Kansas Association
for the Education
of Young Children
(KAEYC)
Early Years Are Learning Years
The demand for early childhood care and education programs continues to increase not only in response to the growing demand for out-of-home child care, but also in recognition of the critical importance of educational experiences during the early years. Several decades of research clearly demonstrate that high-quality, developmentally appropriate early childhood programs produce short- and long-term positive effects on children's cognitive and social development.
KAEYC members, most of whom work directly with young children and families, see daily the toll of ill-conceived public policies on the lives of the children and families we serve. Existing programs have too often taken fragmented, piecemeal approaches to the complex issues facing children and families. Effective public policies have seldom been funded at sufficient levels to provide adequate support to all families who might benefit.
KAEYC believes that our nation and the great state of Kansas are at a crossroads. We can invest now in our children and families and enjoy long-term savings, with a more vibrant nation and state of healthy, achieving children and more stable families. Or, we can fail to make the investment and pay the price: fewer children born healthy and into stable families: fewer children ready to learn and able to succeed in school and the workplace. Federal, state and local government, communities, parents, and the private sector must share in the responsibility of ensuring the well-being of children and families.
The time for action is now.
KAEYC’s Statement on Licensing
The Kansas Association for the Education of Young Children (KAEYC) affirms the
responsibility of the state of Kansas to protect children from harm, not only threats to their immediate physical health and safety but also threats of long-term
developmental impairment.
KAEYC recommends that Kansas continue to adopt and improve requirements that establish a basic floor of protection below which no center, school, or family child care or group home may legally operate. Basic protections should, at a minimum, protect children by striving to prevent the risk of the spread of disease, fire in buildings as well as other structural safety hazards, personal injury, child abuse or neglect, and developmental impairment.
Licensing rules should be coordinated statewide and streamlined to focus on those aspects that research and practice most clearly demonstrate as reducing these types of
harm. Licensing rules and procedures should be developed in a context that recognizes other strategies and policies that encourage all programs to strive continuously for higher standards of quality.