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GUEST COLUMN
(1/30/2007)
Dollars Will Rule; Babies Go to School
BY CINDY FLAKOLL CONCERNED WOMEN FOR AMERICA *This is the third of a series preschool and early child development. Part 1 and Part 2. Apparently the education establishment’s mantra is, “Dollars will rule; send babies to school.” But the typical taxpayer’s response is, “I’m no fool; to babies that’s cruel!” I refer here to the Sioux Falls visit by Dr. Art Rolnick of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, as cited in a KELO article on May 15, titled: “Economy & Early Childhood Education.” Rolnick stated, “Your children could be the key to our economy,” and “…the earlier parents focus on education, the better….” 1 Rolnick’s view that children are an economic investment is beyond troublesome. Most parents believe their children are precious human beings worthy of loving care, and not some commodity to be utilized according to someone’s view of the prevailing stock market trend or interest rate. The South Dakota Department of Education (DOE) held a series of 2010 Education Initiative Summits (2010-E) in 2004 recommending taxpayers fund universal preschool.2 Notes from those meetings advocate: • By 2010, preschool education available for every child • By 2006, mandatory enrollment in Kindergarten • By 2010, all children age 3 required to be screened using a formal process - appropriate programming made available to all kids that qualify for services • By 2006, state incentives for public preschools (4 year olds), perhaps tie to ADM • By 2010, state requirements for all preschools (whether public or private)3 The minutes of the August 25, 2004 Child Care and Early Learning Opportunities Task Force meeting also reveal that the 2010-E Summits called for an overwhelming emphasis on early learning: “At 3 of the 4 meetings, early childhood education emerged as the top priority of education.”4 How many public schools in South Dakota are offering preschool for some age group, either 4-year olds or both 3-year olds and 4-year olds? How many citizens are aware their taxes fund a portion of these tiny tot programs? Where will it all end? I recently visited a former South Dakotan who lives and teaches in the Twin Cities. She told how infants are sent on school buses there for public school infant-toddler training---one bus driver and one caregiver per bus. Apparently some people do not find this appalling. Perhaps it is happening here, too. I have not heard of it---yet. However, infant-toddler training is mentioned repeatedly in the 2004 Child Care Task Force Report. Secretary Melmer and 2010-E have requested $8-9 million for developing a statewide preschool program for children “at risk.”5 Who decides which children are “at risk” and which are not? Remember, this $8-9 million request is for merely developing public “at risk” preschool, not funding long-term implementation of the universal public preschool experiment. An August 25, 2004 Watertown Public Opinion article suggested, “If South Dakota funded one year of preschool programs statewide at the same level, it would [have] cost approximately $50 million in additional funds, roughly an 8 percent increase in school general funds overall.”6 Subsidizing only one year would require $50 million or more. Again, just where are we going here?
Cindy Flakoll is a farm/ranch wife in McPherson County.
She is also Legislative Liaison for Concerned Women for America
of South Dakota. Concerned Women for America, a women' Footnotes:
[1] “Economy & Early Childhood Education,” 05/15/2006 [2] (NOTES from 4 Area Meetings) [3] Ibid., 2010 Education Initiative Summit (PreK-12), Ramkota Hotel, Sioux Falls, SD, July 28, 2004 [4] Child Care and Early Learning Opportunities Task Force, Minutes of the August 25, 2004 meeting held at the Ramkota Inn, Pierre, SD [5] Mercer, Bob, “State Eyes Preschool Funding,” 9-22-04, Aberdeen American News [6] Mercer, Bob, “Panel looks at state-funded preschool,” August 25, 2004 Watertown Public Opinion
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