Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) Programs

The term direct service refers to services provided by a parenting educator while in direct contact with a parent/adult learner.

The following classification of types of direct service offered in ECFE programs is intended to be used to help program staff and others better understand and describe what is offered in ECFE. 

Type 5 is the basic service offered. Other types of service are offered as modifications of this basic service to meet the needs of the diversity of families eligible for ECFE. It is recommended that a major portion of the program budget is spent on Type 5 service with other services provided as needed to serve a representative cross-section of eligible families.

The following are listed in order of intensity:

• Type 1: Outreach and family or community events, for example, workshops and speakers, drop-in activities, gym nights, field trips, newborn hospital visits, WIC Clinic visits, child care provider visits and outreach material
• Type 2: Home visits
• Type 3: Parents only series, for example, work site, prison site, women’s or homeless shelters, or online parenting classes, as well as 1:1 parenting support sessions
• Type 4: Parent-child together (no separation) series, for example, infant classes
• Type 5: Basic program series with parent education/discussion, early childhood education and parent-child interaction
  • Note: Direct services of Type 5 may be provided in collaboration with community partners such as Head Start, Early Head Start, Early Childhood Special Education, Interagency Early Intervention Committees (IEICs), Child Care, Public Health, Social Services, Family Services Collaboratives, etc.
• Type 6: Partnerships, for example, co-teaching between a parent educator and another specialist from a partner agency (public health nurse, social worker, mental health specialist, special educator, naturalist, etc.)

Under Minnesota law (section 124D.10, subdivision 4), a district that levies for home visiting must include a parenting education component designed to reach isolated or at-risk families as part of its ECFE program.

Home visiting statutes

An ECFE home visiting program must:

• Incorporate evidence-informed parenting education practices designed to support the healthy growth and development of children, with a priority focus on those children who have high needs
• Establish clear objectives and protocols for home visits
• Encourage families to make a transition from home visits to site-based parenting programs
• Provide program services that are community-based, accessible and culturally relevant
• Foster collaboration among existing agencies and community-based organizations that serve young children and their families, such as public health evidence-based models of home visiting and Head Start home visiting
• Provide information about and assist in making arrangements for an early childhood health and developmental screening when the child nears his or her third birthday

The home visiting program should be provided by licensed parenting educators, certified family life educators or professionals with an equivalent license that reflect the demographic composition of the community to the extent possible.

How is Early Childhood Family Education home visiting revenue being used?

ECFE programs have placed increased emphasis on home visiting as an important strategy for reaching families experiencing multiple stresses. Examples of families who are receiving home visiting because of the additional funding include the following:

• Families without access to reliable transportation
• Families with several preschool children
• Families with children and/or parents having special medical, physical or developmental concerns
• Families referred to ECFE by other programs and agencies
• Pregnant mothers on bed rest
• First-time parents
• Parents who are not yet comfortable in group settings
• Families whose schedules or life circumstances make it difficult to participate in center-based classes or other opportunities
• Parents who have special concerns that they prefer to discuss privately
• Parents identified in the ECFE community needs assessment
• Family childcare providers, with parents in attendance

Brief history of home visiting

ECFE initially received funding from the 1992 Minnesota Legislature for home visiting as part of the Omnibus Crime Bill. In fiscal year 1994, school districts were authorized to levy $1.60 times their birth–4 population specifically for continuation of this effort. This amount remained the same until fiscal year 2018, when school districts were authorized to levy $3.00 times their birth–4 population. The concept of home visiting as part of ECFE programming did not begin with the 1992 legislation. Home visiting has been a strategy used by ECFE staff for reaching and serving families with young children since the pilot programs began in 1975. 

Districts are required to establish a sliding fee scale and waive fees for participants unable to pay, according to Minnesota Statute section 124D.10, subdivision 6.

ECFE class fees are best determined by each local school district and community. It is expected that ECFE programs know their families and communities best, and therefore are in the best position to create or revise a sliding fee scale that is fair and acceptable to the families in their district.

