Minnesota “Great Start” to Transform Children & Families

by: Linda Bell

Happy New Year! Welcome to a year of opportunities!!

Once again, individuals in the state of Minnesota, and their allies, are determined to transform our state, our children and our families, whether by executive, legislative or judicial overreach. This includes all zip codes and income levels. 

Last year, we outlined the consequences of the Great Start for All Minnesota Children Act, which remains an active bill in the legislature.

The “Great Start” in brief:

• Incentivize and implement government prenatal care
• Home visiting, Prenatal to 3 yrs old (originally required with grant)
• A later home visiting iteration amended to include health initiatives via evidenced-based and quasi-experimental research.
• Early learning – birth to 3 via “scholarships”

• Original early learning scholarship appropriations quadrupled to $1M by 2022
• Funding for prior existing regionally managed foundations to manage people and businesses ie. Cradle to Grave placements into the workforce and their children into “early learning”.
• New daycare/childcare building grant funds, by statute, must be a part of the flawed Parent Aware government system.
• Promotion of predictive analysis/diagnosis. PA states ALL babies/young children need to be removed from their families for the betterment of the child and instead raised by the state. Accountability measures will include testing on babies for physical and psychological/mental health. Many legislators believe this policy is a good one!
• Original funding for early learning “scholarships” poverty level to $130,000.00 annual income for a family of 4 (400% of poverty level).
• Use of Targeted Universalism. Some sections of Great Start “targets” people of color, the poor and American Indians to receive benefits with required policies. Targeted Universalism targets one population group or more with the intended purpose to expand to the entire population and is standard language in all areas of legislation today.

Why do we need government managing our children and families?

All of these programs, including the early learning scholarships, are government programs and will come with a price to our freedom.

 Who pays for all these programs?

You and I!  Taken all together, these new or expanded programs will raise taxes through the roof!

Who will administrate the majority of these programs via Great Start? The MN Departments of Health, Education, Employment and Economic Development and Human Services (DHS)! Yes, our corrupt DHS, will likely be in charge of the majority of programs.

Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branch, you say? Stay tuned to learn more about:

• Governor Walz’s Executive Order to “Place Children at the Center of Government”
• Relaunching of the Children’s Cabinet
• Prenatal to 3 Policy Forum (leads: Reps. Dave Pinto, DFL and Jerry Self, R)
• Preschool Development Grant planning year and now acceptance of federal grant
• Consequences of the federal Development Preschool Grant newly funded for 2019-2020
• Continuing consequences of ESSA / ESEA – Every Student Succeeds Act grant
• Cruz-Guzman desegregation lawsuit and implications for Minneapolis and the 7-Metro county region
• Constitutional amendment to “give every child the right to an education” (president, Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank and former, MN Supreme Court Justice) which “sounds” good but that language is straight out of the United Nations Education for All.

Importantly, Minnesota recently received millions in federal grant money, ie. Preschool Development Grant, so do expect to see additional bills like Great Start where legislators will follow the lead of the US DOE to implement the grant into our state law. The Preschool Development Grant, by the way, covers infants to children, birth to 5.

 If we do not stop this proliferation of government programs, we will find everyone needs government assistance!

Lastly, I mentioned a year for OPPORTUNITY!  What can I do?

This year we have an advantage with November elections! How can we work together?

If you would like to get involved and help, at whatever level, please consider joining our smaller closed group, Minnesota Advocates and Champions for Children.  Our closed group will become our group for actions.  Thank you!

If you love your children, grandchildren, families in your neighborhood and communities, or your common sense is telling you that government and allies have just gone too far, join our Closed Group. This job is not for someone else to do.  The time is now to stand for children and families!!!

HF1 and the identical, SF820, can be read here in it’s first iteration. (https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=SF820&version=0&session=ls91&session_year=2019&session_number=0)

You may read the many articles (and videos) from last year concerning this bill on our social media facebook page/closed groups: Minnesota Advocates and Champions for Children.