State House Republicans today announced their “targeted” approach to early learning for the state’s youngest students. The proposal includes nearly $25-million in scholarships for students most in need and an additional nine-million dollars for school readiness programs. House Speaker Kurt Daudt says it’s time to “declare a war on the achievement gap in Minnesota.” Daudt says it seems as though an early education funding solution is a problem “we’ve taken to admiring here in St. Paul, but we really aren’t willing to roll up our sleeves and do the things that we know are necessary to fix it.” Governor Mark Dayton is pushing for 175 million dollars for a universal expansion of pre-K. Daudt argues the governor’s approach is more of the same and will not close close the achievement gap. Despite the two sides’ different approaches, Daudt says: