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7/13/2010
More regulation, more service – but how much will it cost?
$92.6 million. Predictably, after a private school in Appleton was closed down by authorities, politicians piled on and ‘took action.’
Yes, the situation the kids were in was tragic. Yes, the owners escaped regulation and licensure because they operated as a ‘private school.’ And yes, politicians, of course, entered the fray.
Rep. Penny Bernard Schaber (D-Appleton) in a commentary published Sunday in area Gannett papers, decries the situation and, of course, proposes new regulations.
Like many Fox Valley residents, I was shocked to learn of the conditions at Grace's Garden Academy when it was closed down in May…. The most disturbing, however, was that Grace's Garden was ordered to close last year, but was able to continue operating just by declaring itself a private school instead of a day care center.
…. it is clear that we need to change the way we monitor child care centers so that no more children will be put in harm's way.
That is why I am working with state agencies to draft new legislation that will prevent situations like Grace's Garden from happening again. In the meantime, the Legislature recently approved a new program that will give parents the information they need to find quality day care for their children and avoid fraud and deception.
The YoungStar Program is designed to give parents a resource for comparing different day care programs. Participating day cares are given points in four areas: the education and training of the staff, the professional practices of the center, the curriculum and learning environment, and the health and well-being of the kids.
….After holding a listening session with the parents whose kids went to Grace's Garden, the one comment I consistently heard was, "I wish I would have known what to look for." YoungStar will give parents the information they need to make the best decision possible for their kids.
“I wish I could have known what to look for?” Are you kidding me? Welcome to the world, Mr. or Mrs. Parent. Stop in and look around. Read. Do a Google search for crying out loud. Talk to your church friends. Talk to your mother and your mother-in-law. Talk to your grandmother and your grandmother’s friends. And of course, when all else fails, ask the government for “the information [you] need to make the best decision possible for [your] kids.” Geeeeez.
The point I started out wanting to make is simply to point out that the YoungStar program does not come without a cost. It seems Rep. Bernard Schaber forgot to mention that part (just as more of us are learning the budget she and her Dem compatriots passed in 2009 passes on a $2.5 billion structural deficit for the 2011-2013 state budget).
When you read about this new program or that new proposal, please, please, just for kicks, always ask how much it costs. Always ask where the money is coming from. Always ask what program is being discontinued to reprioritize funding to allow this program to start (yeah, right). Always, always, always.
From the minutes of the June 22, 2010 meeting of the Outagamie County Board, the County Lobbyist [that’s another story…] reported on goings-on in the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance:
Another issue before the Committee is item 7, implementing a child care quality rating and improvement system called Young Star. The cost of this program over the next six years is estimated to be anywhere from $59.5 million to $92.6 million.
No matter how great, no matter how many bells and whistles a new government program has, no matter how politically popular, there is no such thing as a free lunch. It’s long past time Wisconsin residents – and voters – recognized that.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Jo, yesterday's post called it "the nanny state." What could be more nanny than the state LITERALLY acting as nanny for parents who are too busy to care, too lazy to care, or simply inept.
Nothing is more frightening than a state program guiding and directing parents in the upbringing and education of their children.
And on costs - how in the world do these people come up with these projected costs? What complex formula goes into it, with what set of variables? And how can anyone be comfortable with a 36% margin of error when there is NO WAY to measure a return on investment, and when our experience is invariably that it will cost more than projected, will fail, will ask for more money, will continue to fail, and on and on ad nauseam?
Andrew Ellis (Tue Jul 13 08:32:23 2010)
Problem- day care costs too much and is not as affordable or as available as many would like.
Solution- add regulations that drive the price up, and providers out of business.
I think we ought to take a look at the entire regulatory process. Too many come to assume that because an enterprise is regulated, (or SHOULD be regulated according to some,) that it is safe to use. We have done much to encourage irresponsibility among parents and others. We have put many "home" daycare providers out of business, and that forces more kids into more institutional settings. Often the abuse and health problems are worse in the bigger facilities than in the home daycare settings. And because of the regulation, or presumed regulation, it creates a false sense of security. We need LESS regulation, not more. Regulation or not, we as consumers must take responsibility. That SHOULD be the lesson here.
Ken Van Doren (Tue Jul 13 09:05:44 2010)
The press should do a story on the decision making of the parents who, day after day, left their kids at Grace's Garden. Alongside the pictures and names of the parents could be a report of how they made their selection. Did they interview staff, did they ask for and check out references, did they make unannounced visits once the kids were enrolled, what alternative day care operations did they consider and why did they select Grace's Garden? Would be quite illustrative.
Tom Sladek (Tue Jul 13 10:13:33 2010)
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