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MEETINGS for
the NEXT FOUR MONTHS - July through October:
JULY
& AUGUST - NO MEETING
September
6, Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to noon
October
4, Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to noon
Location
of September and October meetings:
State
Library, Lansing; 717 W. Allegan St.; Lake Ontario Room,
3rd floor
Steve Manchester called the
meeting to order at 9:40 a.m.
Guest Speaker: STATE
REPRESENTATIVE LAURA BAIRD, Minority
Vice-chair, House Committees on Criminal Law and
Corrections, and Family and Civil Law
Representative
Baird discussed her stance on gun safety and how the issue
affects child advocacy. She described the variety of
perspectives held by gun advocates, from those who want few
restrictions on the private, recreational use of guns to
those who believe the government aims to confiscate all guns
as part of a plot to enslave Americans. She described
unpleasant experiences arising from her gun-safety stances,
including threats by phone and mail as well as vandalism at
her home.
Representative
Baird discussed the child care related bills in the
"Perricone Package" then under debate in the
Legislature.
Guest Speaker: JAN ELLIS,
Director
of Read, Educate and Develop Youth (R.E.A.D.Y.), Michigan
Department of Education (MDEd)
Ms. Ellis
described how the READY kits came into existence as part of
the Governor's reading readiness program begun in 1998. The
READY kits were developed within the MDEd and distributed in
fall 1998, in pilot communities and through Michigan AEYC.
After a few months of piloting the original kit, the state
conducted polls and focus groups with parents who had used
the kits. Parent response was very positive with only a few
(but important) revisions recommended.
Michigan
plans to produce enough kits to meet all the demand, now
pegged at 40,000 kits per month. With 135,000 newborns each
year in Michigan, the annual demand should eventually fall
to around that number. A READY kit costs about $40 to
produce, but support from donors keeps the costs to the
state down to under $10.
Ms. Ellis
concluded by showing the infant portion of the new video,
"It Starts with a Book … and YOU!" The video, produced
under the auspices of MDEd, is available to parents as well
as parent educators and other professionals wishing to
promote reading readiness at the community level. For
information about the video and an order form, call Central
Michigan University, Educational Materials Center at
517-774-3953.
Jane Zehnder-Merrell,
Project Director, Kids Count in Michigan,
handed
out information about the Kids Count special report on
maternal and infant health in Michigan cities. Ms.
Zehnder-Merrell will make a major presentation on this
report at the task force's
September meeting.
Updates on the business of
the Task Force:
- Kristen
McDonald-Stone, the new Director of the Michigan Head
Start Association, introduced herself and made a few
comments.
- The next
task force meeting is on September 6.
- The task
force email/mail network has email 488 members and 81
regular-mail members.
- Barb
Roth-Grondin gave an update on the Michigan School
Readiness Program
- The task
force requested that Erin and Steve send a request to
Carole Hakala Engle to have somebody from the Division of
Child Day Care Licensing attend task force
meetings.
LEGISLATIVE
HIGHLIGHTS
&emdash; The task force discussed the legislature's efforts
to finish the budget for fiscal year 2001 and begin the
summer recess. The following items were covered:
SCHOOL AID BUDGET
- The
following have a good chance of passing:
- $45
million for zero-to-five school-readiness programs that
focus on parenting, comprehensive child services and
school readiness
- $20
million to begin developing full day school readiness/
Head Start programs
- Improve
School Readiness by raising per pupil funding from $3000
to $3300 and increase the number of pupils covered from
17,000 to 22,000. (We expect a similar per pupil increase
in the Department of Ed budget for competitive School
Readiness grants, though the number of pupils served
would remain the same.)
FIA BUDGET
- The
following seem likely to pass:
- $16.7
million to increase funding for providers caring for
children age zero-to-2 1/2
- $5.1
million to increase income eligibility for child care
support to 200% of poverty
- $25
million to implement "accessibility" recommendations
developed by the FIA
- $1.25
million to implement TEACH (Teacher Education and
Compensation Helps)
- $100,000
to fund the "Ready to Succeed Dialogue with Michigan" in
year 3
- $1.35
million for EQUIP grants to help providers upgrade their
facilities
- $1.45
million to increase the skills and numbers of providers,
including aides and relatives.
OTHER
LEGISLATION:
- House
Bill 5741, background checks for staff and volunteers,
passed the House and should not move further before the
fall.
- House
Bill 5255, to clarify that breaking up a disturbance is
not automatically corporal punishment, passed the House
and should not move further before the fall.
The meeting adjourned at
12:05 p.m.. (Minutes taken by Steve Manchester)
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HIGHLIGHTS of the upcoming MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 6, 2000
***
Wednesday, September 6, 9:30
a.m. to noon
State Library, Lansing; 717 W. Allegan St.; Lake Ontario
Room, 3rd floor
STATE SENATOR ALMA WHEELER
SMITH, member
of the Senate Appropriations Committee, serving on the
Community Health, Higher Education, Department of
Environmental Quality and Corrections subcommittees &emdash;
and a candidate for Governor - will discuss her work on
behalf of young children and offer views about the political
landscape in Michigan
JANE ZEHNDER-MERRELL,
Project
Director, Kids Count in Michigan, on the Kids Count special
report on maternal and infant health in Michigan
cities
ALSO:
Updates
on what the legislature actually passed before taking its
summer recess, including steps underway by state agencies to
implement newly funded programs
An update on
implementation of the new Child Care Center Rules and our
efforts to monitor that implementation
Comments or questions?
Contact Steve Manchester at 1-800-336-6424 or Erin McGovern
at 1-800-950-4171.
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