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Lawmakers press new agency on childcare closures, provider pay and electronic attendance records
Summary
Committee members pressed DCYF leaders about a wave of childcare closures, the Great Start Compensation program, efforts to recruit new providers and a bill to require electronic attendance records for better program integrity and faster detection of payment anomalies.
Assistant Commissioner Diane Halsey, who leads DCYF’s Early Childhood Administration, told the committee the department is aware of facility and family‑childcare closures across Minnesota and cited two targeted efforts funded in recent sessions: the Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program and a “Grow Your Own” initiative to recruit and develop new early‑care professionals.
Halsey described the Great Start program as “compensation” grants intended to raise provider pay; the department presented the program at about $176,000,000 in fiscal year 2026 to support over 6,000 childcare providers. She said Grow Your Own focuses on bringing new early childhood educators into the field and helping people start family‑childcare or center‑based programs.
Lawmakers repeatedly pushed DCYF for concrete steps to stop closures in Greater Minnesota. Representative Zalesnikar and Representative Larson Carter said programs exist but closures continue; Halsey and Brown said the agency is six months into the transition, is prioritizing continuity of service and plans to use listening sessions and provider engagement to surface changes that reduce administrative burden.
The committee discussed a legislative proposal to require statewide electronic attendance records for childcare payments; Commissioner Brown said a move to electronic records would improve compliance and allow auditors to detect problematic billing patterns more quickly. “Having a statewide electronic record keeping system would be incredibly beneficial and would allow for [investigators] to dig more deeply into some of the, maybe more patterns that are occurring, identify things much more quickly,” Brown said.
Representative Joe McDonald referenced an independent study showing Minnesota among the most expensive states for childcare and asked what the legislature and the new agency can do to lower costs beyond grants. DCYF leaders said a combination of compensation supports, workforce development, and targeted program design are in place but welcomed further conversation with lawmakers about additional strategies.
Committee members also requested full provider‑level data for Great Start compensation payments; DCYF’s Jennifer Summerfeld said the department plans a policy proposal to clarify disclosure rules and that providers raised confidentiality concerns. Lawmakers pressed for transparency, and the department said it will follow up with legal analysis and proposed statutory language if needed.
