Children's Campaign, Inc.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE is a service provided by the Children’s Campaign to advocates and concerned citizens at the end of each Committee Week and weekly during regular Session.

This information will add value to your advocacy efforts by creating an easy way to stay informed about policies affecting the children of Florida.

Session 2007
March 6 - March 9

Every March through May it’s as if the Big Top arrives in Tallahassee. The Capitol courtyard transforms in the proverbial blink of an eye into miniature versions of whole counties, livestock from gators to llamas, and with enough flowers inside the Rotunda to be a southern substitute for the National Arboretum. While it’s reminiscent of a three ring circus, and hard to know where to look but impossible to pull your eyes away, the attire remains more business suits than clown costumes and the wrangling is more for the lobbyists and advocates than the animals. Needless to say, the sights and sounds signal to resident and visitor alike that the Legislature is back in Session.

The traditional State of the State Address by Governor Charlie Crist was the highlight of the first day, the sixty-fourth of his administration. Crist’s stated priorities included no surprises, with mention of property tax reform, the class size amendment, restoring the Everglades, and the Anti-Murder Act. The speech was marked throughout by his now trademark populist optimism, the belief that he serves the people, and his desire to use his time in office to make a difference.

While his mention of children’s issues lacked specifics, Crist did say with emphasis, “We must raise the profile of all children’s issues, from education to health. As stewards of this state, our greatest obligation is to our children. But often it is their voice that goes unheard or overlooked.”

That dynamic tension of wondering how far the populist governor will go was captured in full by Palm Beach Post editorial writer, Elisa Cramer. In her column published March 9th, Ms. Cramer praised the Governor for his leadership thus far, thanked him for mentioning children in his speech, and encouraged him to come forward with more substance.

Cramer wrote, “There are 700,000 reasons why. That’s the number of children in Florida without health insurance. Add 95,263 reasons. That’s the number of delinquent children the state Department of Juvenile Justice “handled” in 2004-05. Add another 121,197. That’s the number of children who were found to be victims of abuse or neglect last year. Add 43,924. That’s the average number of preschoolers on a waiting list each month for a “school readiness program.” She goes on to say that a Children’s Cabinet sounds good, but it is action that will make the difference. To read the editorial in which Ms. Cramer nudges Governor Crist to become the “chief child advocate”, click here.

Governor Crist will need all of the focus and resolve portrayed in his State of the State and the support of advocates to make a positive change for children because bureaucratic posturing is in as much colorful bloom as the flowers in the Rotunda.

State administrators again informed a legislative forum, this time the House K-12 Committee, that pre-k was “too new” to know precisely what to do to make Florida’s program a national model. It would seem as if pre-k hadn’t begun in Florida in the late 70’s and that the state hasn’t had a generation of learning at its disposal nor a wealth of experience to import from other parts of the country.

In order to achieve high quality, the Children’s Campaign is working to require lead teachers in Florida’s pre-k program to have a Bachelors degree by 2013, sufficient time to allow current employees to matriculate upward and for community colleges and universities to expand the necessary course offerings. This fundamental building block of quality would ensure that when four-year-olds are most ready to learn they have educated teachers laying the foundation for years of educational success.

While Governor Crist obviously recognizes the benefits of quality teachers in the classroom, and acknowledged his fifth grade teacher by name in his speech, he has yet to publicly extend the support for quality degreed teachers to pre-kindergarten, thereby going beyond K-12.

Then there was the article about Kidcare published on March 4th in the Tallahassee Democrat. The executive director of the Florida Healthy Kids Corporation, the agency that oversees KidCare, told reporter Steven Price that “the agency was on track to spend the $20 million [of federal dollars lost because the state did not use them], but Congress took it prematurely because other states had overspent their funds.”

So, other states enrolled more children and were more flexible in their eligibility requirements while Florida froze enrollment, erected administrative barriers, stopped outreach and spent less money even though 700,000 children in this state are in need of health insurance, but we are led to believe that the Federal government acted precipitously?

The article appeared on the heels of a Joint Legislative Auditing Committee, which met on Monday, to discuss the range of administrative problems that have prevented children from enrolling in KidCare. Citing “significant deficiencies” and a need for “common sense”, the committee appeared to add a dose of reality with discussion about the administrative and operational barriers responsible for turning one hundred thousand children away from coverage.

There is a lesson to be learned from the Big Top. Advocates are needed in large numbers to push activity in each ring in order to advance good public policy. There are lots of new people to watch and educate. It’s time to encourage them to come to the center ring with children as their priority so that we can cheer them on.

Roy Miller Amanda Ostrander
President Communications Coordinator

The next Legislative Update will be sent for the week ending March 16.

To read the full State of the State Address, click here.

To read a summary of legislation on each of the 5 Promises use the following links:

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