Pardon our skepticism, but we remember when the governor toured public elementary schools last winter saying he supported funding all-day kindergarten. That didn’t happen. Now he’s talking about early childhood education. We believe the lack of early childhood education places a higher burden on the K-12 system and misses an opportunity to help Kansas children succeed. But we want to see real progress on this issue rather than posturing.
“Shannon Cotsoradis, president and chief executive officer of Kansas Action for Children in Topeka, wasn’t invited to join Brownback’s working group…
“Cotsoradis said Kansas could have greater resources for child development had state lawmakers not diverted $200 million in tobacco-settlement payments to Kansas. If that $200 million had been placed in an endowment fund, she said, the account would have conservatively grown to $365 million.
“Kansas needs to prepare for scheduled reduction of $16 million, or 24 percent, in annual payments from major tobacco companies, Cotsoradis said. That financial reality will make it more challenging for the state to connect with the private sector, she said.
“’You have to adequately fund the public part to get private dollars,’ Cotsoradis said.”
Read more here: http://cjonline.com/news/state/2015-10-14/brownback-quietly-exploring-shape-kansas-early-childhood-education