Quality, availability, cost of child care a tough balancing act
The last time Kansas really looked at the way it regulates child care, today's high school seniors were babies. "There have been a lot of changes in the child care industry and society in general," said Joe Blubaugh, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which oversees child care licensing.
"We thought it was time to take a look at the regulations."
The result is "Kansas Childcare in the 21st Century," a statewide listening tour that may inspire small tweaks or a major overhaul of the state's child care system.
Either way, the move could affect thousands of Kansas families.
Since mid-October, state officials have been holding hearings to collect feedback from providers, parents and others about child care policies. The final meeting is Tuesday in Manhattan.
Members of a statewide advisory committee will consider information collected at those meetings to draft a proposal for systemwide changes. The proposal may not be complete for another year or more, Blubaugh said.
Suggestions brought up at listening sessions so far include:
• Putting more child care information online -- listing training programs for providers, and making inspection and complaint records accessible to parents.
• Possibly doing away with registered child care. In Kansas, registered providers can care for up to six children, including their own, and are inspected only if a complaint is filed. Licensed child care homes, which can care for up to 10 children, are inspected yearly.
• Reducing the top "infant" age from 18 to 12 months. This could enable providers to have more slots available for early toddlers.
• Allowing providers to care for more school-age children, especially during school holidays and in-service days.
• Improving communication between licensing agencies and providers.
• Raising qualification and professional development requirements for teachers.
Many providers, including Cathy Gray, owner of Growing Minds Child Care, say it's past time for the state to get serious about improving child care.
"A manicure student in this state has to have at least 70 hours of course work before they can do your nails," Gray said. "But right now there's no requirement for training before a person can care for your children, and that's not right."
Gray, a former kindergarten teacher who operates a child care in her east Wichita home, says she'd like to see state regulations more closely follow guidelines set by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
That group recommends that child care teachers have at least an associate's degree in early childhood education or a related field and at least 24 hours of annual training. It also recommends small staff-to-child ratios and inspections four times a year -- not once, as is the case in Kansas.
"What is best for children should trump every other issue or argument," Gray said. "Parents who want a nice home, work hard to pay for it.
"So, if they want a quality child care, they will need to pay for that higher level of quality."
Talk of stricter regulations or more teacher training brings up the tricky balance of child care regulation: Namely, how can Kansas ensure high-quality child care while keeping it available and affordable?
"That's the big question," said Sue Sommers Barrientos, coordinator of the early childhood program at Butler Community College and a member of the advisory committee. "In many cases, high-quality child care costs more than parents can afford to pay."
It's a dilemma officials faced last spring, when a nationwide study ranked Kansas 46th in the country for policies that govern child care centers.
In that survey, the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies considered staff qualifications, teacher-student ratios, class sizes, frequency of inspections and caseloads for inspectors. They compared state policies with practices recommended by the NAEYC.