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This campaign keeps getting better and better. The outcome of last week’s budget deal was bittersweet: the budget allocated $4 million in scholarships for low-income families to access pre-K, but didn’t tie those dollars to quality through a statewide rating system.
But now there’s an opportunity to resurrect it: the governor has the power to expand the Parent Aware rating system to the whole state.
We need to tell Governor Dayton that it is now up to him to remove the blindfold from Minnesota’s pre-K families. Please click here to send him a letter urging him to expand the Parent Aware rating system statewide and tie the dollars to quality. He’s already publicly expressed his commitment to quality pre-K and a desire for Minnesota to be competitive in the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge competition. Now’s our chance to hold him to his promise.
We already helped pass a bill that opens up alternate paths such as Teach For America for talented teachers into Minnesota classrooms. Just last week we helped get a smart teacher evaluation system for Minnesota.
Expanding access to high-quality pre-K is our final campaign goal. If we resurrect the pre-K rating system, we’ll be three for three on our campaign goals. But more importantly, we’ll be on our way to making sure every Minnesota child has a chance at success.