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March 15, 2005
Minnesota Baby Ed Alert! Part III
1. Corporations &
Foundations Fund State Take-over of Child Care
2. What to do!
[This is the 3rd part of our Baby
Ed Alert. See Minnesota Baby
Ed Alert, Part I for the Minnesota Early Learning Standards and
Part II for the Early
Learning Assessments and Mental Health Screening.]
1. Corporations & Foundations Fund State Take-over of Child Care
Well-funded foundations and corporations, like Cargill and Fuller, are
pouring money into Minnesota to promote, lobby, and organize for this
government take-over of Minnesota's kids. For example, the following
invitation, signed by Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson and House
Speaker Steve Sviggum, went to all legislators:
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"Several organizations in
our state, including The McKnight Foundation, the six Minnesota
Initiative Foundations, Ready 4 K, the Minnesota School Readiness
Business Advisory Council (MSRBAC), the University of Minnesota, and
others have joined together to provide an avenue to focus attention on
the issues and opportunities in early childhood care and education in
Minnesota.
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"We invite you to attend a
special Legislative Reception & Dialogue being held during this
conference on Monday, March 21st from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. in the Great
River Ballroom, Riverfront Radisson Hotel, St. Paul.
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"During the reception, you
will have an opportunity to converse with your constituents. We, along
with facilitator Chuck Slocum, President of The Williston Group, will
lead an interactive dialogue from 5:45-6:15 p.m. with conference
participants.
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"Over 600 people from
Greater Minnesota and the Twin Cities Metro Area are expected to attend
this event. We believe this conference will be the largest assembly of
participants from diverse community sectors to attend a conference
focused on early care and education. Participants will represent:
business, elected officials, parents, K-12/higher education, child care
providers, Pre-K educators, public health, law enforcement, faith
community, community volunteers, foundations, and other sectors."
Minnesota is one of the states
targeted by a multi-state project, the
National Build
Initiative, that plans to "build a coordinated
system of programs, policies and services" for children, birth through age
five -- a state-run system of early care for our children. The Initiative
is well-funded by
15 major
foundations and endowments, including the W.K. McKnight Foundation ,
the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (dedicated "to promote universal,
quality education and care for pre-kindergarten children), and the Kellogg
Endowment (focuses on "policy reform," meaning, changes in state
law). They have poured up
$350,000 into
Ready 4 K to activate a network in Minnesota and promote their
plan. It appears that wealthy foundations and corporations with an agenda
are purchasing a state-run system of child care in Minnesota. Who will
speak up for the families?
The
Minnesota Early Learning Fund (SF 907 / HF 1419) is a bill that sets
up a non-profit group (Early Learning Foundation) with state matching
funds to create "strategies" for implementing the new system of child care
in Minnesota effectively and efficiently -- the standards, the
assessments, the rating system, the grants, and so on. This Fund will give
Ready 4 K our tax money to fully implement their plan. Minnesota
government will "partner" with the large corporations and foundations that
are driving this agenda. The mission of the Fund is described as
establishing "infrastructure supports and accountability measures." This
puts unaccountable non-governmental organizations in charge of child care
policy in Minnesota and is a major shift in governance. It sounds a lot
like No Child Left Behind for babies and toddlers.
HF 1419 has a hearing scheduled in the House Education Finance committee
for 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 17 in Room 5 of the State Office
Building. SF 907 had its hearing in the Senate last week, and it will be
included in the Senate omnibus education bill. Please call Rep. Sykora,
the House chief author of HF 1419 today. She is open to some of our
concerns. Please urge her to either drop the bill entirely, or to amend
it, leaving foundations free to continue doing what they already do
privately. At a minimum, she should amend it to put the legislature (our
elected representatives) in complete control over policy developed by this
foundation, since it is funded with state taxes. (See
her telephone number below.)
Marc Tucker's
letter to Hillary Clinton, November 11, 1992, stated:
"What is essential is that we create a seamless web of [education]...that
literally extends from cradle to grave and is the same system for
everyone..." Tucker would be pleased with the direction Minnesota is
headed.
2. What to do!
It is up to us to protect the next generation of young people. Each
one of us is needed today and in the coming weeks. This package totals
$185
million
in new
state spending to establish an invasive and expansive government
system of child care in Minnesota. These are a few ideas for you to choose
from:
- 1. Call Governor Pawlenty (Phone
number: 651-296-3391 or 800-657-3717). Tell him that you oppose this
massive system of state early childhood control.
- 2. Call your state senator and state
representative immediately. Tell them to oppose this massive system
of government intrusion into the raising and education of our youngest
children.
- 3. Call these key House and Senate
leaders whose decisions affect everyone:
- Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum,
651-296-2273
- Rep. Barb Sykora, Chair of House
Education Finance Committee, 651-296-4315 (chief author of MN Early
Learning Fund bill - tell her you oppose this).
- Rep. Mark Buesgens, Chair of the House
Education Policy Committee, 651-296-5185
- Rep. Jim Abeler, co-author of adding
mental health screening (HF1513), 651-296-1729
- Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson,
co-author of funding private foundations to create the state plan (SF
907) 651-296-3826
- Sen. John Hottinger, Chair of Early
Childhood Committee, chief author of funding private foundations to
create the state plan (SF 907) and of increased spending for the early
learning programs (SF 673), 651-296-6153
- Sen. Linda Berglin, Chair of Health
and Family Security Finance - 651-296-4261
- Sen. Bob Kierlin, chief author of
Early Learning Standards bill (SF 592), co-author of adding mental
health screening and coordinating the new state early learning system
(SF 905), co-author of increased spending for the early learning
programs (SF 673), and co-author of funding private foundations to
create the state plan (SF 907) 651-296-5649
- Sen. Steve Kelley, Chair of Senate
Education Committee, chief author of early screening bill (SF 906),
651-297-8065
- Sen. Betsy Wergin, co-author of the
early screening bill (SF 906). She is open to our concerns and
possible amendments 651-296-8075
- Sen. Sean Nienow, co-author of the
early screening bill (SF 906). He is open to our concerns and possible
amendments. 651-296-5419.
- Sen. Clair Robling, co-author of Early
Learning Standards bill (SF 592), 651-296-4123.
- Any authors of these bills. (See
this link for authors. Phone numbers are listed on our
website.)
- Calls are greatly preferred, but you
can email your elected
officials if you like.
- If you don't know who your legislators
are, call 651-296-2146 or 800-657-3550, or visit
http://geo.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/districts/start.html. Also,
if you make calls, please send an email to
edaction@lakes.com to let us
know.
- 4. Use this information to
urge other organizations to get involved to oppose this: political
organizations, churches, family members, home school groups, and so on.
Encourage people to join up for our e-mail alerts.
- 5. Volunteer to help us
organize. Call us at 952-361-4931, or e-mail at
edaction@lakes.com.
- 6. Support our efforts
financially. With sufficient support we can produce information to
distribute to legislators and the public.
- 7. Write letters to the
editor sounding the alarm to your community.
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