Upcoming
Michigan House of Representative Meetings related to young children:
None scheduled at this time.
Michigan
Senate Committee Meetings related to young children:
Committee Health
Policy
Date Wednesday,
10/10/2007
Time 3:00 PM
Location Senate
Hearing Room, Ground Floor, Boji Tower, 124 W. Allegan Street,
Lansing, MI 48933
Agenda SB
174 (Kahn) Environmental protection; prohibited products; manufacture,
sale, or exchange of toys with lead content in excess of amount
permitted by federal regulation; prohibit.
HB
4132 (Gaffney) Environmental protection; prohibited products;
certain lead-bearing consumer products; prohibit, or require
labeling.
HB
4399 (Wojno) Environmental protection; prohibited products;
lunch boxes containing lead; prohibit sale.
HB
4936 (Coulouris) Health; other; Michigan childhood lead poisoning
prevention and control commission; remove sunset.
Committee
meetings are often added or agendas changed after the update is sent.
Check the legislature's committee
calendar for additions and changes.
Current
Actions on Michigan Bills related to Young Children:
Public
Act 92 (SB 773) CONTINUATION
BUDGET (Jelinek) Provides continuation budget for school aid. Signed:
October 1, 2007; Effective: October 1, 2007.
Bill abstracts
provided by Voices for Michigan’s Children. See the status of
other bills at Michigan's
Children.
Budget
Implications
of Having No Budget in Place by October 1, 2007, or Passing an Interim
Budget, September 10, 2007. House Fiscal Agency
Tax
Bills Passed by the House on September 24, 2007 - September 25, 2007. Senate
Fiscal Agency
House
Bill 5198 - Estimated Fiscal Impact and Description of Services Taxed
- Revised October 2, 2007. Senate Fiscal Agency
Have
you Heard? – Weekly Additions
For Additional reports and findings please visit the MiAEYC web site:
www.miaeyc.org/News/Have_You_Heard.html
Economic,
neurobiological, and behavioral perspectives on building America’s
future workforce
Nobel laureate James Heckman and distinguished researchers in other fields
have released a new paper examining from a cross-disciplinary perspective the
research in economics, developmental psychology, and neurobiology as they relate
to developing workforce skills. They found that early experiences have a uniquely
powerful influence on the development of cognitive and social skills as well
as brain development. Their policy conclusion: the most efficient strategy
for strengthening our future workforce both economically and neurobiologically
and for improving quality of life is to invest in high-quality early care and
education. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Why
Health Insurance Matters for Children
A great deal of public attention has been given to the gains in children’s
health insurance coverage made in recent years. But while public program
expansions have driven significant increases in the number of children
who are insured, more than 9 million still lack health insurance—that’s
one out of every eight children.1 This fact sheet discusses several important
reasons why health insurance makes a real difference in children’s
lives.Campaign for Children's Health Care
Teacher
Education and PK Outcomes: Are We Asking the Right Questions?
