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MICHIGAN
CHILD CARE TASK FORCE
MINUTES
Minutes by Steve Manchester, Michigan
AEYC
Co-chairs Kristen
McDonald-Stone and Lisa Brewer called the meeting to order
shortly after 9:30. Each person gave a self-introduction and
the group adopted the agenda.
MOMENTS
OF APPRECIATION FOR PAUL NELSON
Lisa Brewer informed the
group that Paul Nelson will retire after a 34 year career in
state government, with the last six years spent as Director
of FIA's Child Development and Care Division. Paul and his
staff have served the early education and care community
well; they: worked closely with Michigan 4C and Head Start
in various programs; assisted with the start-up of the Ready
to Succeed Partnership and served as fiduciary for the
state's allocation to RTS; supported this task force in
numerous ways; have "been there" working for improved ECEC
in many other ways. Lisa gave Paul a gift certificate that
will help him enjoy his hobby of working with stained glass.
Paul made some comments thanking the task force for its
important contributions to children.
GUEST
SPEAKER AND HEARING OFFICER - Dr. Lindy Buch, Supervisor,
Early Childhood & Parenting Programs, Michigan
Department of Education (MDE)
Lindy described the
federal "21st Century Schools" program that provides
before- and after-school programs for school age
children. MDE will soon grant $11 million in federal
funds to about 12 Michigan applicants; over 100
applications were submitted. The application deadline for
the current cycle of grants was in September, but $21
million in funds will be available for applicants early
in 2003. The Michigan Department of Education web address
for 21st Century Schools
is:http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-5236-39974--,00.html.
Click on "Frequently Asked Questions" for an excellent
discussion about this program and links to many other web
sites.
Lindy discussed
"out-of-school time" programs. There is some debate about
"out-of- time" as the name for these programs. In
Michigan, if school-age OSTs are no longer licensed as
child care centers, will the federal government refuse to
fund Michigan 21st Century Programs? In any case, the
State Board of Education (SBE) wants to push for higher
quality OST programs. Some people expect that House bills
that would remove school-age OSTs from regulation, as
child care centers will move in the "lame duck" session
between the November 5 election and the end of
December.
PUBLIC HEARING on
"Proposed Model Standards for Out-of-School Time Programs
in Michigan" - These standards were approved by the SBE
for purposes of seeking public comment about them. This
task force meeting was given over to MDE for a period of
time so that Lindy and her colleagues could conduct one
of the public hearings. Various people provided
testimony. A summary of that testimony will be presented
in the future and is not reported in these minutes. The
hearing went from 10:05 to 10:40 a.m.
UPDATES
ON THE BUSINESS OF THE TASK FORCE
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION,
Judy Levine, Early Childhood and Parenting Programs,
reported on the Michigan School Readiness Program and
various grants managed by her office. A few of the ASAP-PIE
programs are continuing into their third year even though
state funding dried up for this fiscal year. Such programs
tend to be scaled down. They continue because they were well
received in their communities. Generally, prekindergarten
programs are recognized as important to communities; local
leaders in many areas want to expand pre-K programming. To
access Early Childhood and Parenting Programs go to the MDE
home page at:
http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-5234_6809-22847--,00.html
PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN
PARENTS IN CHILD CARE SETTING - Kristen McDonald-Stone
reported on House Bill 6202, which requires
criminal/abuse/neglect background checks on staff and
volunteers working in child care centers. The Senate amended
the bill to prohibit parents with a criminal background from
being in the center or having contact with any of the
children. This amendment is much too broad and should be
removed. The task force asks that readers of these minutes
call their State Senator and seek removal of this
amendment.
REAUTHORIZATION OF CCDBG AND
TANF - Congress failed to reauthorize these federal
programs. They will continue at current funding levels until
early next year. National ECEC organizations expect this
continuation to continue indefinitely; they are lobbying for
increased funding even if the programs continue under the
current authorization.
REAUTHORIZATION OF HEAD
START- Head Start is up for reauthorization in 2003. Some
people expect this reauthorization to be bundled up with new
efforts to reauthorize CCDBG/TANF. Kristen reported that the
President may try to move Head Start from the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services to the U.S.
Department of Education; Head Start will oppose this. The
President wants to make Head Start an academic skills
program with a big emphasis on literacy. There will be a
push to require Head Start teachers to acquire higher
credentials. The goal is for Head Start teachers eventually
to have B.A. degrees. Head Start supports this.
SUBSCRIBING TO NAEYC'S EMAIL
ADVO NEWSLETTER - Steve Manchester encouraged the task force
to subscribe to the advo newsletter put out fairly regularly
by the National Association for the Education of Young
Children. One can subscribe by going
to:http://capwiz.com/naeyc/mlm/. Fill out the form, submit
it and you have subscribed.
