01-25-1993 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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I can assure you tiiat this budget, which reflects the needs of Minnesota’s children, will be my number one priority this session. We will protect our overall spending on children from budget cuts. In other areas too, Minnesota’s leadership on behalf of children is being recognized on the national level. • We are a leading candidate to receive a multi-million dollar grant from a major national foundation to completely reinvent the way we serve families and children. • A team of Minnesota educators will receive up to $14 million from a national fund to design new kinds of schools that will serve as community learning centers for people of all ages. • We are distinctive among all states in our commitment to Head Start. Minnesota is one of only a handful of states that invest in Head Start beyond what the federal government gives us. And we increased our commitment by 30 percent last year. But we need to do more. TONIGHT I AM PROPOSING THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP - TO BRING TOGETHER, FOR THE FIRST TIME, PROGRAMS THAT ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES. What I am proposing tonight is nothing less than an overhaul of our system from top to bottom — an agenda for change, to keep Minnesota in a national leadership position on children and families, and to prepare our young people for the work force of the 21st Century. Our administration is committed to putting our customers first, and in Minnesota, children are our number one customer. It is time we reorganize around the needs of today’s child, to start with the child, and carefully build out from there a complement of services at the local level that makes sense and leads to successful, confident kids.