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PLEASE
NOTE
Next
Meeting: Wednesday,
December 5, 2001
9:30 am; State Library; Lansing
Lake Ontario Room (3rd floor, our regular room)
ALSO:
The
JANUARY
MEETING DATE has CHANGED
to:
Wednesday; January 9, 2002; 9:30 a.m. - noon
The SECOND
WEDNESDAY in JANUARY
State of Michigan Library, Lansing
THE
FORUM (the auditorium on
the 1st floor)
Minutes by Jennie McAlpine, Child Care Network, Washtenaw
Regional 4C
Following introductions of
meeting participants, Barb Roth, Michigan Department of
Education, gave an update on the State School Aid Budget.
She pointed out that there have been no budget decisions
made for FY 2003. She recapped from last month's meeting the
programs that received cuts for FY 2002. They include
ASAP-PIE Admin & Eval. to $100, $0 for Full day MSRP
& Head Start, $0 for Training Programs/Autism Impaired,
$0 for R.E.A.D.Y. Kits, $0 for Admin for Lap and SSP, $43
million for ASAP-LAP and $0 for ASAP-SSP. Competitive School
Readiness Programs will receive a 5 percent cut, though
these cuts should be covered by programs that do not reach
full enrollment.
The CRNA (Community
Resources Needs Assessment), generally a required part of an
application for Michigan Department of Education grants,
will be submitted online next time.
K.P. Pelleran, Fight Crimes: Invest in Kids, spoke about
HB's 4617/19. She explained that after-school, school-age
childcare will be placed in the school code and not under
licensing. MDE will not take over licensing under these
bills but will create a model plan to be used by schools if
they wish. (Copies of the bills were made available.)
GUEST
SPEAKER: LISA BREWER,
Director of Michigan 4C Association T.E.A.C.H. Early
Childhood® MICHIGAN Program. (T.E.A.C.H. = Teacher
Education and Compensation Helps) Lisa, introduced the
T.E.A.C.H.: Scholarship Counselors - Heather Carrigan, Amy
Smith & Jeremy Reuter; Data/Fiscal Specialist &emdash;
Karen Klepac; Office Assistant &emdash; Gwen
Schroeder.
1. Michigan is the
18th state to have the T.E.A.C.H. Scholarship Program. It
began in North Carolina and is under the direction of Sue
Russell. So far, the T.E.A.C.H. Program has increased
wages in the other states 3-33% and lowered turnover to
14% and below. We are excited to see how it will do in
Michigan.
2. Since Michigan received its license July 1, 2001, the
T.E.A.C.H. Program has 291 accepted recipients as of
November 2, 2001 for Associate Degree models. Breaks down
to 142 Center workers, 98 Family Daycare Homes and 51
Group daycare homes. Current pay is averaging $8.41/hr
for center employees, $2.97/hr for Family Home providers
and $4.28/hr for Group Home Providers. Pay is verified by
paycheck stubs for center employees, Schedule C Tax
reports OR receipts of all payments and expenses for
Family & Group Daycare Providers. (Benefits are not
included just actual salaries.) Length of employment at
centers has been a little over 3 years, family homes are
averaging 3.5 years and group homes are averaging 6.5
years. (Note: these numbers are taken from recipients of
the MI T.E.A.C.H. Program and it was noted that they are
averages and estimates, not actual statistics.)
3. Principles of T.E.A.C.H. include: Partnerships,
Diversity, Existing systems, Collaboration. Partnerships:
A partnership is formed between T.E.A.C.H., the center
and the recipient. Center and group home providers agree
to pay a portion of tuition/books, release time and give
raise/bonus at completion of contract. Partnerships
between family providers and T.E.A.C.H. are formed with
providers paying a portion of the
tuition/books.Note:
Eligibility requirements include working 30 hrs a week,
making under $14.25/hr as teacher/assistant, $15.00/hr as
director and working in a licensed center/regulated
home.
Diversity:
Making T.E.A.C.H. available to participants statewide. As
of November 2, 2001 they have 58 counties represented in
Michigan with participants! Center efforts to sponsor
employees have been very successful &emdash; parents
buying into philosophy of increasing education, pay and
longevity.
Existing
Systems: T.E.A.C.H.
uses existing training programs. 27 out of 29 community
colleges have ECE programs, Baker College has 9 campuses
with ECE (early care and education) programs and
T.E.A.C.H. uses four 4-year universities that offer AA
degrees because of where they are geographically located.
Out of the colleges being used, 29 offer AA degrees in
ECE, 24 offer CDA (Child Development Associate) classes,
15 offer certificates and only 3 colleges do not have any
programs at this time.
Collaboration:
Working with the
Michigan Early Childhood Professionals Consortium (MECPC)
and MCC Early Childhood Group (Community College Group).