USING CAPWIZ TO FIND YOUR
LEGISLATORS - Steve also suggested that people bookmark both
the NAEYC "capwiz" and the Children Defense Fund capwiz web
sites. Both allow you to email members of Congress and to
identify your legislators by typing in your zip code. The
two web addresses:
NAEYC -
http://capwiz.com/naeyc/home/
CDF -
http://capwiz.com/cdf/home/
NOTE: The CDF capwiz has the
added feature of identifying your state legislators, which
will be nice next year as new legislators take their seat in
a district with new boundaries.
HEALTH INSURANCE FOR ECEC
PROVIDERS - Kristen updated the group. Efforts to obtain
health insurance subsidies have not gone well. Part of the
problem arises because federal and state insurance policies
contradict one another. A lively discussion
ensued.
REORGANIZATION OF THE
DIVISION OF CHILD DAY CARE LICENSING - Lisa and Kristen led
a discussion on the reorganization of day care licensing. In
brief, DCIS will end the practice of a consultant helping a
childcare facility traverse the cycle of obtaining a
license, operating under it, then renewing the license.
Instead, DCIS will split the cycle into separate "functions"
obtaining original license; renewing the license;
inspections; complaints; sanctions). A staff person will
relate to a facility with respect to only one
function.
The task force developed the
following lists of concerns and proposed licensing
policies:
CONCERNS:
- Threatens health and safety of children
- Loss of institutional memory about individual
facilities
- New hires to the licensing office will not include
consultants
- Paper shuffling between functions will slow down
everything
- Bureaucratic delays will delay FIA & free lunch
payments
- Never have one-point of contact ("pass the buck"
syndrome)
- Rural areas of the state will have no CDC staff
- An inefficient complaint process as all complaints go
through Lansing
PROPOSED POLICIES for the Task Force to Pursue:
- Reduce the Staff-to&endash;facility ratio to
1-to-100
- Transfer Day Care Licensing back to Human Services
Dept.
- Institute a regular review of standards and process
- Retain the consultant model of regulation
FURTHER
UPDATES ON TASK FORCE BUSINESS
GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE
FORUM - Jennie McAlpine, Washtenaw 4C, reported that
candidates Posthumus and Granholm had agreed to participate
in the candidates forum scheduled for October 19 in Troy. It
looks like a third candidate might participate (there are
four candidates). A number of child advocate organizations,
led by the Michigan 4C Association, are hosting this forum.
The Michigan Child Care Task Force is a co-host. NOTE:
Jennifer Granholm (Democrat) and Joseph Pilchak (US
Taxpayers Party) attended the forum. Dick Posthumus
(Republican) sent Loren Bennett, candidate for Lt. Governor,
to represent Republican views on early childhood
issues.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ACTION FOR BETTER
CHILDCARE-POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (ABC-PAC) - Mark
Sullivan announced the recent formation of the ABC-PAC. The
PAC will collect donations and later make campaign donations
to candidates for public office "who believe as we do that
investments in a quality child care system are essential to
the positive development of young children." For more
information contact Mark Sullivan at his home in
Lansing.
READY TO SUCCEED "WHITE
PAPER" - Sharon Peters, Michigan's Children, commented on a
"White Paper" that will be delivered to the four candidates
for Governor in one more week. The White Paper, produced by
the Michigan Ready to Succeed Partnership, makes suggestions
to the next governor on organizing Michigan's government to
support young children age zero-to-five. NOTE: The White
Paper is now available at www.readytosucceed.org.
MICHIGAN SCHOOL AGE CARE
ALLIANCE CONFERENCE - Lorraine Thoreson announced the annual
MiSACA conference, held on October 20-21 in
Lansing.
ECEC COMMENTS ON THE
INTERNET - Dick Posthumus and Jennifer Granholm have
developed statements about their views on early childhood
education and care. You may examine their views at:
www.dickposthumus.com or www.jenniferforgov.com. The other
two candidates do not address ECEC on their web
sites.
The EMAIL NETWORK has 828
members; snail mail has 146 members for a total of
974.
The
NEXT
MEETING will be on
November 6, 9:30 a.m. - noon, State of Michigan Library in
Lansing, the Lake Ontario Room.
GUEST
SPEAKER: SHARON PETERS, CEO and President, Michigan's
Children.
Sharon will discuss various children issues and advocacy
efforts including: preparations by child advocates to
interact with the next Governor as he/she forms a new state
administration; the "White Paper" produced by the Michigan
Ready to Succeed Partnership and presented to the
gubernatorial candidates before the election; children's
issues that might arise in the lame duck session just ahead;
children's issues that might arise next year under the new
governor and new legislature.
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 @MiAEYC.org.
o This message is made possible, in part, by generous
support from the Frey Foundation of Grand Rapids.
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