Kentucky targets preschoolers
Government expands its control with Early Childhood Development Initiative
From Kentucky Citizen Digest, July, 1999

As the spotlight continues to shine on debates concerning Gov. Paul Patton’s proposal to legalize casino gambling, a lesser-known effort dubbed the Early Childhood Development Initiative remains relatively unnoticed.

The initiative is an effort to “identify the best way to give our children the best start in life, during the most important first years of life,” said Patton in an April press release.

“Those formative years, zero to 5, are when the brain is programmed to develop.Our Early Childhood Development Office, established last year, is now seeking public input on how we should approach this most important task,” he stated.

Critics contend that the effort is a thinly-veiled attempt to increase state control over families and children.“Under the guise of ‘new scientific discoveries,’ the state has found the impetus to involve itself with how parents raise their children,” said Richard Nelson, policy analyst for The Family Foundation. “I am convinced most Kentuckians would rather be left alone to raise their children without state help. The most courageous thing for the state to do to help children would be to decrease taxes for families and provide incentives for working mothers who would rather stay at home to raise their preschoolers.”

The governor plans to greatly increase the early-childhood budget and to gather more support for legislation dealing with prenatal counseling and parenting skills.

In April and May, 10 public forums were held across the Commonwealth to garner public support for the initiative.The forums precede Patton’s ambitious efforts to implement a 20-year plan for early-childhood education (birth to age 3).Nicki Patton, the governor’s daughter and chair of the Early Childhood Task Force, emphasized teamwork and discouraged “protecting one’s turf” to the almost 200 attendees at the Madisonville forum on May 14.

The Early Childhood Task Force is comprised of elected officials, cabinet members, businessmen, child advocates and community leaders.

Dr. Kim Townley, Ms. Patton’s colleague and executive director of the Office of Early Childhood Development, asserted, “If we don’t invest now, we’ll pay for it down the road in mediation, in juvenile justice halls and in prisons.”

While most citizens want to help children develop into healthy adults, some family advocates in attendance questioned the extension of the state’s role in family affairs.“This is Horace Mann’s promise rehashed a century later, to younger children. Mann promised that by expanding public education, ‘nine-tenths of the crimes in the penal code would become obsolete,’” Nelson said. “The truth today, of course, is that public schools are sadly becoming places of crime scenes. With its dismal track record, why should parents invite the government into their homes and expect any better performance for their preschoolers?”

Kentucky’s Early Childhood Development Initiative is closely linked to the I Am Your Child campaign, which is adamantly against parents spanking their children.The initiative also includes goals to “provide comprehensive, integrated early childhood development programs that include health care, quality child care, parent education, and intervention programs for families at risk.”

Interestingly, one report by a coalition member ofI Am Your Child reported that “more than one-third[of children] are in situations that can be detrimental to their development, while most of the rest are in settings where minimal learning is taking place.”

No speakers used the phrase “it takes a village,” but family advocates see the writing on the wall. While gambling remains the hottest topic of political discussion in Kentucky, some wonder about another proposed government gamble — one that involves our children.
 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander, Executive Director Martin Cothran, Senior Associate Policy Analyst