TOPEKA — Three limited-government organizations, two child facility operators and one state senator Wednesday endorsed legislation crafted to alleviate a shortage of day care options in Kansas by reducing employee training requirements, lowering the minimum age of staff and increasing the ratio of adults-to-children in facilities.
There was consensus Kansas was at a crisis stage in terms of the gap between kids in need of child care and availability of affordable, quality placements. A Senate committee’s hearing on Senate Bill 282 also revealed a gulf between supporters focused on lowering regulatory obstacles in the child care business and critics arguing those changes would put children at risk and jeopardize federal funding.
The Senate Commerce Committee didn’t take action on the bill, but questions and comments by senators affirmed disagreements existed among lawmakers on how to proceed.
