Big push on in Minnesota to get more kids ready for kindergarten
Lots of states in financial stress are struggling with ways to maintain pre-kindergarten programs — or any publicly funded programs at all that help parents and children get the skills they need to start school. Minnesota is one of those states with a budget deficit and big ambitions.
A group known as Ready 4 K is pushing hard for a new policy plan they want lawmakers to consider in the upcoming sesison, according to a story in the Manakota Free Press. The plan is asking lawmakers and three candidates for governor to support a range of initiatives, from home visits and parent education for first time parents to community partnerships around early childhood investments and a statewide quality rating system for programs. They would also like to see a statewide early education department.
Similar efforts are going on throughout the country with mixed results. Often, what starts as a small grass roots movement turns into a larger, more effective campaign and then into actual public policy. But only with funding.
“This is going to have to be public money,” Karen Kingsley, Ready for K’s director of policy and civic engagement, told the Free Press. “It isn’t cheap.”