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| Minnesota Legislative Early Childhood Caucus |
| The Minnesota Legislative Early Childhood Caucus was formed in 2002. The purpose of the caucus is to influence and shape public policies that impact Minnesota's youngest children, their families, and caregivers. The caucus seeks to educate legislators, create dialogue, build consensus, and provide direction for legislative action. The caucus is open to all members of the legislature. |
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| Source: Ready 4 K |
| Caucus Co-Chairs |
| House of Representatives
Sandra Peterson (DFL) New Hope, 45A Randy Demmer (R) Hayfield, 29A Senate Geoff Michel (R) Edina, 41 Tarryl Clark (DFL) St. Cloud, 15 Founder & Ex-Officio Chair Rep. Nora Slawik (DFL) Maplewood, 55B Caucus Consultant Lisa Venable, M.A. lisa@lisavenable.com 612-250-7859 |
| Vision of Early Childhood Caucus |
| *from Agreements made at EC Caucus September 2008 Retreat with National Consultant, Louise Stoney Ensure that all Minnesota's children can access high-quality early learning and care in a range of settings that meet the needs of children and families. This includes: -System-building: Establish an early care and education framework (Quality Rating & Improvement System, or QRIS) that improves quality opportunities for early learning for all Minnesota's young children. The framework would be based on the Minnesota quality rating system rating tool and informed by evaluation results. -Accountability: Use the framework (QRIS) as a tool to ensure that publicly funded, regulated early learning and care services in both public and private market programs are high-quality. Establish a plan to link all funding to the framework over time. -Benchmarks to track progress: Use the framework (QRIS) to track progress toward statewide access to high-quality early learning and care programs, progress toward the number of low income children whose parents can access quality programs, progress in reducing the number of children not fully prepared for kindergarten, and progress in ensuring that high-quality early learning and care settings are available to all Minnesota children and families. -Participation is voluntary. |