By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
The 2010 Commission drew a standing-room-only crowd Monday for its discussion of creating an Office of Early Childhood Education and services. (Dave Ranney/KHI)
TOPEKA, Aug. 21
The 2010 Commission had hoped to finalize a plan Monday for streamlining the state”s early childhood development initiatives.
It didn”t.
“I”m going to adjourn the meeting,” said the commission”s chairwoman, Rochelle Chronister. “We”ll continue this discussion tomorrow.”
Seconds later, Chronister, a former state representative, turned to her colleague, Sen. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, and said, “My head is about to explode.”
Chronister”s assessment followed four hours of testimony
most of it in staunch defense of the status quo
and a one-hour discussion that raised more questions than answers.
“I having a hard time getting my arms around a lot of this,” said Rep. Sue Storm, D-Overland Park.
Earlier this year, lawmakers directed the Legislative Educational Planning Committee and the 2010 Commission to come up with a plan for starting an Office of Early Childhood Education.
The education planning committee, in turn, asked the 2010 Commission, an advisory group on education issues, to take the lead.
Late last month, Chronister proposed putting the Kansas Children”s Cabinet in charge of coordinating programs aimed at newborns, infants and toddlers; the state Department of Education in charge of programs for children age 3 and older.
The children”s cabinet would have taken over two programs now administered by the Department of Health and Environment Education: Healthy Start, and the Infant-Toddler (Tiny K) programs. It also would have taken over Early Head Start from the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services and Parents as Teachers from the Department of Education.
Twenty-two people
a mix of program directors and association administrators
testified against Chronister”s plan Monday:
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“I have great faith in the Kansas Department of Education,” said Sue Denny, director of student services for the Blue Valley School District in Johnson County. She opposed moving Parents as Teachers out of the Department of Education. She supported letting the department run the Tiny K program.
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“To unlink Healthy Start from the comprehensive perinatal health system based at your local and state health departments does not make programmatic or fiscal sense,” said Nancy Jorn, director of maternal and child health field programs at the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department.
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“I”m afraid that what we”re talking about here today will end up fragmenting the health services system,” said Susan Wilson, who runs the Healthy Babies program at the Sedgwick County Health Department.
No one spoke in favor of expanding the role of the Children”s Cabinet, which currently has two employees.
“This would be a major adjustment for us,” said Melissa Ness, chairwoman of the Children”s Cabinet board. The nine-member board advises lawmakers on how best to use the state”s tobacco Master Settlement Agreement receipts to improve the lives of Kansas children.
Though Chronister said she welcomed the frank discussion, she also noted that few in the standing-room-only audience appeared willing to change.
“You”re darn turf conscious,” she said. “I heard it all day
and I understand that, no one want to give up what they”ve got.”
To illustrate her frustration, Chronister tore in half a copy of her one-page proposal.
“We”ve got to figure out who it is that people can trust to represent them
that”s what this is about,” Chronister said afterward.
“(Department of) Education is not it, and it”s sure not SRS,” she said. “Whenever SRS is involved, people think (SRS) is going to take their kids.”
Chronister served as SRS secretary from May 1995 to October 1999.
“People don”t trust Education to give them a fair deal simply because the department is so big,” she said. “It”s like “Why would we want to put something else at Department of Education?””
Before adjourning, several 2010 Commission members expressed an interest in asking the state”s Early Learning Coordinating Council to come up with a framework for starting an Office of Early Childhood Education.
“Maybe they”re the group that people will trust,” Chronister said.
Other issues complicating the discussion:
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The legislative directive calls for putting the Office of Early Childhood Development in charge of making sure Kansas children are ready to learn when they enroll in kindergarten. But “school readiness” is subject to different definitions. “There are so many factors that come in to play,” said 2010 Commission vice chairman Ray Daniels. “Is it education? Is it health? Is it having access to social services?”
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The state constitution makes clear that “all matters dealing with education shall be handled by the Department of Education,” said 2010 Commission member Dennis Jones, a Lakin attorney. “And the Department of Education is not a governor”s cabinet-level agency. It”s independent. That”s where the turf battles come in.”
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Though several state agencies oversee the current roster of early childhood development programs, actual services are coordinated on the local level
either by school districts, health departments, or nonprofit groups. How changes in state oversight would affect local services is unclear.
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Several program directors said the 2010 Commission”s energies would be better spent pushing for funding increases. “If the goal is better outcomes, we”ll need more resources,” said Mark Tallman, an assistant director at the Kansas Association of School Boards.
The 2010 Commission meets again today at the Statehouse, Room 123-S.
-Dave Ranney is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
dranney@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 128.