TKW Consulting

Allowance part of school readiness plan
By Dane Smith, Star Tribune

A proposed new "early childhood education allowance" for needy families will be one of several legislative initiatives this year aimed at improving school readiness in Minnesota, House and Senate DFL leaders said Tuesday.

Despite mounting evidence that high-quality early education programs can boost the academic achievement and improve the lives of at-risk children, Minnesota is lagging behind other states in providing public financing for early education, advocates say.

"It's been a real challenge with funding," said Senate Assistant Majority Leader Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud. "It's been crumbs this whole time and we're here to say that era is over."

Among the proposals that have surfaced are making all-day every-day kindergarten available in all public schools, and Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal for an "early
childhood scholarship program." The Pawlenty plan would provide up to $4,000 a year per child for low-income families who place their children in approved pre-kindergarten education programs.

The DFLers' proposed early childhood education allowance program would be available on a sliding scale, based on family income, for pre-kindergarten programs that meet state standards. Claims for the allowance would be made in conjunction with filing state income taxes and the allowance would be paid by the state to providers rather than to parents.

Todd Otis, a former state House member and president of the advocacy group Ready4K, said the programs paid for by the allowance would have strong educational content, not
simply routine day-care, "not baby-sitting, not plunking kids in front of a TV."

Proponents offered no estimate of the total amount they intend to spend on the program, nor did they provide examples of how much a typical family might get under the allowance proposal.

However, Clark and a leading House advocate for early childhood programs, state Rep. Nora Slawik, DFL-Maplewood, said DFLers intend to spend more overall on early childhood than the $30 million per year that Pawlenty's proposal is estimated to cost.