 budget that begins
on 10/1/03.
The meeting ended at 11:45 AM.
The NEXT
MEETING will be on
January 8, 9:30 a.m. - noon, State of Michigan Library in
Lansing, the Lake Ontario Room. NOTICE: This is the
SECOND
Wednesday of January
GUEST
SPEAKER: Mary Cunningham DeLuca,
Director of Children's Programs, Community Action Agency
(for Jackson, Hillsdale and Lenawee counties). Mary will
discuss findings of evaluations done on Early Head Start
programs and the positive effects that high quality programs
have on children age zero-to-three.
o Information about
the school age child care bills
o Final disposition of other legislation considered
during Michigan's lame duck session
o Updates on the Governor Granholm transition
o News from Congress
o and more . . .
Thanking You for Your
Support:
Kristen McDonald-Stone, Michigan Head Start Association
Lisa Brewer, Michigan 4-C Association/T.E.A.C.H.®
Co-chairs, Michigan Child Care Task Force
o Please FORWARD THIS NOTICE TO OTHERS; we invite people to
join this email network.
o Comments, suggestions, or requests to be removed from this
list should be directed to smanchester@MiAEYC.com.
o This message is made possible, in part, by generous
support from the Frey Foundation of Grand Rapids.
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