This commentary by FCD staff, published in Early Childhood Research
Quarterly, challenges recent research that finds no relationship between
PK teacher qualifications (degree, major, or certification) and child
outcomes. Foundation for Child Development
Low-Income
Children in the United States NATIONAL AND STATE TREND DATA, 1996-2006
(September 2007)
After nearly a decade of decline, the number of children living in low-income
families has increased significantly since 2000. This data book provides national
and 50- state trend data on the characteristics of low-income children over
the past decade: parental education, parental employment, marital status, family
structure, race and ethnicity, age distribution, parental nativity, home ownership,
residential mobility, type of residential area, and region of residence. National
Center for Children in Poverty
Reducing
Poverty through Preschool Interventions
The authors explain how providing high-quality care to disadvantaged
preschool children can help reduce poverty. They propose an intensive
two-year, education-focused intervention for economically disadvantaged
three- and four-year-olds. Classrooms would be staffed by college-trained
teachers and have no more than six children per teacher. Instruction
would be based on proven preschool academic and behavioral curricula
and would be provided to children for three hours a day, with wraparound
child care available to working parents. Future of Children
Behavioral
Interventions Effective for Preschoolers with ADHD
Two types of early interventions designed to reduce symptoms of attention deficit-hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) in preschoolers may be effective alternatives or additions
to medication treatment, according to a recent NIMH-funded study. National
Institute of Mental Health
How
do we begin? Giving children the right start makes a big difference
A report
describes seven ingredients to effective teaching practices in the
early years and emphasizes the need for a highly sophisticated staff
(page 24). Principles into Practices
LINKS
(Lifecourse Interventions to Nurture Kids Successfully)
Child
Trends' LINKS presents extensive knowledge about programs found to "work" to
enhance children's development, in a user-friendly format for policy
makers, program designers, and funders.Child Care/Early Childhood Education
is one of the links. Child Trends
In
the News– Weekly Additions
For Additional reports and findings please visit the MiAEYC web site:
www.miaeyc.org/News/The_News.html
Bush
vetoes child health insurance plan
Today, in a sharp confrontation with Congress, Bush vetoed a bipartisan bill
to dramatically expand children's health insurance. This veto is the fourth
of Bush's presidency, but it's one that many republicans fear could carry steep
risks for their party in the 2008 election. Democrats, with the support of
several republicans, passed the legislation to add $35 billion over five years,
which would allow four million more children into the program. The funds would
come from raising the federal cigarette tax by 61 cents to $1 per pack. Yahoo!
News
Putting
education on the '08 agenda
There's still an enormous achievement gap between poor and affluent students,
our schools are more racially and economically segregated than ever. Is there
room for the 2008 presidential candidates to say smart things about improving
public education in the United States? The education policy plan John Edwards
recently put forward suggests there may yet be. The American Prospect
Head
Start's impact goes beyond helping kids
"This is a three-tiered program," said Patricia Horne McGee, director
of Washtenaw County Head Start. "It impacts children and their parents,
and it impacts the community as a whole." The Ann Arbor News
A
Qualitative Study of the Initiation and Continuation of Preschool
Inclusion Programs
Initiation and continuation of preschool inclusion is a challenging task. Through
interviews and focus groups of school district and special education personnel,
researchers in this study examined how 5 programs in 1 Midwestern state provided
such services. RedOrbit.com
Our
schools must do better
What’s needed is a wholesale transformation of the public school
system from the broken-down postwar model of the past 50 or 60 years.
The U.S. has
not yet faced up to the fact that it needs a school system capable of fulfilling
the educational needs of children growing up in an era that will be at least
as different from the 20th century as the 20th was from the 19th. New York
Times
Impact
on Development
A compendium of findings from a new study reveals that family life has more
influence on development through age 4-and-a-half than child care experience. ADVANCE
for Occupational Therapy Practitioners Online
The
most dangerous toys
While lead paint in toys grabs headlines these days, fueling parental nightmares
and hearings on Capitol Hill, parents would be wise to worry far more about
other playthings. Forbes
Consumers
Union Praises House Committee for Action on Consumer Safety Measures
“From ensuring the availability of child-resistant gas caps, to helping
reduce pool and spa drownings, to facilitating quicker recalls of unsafe nursery
products, the Committee came together today to help make things safer for children,” said
Janell Duncan, Senior Counsel for Consumers Union. Consumers Union
Billions
Are at Stake in the Push for PreK
The savings in public money spent on social services combined with the economic
benefits generated by more productive citizens can add up to hundreds of billions
-- that's billions -- of dollars over several decades. The engine that can
create such vast wealth is early childhood education. National Education
Association
NEA’s
Taking Steps Toward PK-3
While much of the research on class size and child-to-adult ratios does not
distinguish between state-funded Pre-K initiatives and other child care centers,
licensing standards for state-funded programs are more likely than child care
centers to meet the ratios recommended by national organizations such as the
National Institute for Early Education Research and the National Association
for the Education of Young Children. National Education Association |
