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SPECIAL
NOTE: The next meeting
of the Task Force is Wednesday, September 5
Kristen MacDonald-Stone called the meeting (held at the
State of Michigan Library in Lansing) to order shortly after
9:30 a.m. Each person gave a self-introduction; the agenda
was reviewed and approved.
UPDATES
ON THE BUSINESS OF THE TASK FORCE
Michigan
Department of Education:
Barbara Roth-Grondin talked about the new State
Superintendent of Education, Tom Watkins. He has produced a
new report, "Thirty Ideas in 30 Days," which lists 30 ways
in which Michigan's public school system could improve. The
early childhood grants for next school year are somewhat
delayed pending the outcome of the K-12 budget process for
fiscal year 2002.
School
Age CDA Credential: Mark
Sullivan reported that DCIS has agreed to include in the
child care center rules a new school-age credential that
will give directors of before- and after-school programs for
school-age children another way to meet the educational
requirements for being a director.
Updates
on the DCIS and FIA budgets:
Kristen McDonald-Stone reported that there were no surprises
in either budget. In DCIS, it appears unlikely that
increased staffing for the Division of Child Day Care
Licensing will be included. In FIA, support for the Ready to
Succeed Dialogue with Michigan (funded at $100,000 over the
last three years) may not occur this year.
Update
on HBs 4617/19: Steve
Manchester reported that these bills dealing with before-
and after-school programs would be put on hold until the
fall. They are now in the Senate Committee on Families,
Mental Health and Human Services.
The Task Force communications network has 680 email and 136
regular mail members for a total of 816.
Addendum to March 3 Minutes;
minutes in general: In response to comments from some
members of the Task Force, Steve said that these minutes
would include the following:
At the March meeting of the
Task Force the discussion on HBs 4617/19 contained diverse
opinions about what these bills should do. For example, some
wanted existing regulatory policies to continue with DCIS
evaluating school-based programs for school-age children and
stopping them from opening or closing them down if they fail
to meet regulatory standards.
Others thought it would be O.K. to place regulation of such
programs in the School Code and require local boards of
education to meet standards set out in the Code. Within the
two broad opinions just stated, people differed on the
details.
In addition, at the June 6 meeting, the Task Force discussed
the ability to capture, in the minutes, comments made by
individuals. Steve pointed out that he keeps abbreviated
minutes for purposes of describing what occurred without
getting into details of who said what. He tries to keep the
minutes down to about two pages because people do not like
long email messages. It's also very hard to find people
willing and able to take good minutes. The task force agreed
to try to get people to take minutes to help out Steve and
Kristen, whose attention is taken up chairing the task force
meetings. A sign-up sheet for taking minutes was circulated.
(NOTE: The sign-up sheet was not returned to Steve or
Kristen.)
Task
Force Recognition of MSACA:
As part of the discussion of HBs 4617/19, Ginny McCaig
described the effective advocacy by the Michigan School Age
Care Alliance on behalf of high quality before- and
after-school, school-age programs. The Task Force voted
unanimously in support of a motion praising MSACA's
efforts.
GUESTS:
K.P. PELLERAN & SHERIFF GENE WRIGGELSWORTH (Ingham
County) from Fight Crime: Invest in Kids. K.P.. is the new
state director of the new Michigan office; Sheriff
WRIGGELSWORTH serves on FCIK's national Advisory
Committee.
Ms. Pelleran described her work over the past three months
in organizing FCIK in Michigan. She has focused primarily on
recruiting crime fighters to the organization and has begun
to bring FCIK to the attention of legislators.
Sheriff WRIGGELSWORTH presented his view on crime fighting:
helping each young child get off to a good start is the most
effective way to fight crime. We need to front-load crime
fighting with support for children and stop back-loading the
system with expensive jails and prisons.
K.P.. concluded by saying that FCIK has a "plan that works"
for fighting crime. It's based on the research done by early
education and care professionals, e.g. the Perry Preschool
research.
GUEST:
PAUL NELSON, Director, Child Development and Care, FIA. Paul
discussed new initiatives that his office will implement
with respect to subsidized child care. They include: (a)
Providers must submit a bill to be paid with greater use of
electronic billing available or required; (b) Faster
payments due to less administrative red tape; (c) Less
payment interruption - e.g., 12 month redetermination
instead of 6 months; indefinite and part-/full-time
authorizations; (d) Expanded eligibility.
Paul shared some likely future changes including, changes in
the sliding fee scale and the rate structure, a possible
tiered reimbursement system, changes in basic eligibility.
Finally, he shared a number of issues under discussion in
FIA, some of which the task force would like, some of which
it may not like.
The next
meeting of the task
force is Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 5, State of Michigan Library,
Lake Ontario Room.
Our
guest in September:
JACKIE WOOD, Consultant, Early Childhood and Parenting
Programs, Michigan Department of Education. Jackie will
present up-to-date news on ASAP-PIE (All Students Achieve
Programs - Parent Involvement and Education) including the
latest funding news, "best" and "emerging" practices coming
out of ASAP-PIE, and challenges being met by grantees.
OTHER
HIGHLIGHTS: An update on
various budgets that affect early education and care,
particularly the School Aid budget.
The meeting adjourned at 12:00 noon.
Steve Manchester, Michigan AEYC and Kristen McDonald-Stone,
Michigan Head Start Association
Co-chairs, Michigan Child Care Task Force
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• This message is made possible, in part, by generous
support from the Frey Foundation of Grand Rapids.
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