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In one form or another, all 50 states and the District of Columbia recognize the importance of early education and fund a range of programs to help the youngest residents get ready for kindergarten. Minnesota offers a unique solution: early learning scholarships.

From July 2019 to June 2020, the state of Minnesota invested $70.7 million in 14,185 scholarships worth up to $7,500 apiece. That funding goes to keeping trained staff on the payroll and addressing other costs associated with operating high-quality child care.

Ryan van Dyke is a single father in Hibbing, Minnesota. He has a stable job in industrial sales for mining and aggregate companies, but at $10,000-$13,000, high-quality child care seemed out of reach for his son Everett 鈥� a shy boy who was behind in speech development due to chronic ear infections. Then he learned about scholarships via the , and soon his son was enrolled in Kiddy Karousel.

鈥淓verett has really blossomed,鈥� van Dyke proudly reports. 鈥淗e loves it there, and he鈥檚 getting the best education.鈥�

One Minneapolis parent described the scholarship as 鈥渟uper beneficial to my family,鈥� adding, 鈥淚 am able to work comfortably, knowing my children have child care without going through the stress and hassle of receiving child care assistance through the state.鈥� Another said, 鈥淲e hadn鈥檛 financially planned to become foster parents or have more children. We just happened to be blessed with a foster child, and the scholarship has taken significant strain off of our family, so we can truly focus on what鈥檚 most important.”

Mark Dayton, who served as Minnesota Governor from 2011 to 2019, has . Sandra Myers, early learning services supervisor at the Minnesota Department of Education, says the program continues to enjoy bipartisan support. She should know, having been with it since the beginning. After more than 20 years with the Minnesota nonprofit (formerly Resources for Child Caring), Myers joined the state鈥檚 Department of Education and helped to expand the initiative, which had been piloted by the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation (MELF).

According to Myers, most of the scholarships go to 3- and 4-year-olds. She says the design of the scholarship program recognizes the diverse needs all across the state. There are two types of scholarships:

• Pathway I scholarships are awarded through Area Administrators (including two tribal nations) and are used at an eligible program the family chooses.
• Pathway II scholarships are awarded to children through Four-Star Parent Aware Rated programs that have been granted scholarship funds for use in their program.

Freedom of choice is a key value of the program. In the 2019-20 period, 43% chose child care centers, 37% chose school-based care, 11% chose Head Start and 7% chose family-based care. The 3- and 4-year-olds are eligible if their families earn equal to or less than 185% of the federal poverty level. All children 4 years old and under are eligible if they are in foster care, in child protective services, are homeless or have a parent under 21 who is pursuing their high school degree. (Scholarships for these 鈥減riority status鈥� children recently rose to $10,000.)

The program also empowers families to decide what鈥檚 best for their situations. To equip families with the information they need to make these decisions, 鈥� the state鈥檚 Department of Human Service鈥檚 Quality Rating and Improvement System 鈥� provides star ratings based on research-based practices that prepare children for school and life.

The pilot proved popular and effective. According to a MELF report, 鈥淭he coupling of the Parent Aware Ratings and the scholarship program greatly increased low-income/high-return kids鈥� access to high-quality programs. Prior to receiving a scholarship, the majority of children were being cared for in unlicensed care (57%). After receiving a scholarship, all (100%) children were attending a program that could demonstrate, thanks to the ratings, that they offered high-quality early education.鈥�

Compared with other models of child care assistance, Myers says, the application process is streamlined, and the program promotes stability, since once a scholarship is awarded, the child is eligible to renew annually without redetermination of eligibility.

Finally, it shouldn鈥檛 be forgotten that the term scholarships itself is somewhat revolutionary, recognizing child care as education and valuing it in the same breath as college 鈥� something that awaits many or most of these children.

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 麻豆精品. Learn more here.