SB 2033 – “I’m going to take my ball and go home” is DEAD!
Posted: February 6, 2015 | Author: Debbie Ellis | Filed under: "Race to the Top", Administration for Children and Families, Allies for Quality Care, Child Care Licensing, Child Care Mississippi, Delta Licensed Providers, Dependent Care Tax Credit, Early Childhood Education Mississippi, Hechinger Foundation, Mississippi Building Blocks, Mississippi First, Mississippi Legislature, MS Department of Education, MS Department of Human Services, School Readiness Mississippi, SECAC Mississippi | Tags: "Race to the Top", Administration for Children and Families, Allies for Quality Care, child care Mississippi, child care quality rating systems Mississippi, Early Childhood Education Mississippi, Early Learning Guidelines (ELG), Hechinger Report, Kellogg Foundation, Mississippi Child Care Resource and Referral, Mississippi First, Mississippi School Readiness, Mississippi State Early Childhood Institute, SECAC Mississippi, The Mississippi Center for Education Innovation |1 CommentSB 2033 – “I’m going to take my ball and go home” is DEAD!
“The expression ‘I’m going to take my ball and go home’ when directed at an individual is used to illustrate the individual’s immaturity when that person can’t get his way and no longer wants to be a participant in the conversation or a contributor to solving a problem.” (Click here to read.)
Senator Bryce Wiggins’ Bill, Senate Bill 2033, which proposed to establish an Early Childhood Services Interagency Coordinating Council outside the authority of the State Early Childhood Advisory Council not only smacks of desire to limit input in the development and expansion of preschool, it reveals the failed process led by the Mississippi Department of Education and its paid consultant, Rachel Canter (Mississippi First) when developing the application for federal funding through the Preschool Development Grant. (Click here to read SB 2033.)
Monopolistic funding practices of public school districts that administer pre-K funding have few incentives to contract with qualified competitors and apparently, few incentives to include a wide variety of stakeholders in discussion.
Monopolistic funding requires the least amount of talent, collaborative effort and diplomacy from MDE and others, restricts a mixed delivery of preschool services, and limits parental choice – particularly for those who need a work support schedule of operation.
That “suggested council” has not been successful in securing the federal funding needed for preschool development and expansion.
SECAC is the venue established by law and recognized by the Mississippi Legislature to coordinate prekindergarten services among all stakeholders – not just an invited few.
“I’m going to take my ball and go home?”
Forgive me for saying so, but that ball is coming up flat.
SB 2033 is DEAD!
“Bringing key stakeholders to the same ‘table’ is a critical step in creating pre-k collaborations.” Pew Center on the States
Delta Licensed Providers 
[…] model (there are 2) continue to vie for control of the CCDF through the creation of either an Early Childhood Services Interagency Coordinating Council or a Children’s Cabinet. Both remove private sector child care providers from the policy […]