The suggestions below may be helpful for developing or revising your sliding fee scale:

• Provide three to six levels of fees according to income, including one category indicating waived fees for those unable to pay.
  • Include language in your program brochures/website regarding waived fees, such as "All families are welcome. No one will be denied participation due to inability to pay." The goal is to avoid making parents feel uncomfortable for having to request scholarships or fee waivers.
  • A recommended sliding fee scale allowing parents to pay confidentially on an honor system based on their income or special circumstances in one way to address this concern. Some programs allow families to pay the "amount you are comfortable paying."
  • Keep the fee scale simple by avoiding too many levels, or requiring parents to calculate percentages of class fees based on income.
  • Keep additional fee scales for sibling/child care simple.
• Check with neighboring districts to see how they have designed their sliding fee scale. Neighboring ECFE administrators may have a plan in place that will work well for your program.
  • You may also want to inquire about their policies and procedures regarding the sliding fee scale.
• It is appropriate to consider using or adapting the free and reduced lunch income guidelines when developing or revising your sliding fee scale.
• Remember that participant fees are often a very small percentage of your total ECFE budget. If your goal is to be open to all families, consider strategies and procedures that ensure families are not avoiding ECFE due to costs or perceived costs.
• Work with your ECFE advisory council to create or revise your sliding fee scale.
• You may also want to gather information about how participants experience registering and paying fees.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 123B.88, subdivision 12, provides that, "Districts may provide bus transportation along school bus routes when space is available for participants in early childhood family education programs and school readiness programs if these services do not result in an increase in the district’s expenditures for transportation. The costs allocated to these services, as determined by generally accepted accounting principles, shall be considered part of the authorized cost for regular transportation for the purposes of section 123B.92."

If a school district changes a regular-scheduled school bus route by adding additional miles or hours so that ECFE and School Readiness students can be transported, then the district must allocate a cost to the appropriate expenditure codes in Fund 4, Community Service. The extra miles or hours increase the district’s expenditures for transportation.

The extra miles or hours for these routes will be reported with the non-authorized (Finance Dimension 733) miles on the year-end Pupil Transportation Annual Report. The cost for these miles or hours should be coded to Finance Dimension 325 or 344 in Fund 4. Districts should further identify these expenditures in these Finance Dimensions by using Object Dimension 360, Transportation Contracts with Private or Public Carriers, or Object Dimension 365, Transportation Chargebacks.

Districts will not be required to report the number of ECFE or School Readiness students transported by the district on the year-end transportation report or MARSS file.

Further, Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 169.685, subdivision 4.a, requires every motor vehicle operator to use a child passenger restraint system when transporting a child who is both under the age of 9 and under the height and weight limit of the child passenger restraint system. Because Types A, B, C, and D and multifunction school activity buses are exempt from the seat belt requirement, school districts and contract operators are not required to use an infant seat or child passenger restraint system in Types A, B, C, and D and multifunction school activity buses. If a child is being transported in a Type III school bus (passenger cars, station wagons, vans) with factory-installed seat belts, a child passenger restraint system meeting federal motor vehicle safety standards would be required by law.

If you have any questions about student transportation email pupiltransportation.mde@state.mn.us or call 651-582-8524.

School boards are required to employ licensed teachers for ECFE programs under Minnesota law. Some licenses are no longer available as initial licenses but can be renewed by persons already holding those licenses.

To teach parents in an ECFE program, one of the following licenses is required:

• 180402 Family Education/Early Child (renewal only)
• 180401 Parent and Family Education

To teach young children in an ECFE program, one of the following licenses is required:

• Nursery school (renewal only)
• Prekindergarten Teacher (renewal only)
• Early Childhood Special Education (can teach in an ECFE program only if licensed before September 1, 2001)
• Early Childhood Family Educator (renewal only)
• Early Childhood Education
• Elementary Education with a pre-primary specialty (for working with children aged 3 and older)

When a school district is unable to obtain a fully licensed teacher for children and/or parents in ECFE programs, the district may apply to the Minnesota Board of Teaching for a variance. Applications for all special permissions may be received and granted in accordance with the rules and statues governing these permissions. 

For more information, contact mde.educator-licensing@state.mn.us.

• Lease levy for space: Learn about the Minnesota Department of Education process for lease levy for space for ECFE programs.
• Quick guide for aid entitlement reports (PDF): Find your ECFE and School Readiness funding amounts.
• Program Outreach in Early Childhood Education Programs (PDF): Get guidance on developing and implementing an outreach plan.
• Curriculum in Early Childhood Family Education: Philosophy and Implementation (PDF): Learn how programs can engage in a planned, coordinated curriculum process.
• Data reporting: Submit required program and participant data for ECFE and School Readiness programs.
• Finance data, waivers and guidance: The Minnesota Department of Education compiles and maintains school district data on fund balance limits and revenue expenditure data for Community Education, Early Childhood Family Education and School Readiness programs.
• History of ECFE in Minnesota (PDF)