ST. PAUL, MN – Today, a bill to increase funding for early learning scholarships by $20 million moved through the House Early and Youth Development Committee. The bill, authored by Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL – Golden Valley), would increase funding for scholarships in 2015 from $23 million to $43 million and remove the current $5,000 cap on scholarships.
“Removing the cap on these scholarships helps ensure that young learners in low-income families have every opportunity to succeed,” said Winkler. “Removing the cap and increasing the funding helps expand the number of families who can take advantage of these scholarships.”
Last year, the Legislature provided $40 million for early learning scholarships for low income families across the state. The scholarships were meant to address the achievement gap among Minnesota students by helping low income students receive high quality early childhood education. Unfortunately, due to changes made during the conference committee process, a cap was put in place that limited each individual scholarship to $5,000.
“The cap hurt the families who needed these scholarships most,” said Winkler. “Kids were forced to leave a program part way through the year because the scholarships only went so far. This bill corrects that problem.”
Aside from providing educational opportunities for young learners, the scholarships also help working mothers and parents by offering increased flexibility to pursue professional careers.
“Investments in early childhood education help create a well educated workforce that can drive an economy forward for decades,” said Winkler. “But these investments also have immediate and significant benefits for working parents. Every dollar spent on high quality early education is a dollar these parents don’t have to spend on simple child care. For many low income families, the cost of child care keeps parents home and prevents them from working in a job full time. These scholarships provide them the flexibility to pursue a higher quality job.”
The bill is supported by MinneMinds, a statewide coalition of more than 70 organizations representing the education community from pre-K through K-12, philanthropic organizations, business and local chapters of national non-profits.