In the fall of 2002 T.E.A.C.H. is looking to add a
"credential scholarship" of 3-4 credits, entry-level
basics and a "certificate scholarship" of more credits
and falling in between the CDA and AA degree. In the fall
of 2003 T.E.A.C.H. will offer a Bachelors Degree
scholarship.
4. Scholarship components include scholarship, education,
commitment & compensation. Scholarships currently
available are the Associate Degree (including CDA
training at a community college) and CDA Assessment.
5. Applications that have been sent out and received so
far are: 1,888 have been sent out, 477 have been received
back into the office for processing and 112 of the 477
are counted as incompletes as of November 2, 2001.
6. Future plans of the T.E.A.C.H. program are to create
additional scholarship models, continued funding,
continue referrals to program from the Early Childhood
Community at 1-866-MI-TEACH.
Questions
and Comments:
1. What
about the 30 hr requirement and possibly unlicensed
programs &emdash; in regards to school age
care?
There is a school age credential available through the
Michigan 4C Association, contact Shara Holmes at
1-800-950-4171. It helps with training and assessment
fees. T.E.A.C.H. is mainly focusing on increasing
training and education for providers working in the early
childhood field as a career or profession. North Carolina
encourages flexibility and looks at all rare cases on a
case-to-case bases. Also has to be approved by funding
source (FIA).
2.
Even Start &emdash; which is exempt &emdash; shouldn't
they be eligible?
This was an example that was presented to the Michigan 4C
Association already. It was the decision of NC and FIA to
stay with only licensed programs at this time. They are
looking at the broad range of who they are affecting.
3.
Role of North Carolina?
NC issues license
with many requirements, including adhering to
consistency, eligibility and scholarship components. They
want to keep things consistent with their goal and
national acceptance of program. Michigan can consult with
them about particular challenges they face. Everything
has to be approved by NC as well as FIA until both sides
agree.
4.
Funding source and budget of T.E.A.C.H.?
FIA &emdash; CCDF $
of $8 million over 3 years.
5.
Does T.E.A.C.H. monitor education components/quality of
programs offered at CC's?
No, T.E.A.C.H.
requires that students enroll at the community colleges
in the Early Childhood Program and take the class
required to achieve the degree offered there. T.E.A.C.H.
staff has collected college course books to look at the
class being offered in order to help counsel
recipients.
TASK
FORCE MISSION AND AGENDA DISCUSSION
1. Jennie McAlpine,
Director, CCN-Washtenaw Regional 4C, suggested following
up with the legislature on their spending effort to get
20 licensing positions filled.
2. Suggestion of referring to before and after-school
programs as "School Age Care".
3. Suggestion to increase publicity:
-Through the 4C, AEYC, Head Start Newsletters
-Also using a joint web site and possibly creating one
just for the MCCTF.
4. Need to reconnect with legislators &emdash; only one
currently sponsoring is Pan Godchaux. Get bipartisan
sponsorships.
5. Barb Roth, MDE, suggested letting people know about
history and accomplishments in the past years. Send
bullet points to either Kristen or Lisa. -
kristen@mhsa.ws or brewer@mi4c.org
6. Suggestion to help those counties who did not receive
ASAP-PIE.
7. Advocate for full state funding fight (House Bill
4371-school age cuts). Kristen presented unified strong
ECE message. Talks on HB 4371 and Early Childhood
Community was splintered.
8. Jennie McAlpine described the proposal for
decision-making procedures.
9. Barb Roth also suggested writing guiding
principles.
10. Both suggested also updating action agenda.
11. Several people said they would volunteer for work
groups, also can do working session at next task force
meeting.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
AND COMMENTS:
*Communication network
&emdash; let Lisa or Kristen know if you need to be added
to the email list.
*Middle cities will have a luncheon following the meeting
at the City Club for their task force. All are
welcome.
*Early Childhood Health Insurance project is open for
enrollment. 5-10% savings on any Blue Cross Program. Find
out more information at mhsa.ws.
*Have Carole Engle from DCIS, Bureau of Regulatory
Services, return for an update on child care
licensing/regulation.
NEXT
MONTH'S GUEST SPEAKERS:
Carol Zimmer of ZimmerFish Media Group will discuss the
progress and successes of the "Be their Hero from Age
Zero" Campaign. Ms. Zimmer will share the TV spots, radio
ads, and billboard ads aired. She will also discuss the
media strategy and inform of us future plans for the
program.
Jean Doss of Capital Services will give a brief advocacy
training and discuss the importance of effectively
communicating our message to policy makers and community
leaders. She will begin at 11:00 a.m.
Kristen McDonald-Stone, Michigan Head Start Association
and Lisa Brewer, Michigan 4-C
Association/T.E.A.C.H.®; Co-chairs, Michigan Child
Care Task Force
Please FORWARD THIS NOTICE TO OTHERS; we invite people to
join this email network.
Comments, suggestions, or requests to be removed from
this list should be directed to
smanchester@MiAEYC.org.
This message is made possible, in part, by generous
support from the Frey Foundation of Grand
Rapids.
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