In Gena Anderson's eyes, the Idaho Legislature failed greatly when it refused to strengthen day care safety standards this spring.
But Anderson, president of the Snake River Association for the Education of Young Children, said her organization can do little but wait and support its state-level group's efforts to revive a bill that will further regulate in-home day care.
"Our Idaho association group is still working on the legislative piece," Anderson said. "We always encourage everyone to continue to get educated."
While a few cities, such as Idaho Falls, are working on their own day care standards in the wake of the Legislature's inaction, nothing similar is in the works in Twin Falls. Mitch Humble, Twin Falls community development director, said city officials have not considered their own day care standards because they consider the state to have a good program and think a city policy would be redundant.
"If the state's going to do it, we don't need to redo it," Humble said. "I know we've taken up that same opinion on things like environmental concerns."
In the absence of city regulations, some members of the industry may be taking reform into their own hands. Roger and Julie Taylor, who operate New Life Preschool and Daycare out of their home in Pocatello, launched the National Child Care Connection last month. The Web-based service, which they spent two years preparing, is intended to provide parents with one central location to compare and choose child care services - for now in Idaho, but eventually nationwide.
The site is also intended to help smaller day cares advertise themselves, improving their chances of filling all their open spots and staying in business, Julie Taylor said. For $9.95 a month, day care providers can have their class ratios, age ranges, prices and details about their services posted on the company's Web site, www.nationalccc.com. For $15.95 a month, providers can have their own Web space on the site.
Julie Taylor said the site's ability to show side-by-side comparisons of day care centers will cause them to compete, improving their offerings.
"It causes people to rise to the occasion," she said. "This side-by-side-type setting will naturally cause some improvement in child care."
Full text available at the Times-News
- Home |
- About Us |
- NACCRRA.org