Legislative conference committee hearings are in full swing–and conferees need to hear from folks right away NOT to impose a cap on the MinneMinds preschool scholarships. These caps would undermine the pre-K model MinneMinds is built on–which emphasizes flexibility for families–and its potential impact. We have only hours to act.
We need pre-K scholarships that works for families, providers and our state. Minnesota’s piloting of pre-K scholarships proves that it's critical for these amounts to be flexible in order to meet the needs of the most kids statewide and maximize the impact of existing public funding. Meaning, we cannot cap scholarships at an arbitrary scholarship amount. Rather, they need to align with the cost of quality pre-K–a cost that varies by location, type of program and level of existing public funding.