This document presents an action plan developed by the Minnesota Early Care and Education Finance Commission during two years of study and deliberation to finance a state early care and education system that supports families and is focused on school readiness. Recommendations are presented in three categories: (1) more time and tools for better parenting; (2) higher quality, more affordable child care; and (3) improvement of the early care and education system's ability to prepare children for kindergarten. In each category are proposed increases in new annual funding proposals for a total of $480.7 million. Recommended expenditures include funding for parent education, refundable tax credits for families with children under 5 years, voluntary parental leave programs, child care assistance, development of a child care quality indicators rating system to assist parents in making choices, child caregiver training and retraining, loans to improve and expand quality spaces for early childhood programs, increasing the quality of early childhood programs to a school readiness level, and increase Head Start funding. Part 1 of the report presents the Commission's goals and values for Minnesota's children. Part 2 discusses the importance of early care and education. Part 3 acknowledges the new economic, cultural, and social contexts which shape young children's lives. Part 4 presents a parent-driven strategy to enhance quality through employer and state efforts. Part 5 details strategies to work toward an effective state-wide early childhood care and education system. Part 6 offers strategies for building public support for the plan. A summary list of the 25 recommendations and a list of the Commission members complete the report. (KB)