This commentary is by Reeva Sullivan Murphy of Stowe and Kim Keiser of Fayston. Each is a former deputy commissioner of child development for the Vermont Department for Children and Families, and Keiser is also former director of the child care services division in the Vermont Department of Social & Rehabilitation Services.
Governor Scott’s vision for an exceptional cradle-to-career education system in Vermont is the right goal. Achieving that in a way that meets the needs of Vermont children, youth and families is a complex public policy challenge that demands systems thinking, thoughtful planning, collective action across service sectors, and resources.
Disassembling the integrated early childhood end of the continuum, reducing resources, and assuming K-12 education is a vessel expansive enough to hold the full solution seems simple and neat. Like most simple solutions to complex challenges, this one is wrong.
When the Agency of Human Services reorganized in 2004, it was no small feat to bring seven different programs, established across disparate agencies, under one new umbrella — the Child Development Division. This was significant innovation. More than just reshuffling bureaucracy, it acknowledged emerging science demonstrating the importance of early childhood development on life outcomes and applied growing evidence that an integrated approach to supporting young children and their families is effective, efficient public policy and practice.
The Child Development Division is positioned to work closely and co-equally with other Department for Children and Families divisions to address the needs of the most vulnerable populations of young children and families, while partnering with other agencies within the Agency of Human Services and the Agency of Education to build a broader mixed-delivery system supporting all of Vermont’s young children and their families. This bold integration puts Vermont at the forefront of states taking a systems-thinking approach to the challenge and opportunity presented by public investment in early childhood.i
The proposal to disassemble the Child Development Division and eliminate 12 positions focused on early childhood and primary prevention is a step backward. From the perspective of young children and their families, disassembling that division re-creates more silos than it breaks down. It dilutes focus on the critical early years and reverses progress toward a common vision and robust early childhood system strategically developed in Vermont since 1999. It is counterintuitive to all we have learned and continue to learn about investing early.
What we need now is not less, but more. The dramatic change proposed will halt forward momentum on early care and education, not move the system forward. It took years of concentrated effort to settle the relocation of moving parts when the Child Development Division came together in 2004. It was 2009 when we began to gain traction on internal integration and true collaboration with state and community partners. Streamlining the engine out of a plane makes it lighter, but it doesn’t keep it in the air.
Vermont’s Early Childhood Action Plan, overseen by the Building Bright Futures State Advisory Council, is our shared and well-articulated vision and plan to realize the promise of each and every Vermont child. The plan reflects the work of a broad coalition of policy experts, advocates and community stakeholders to create a blueprint for an integrated, continuous and comprehensive early childhood system.
Goal 4 of the plan recognizes that a seamless system is not monolithic but multifaceted — woven together through intentional alignment, coordination and solid working relationships across the disciplines and agencies that impact the real lives of Vermont’s children and families.
Rearranging work assignments does not eliminate siloed thinking and bureaucratic turf wars in government. Clear vision, shared values, commitment to collective action, and strong, informed leadership does. Vermont’s early childhood policy and action has a well-earned reputation for attention to and energy on things that matter — we need to keep it there.
There are opportunities to streamline and unify. Priority 4 in the Let’s Grow Kids Policy Agenda urges upgrading the full functionality in the Bright Futures Information System, which was a model IT system for child care subsidy, licensing, quality, and professional
qualifications in 2006. The evolution of technology, policy and practice now necessitate a modern, integrated, comprehensive IT system to effectively serve families and providers, increase efficiency for the state, and provide critical data to measure progress toward Vermont’s goals for young children and families.
Priority 5 proposes a study to examine and strengthen Vermont’s governance and administration of the early childhood system. The Education Commission on States advises, “A state that desires to (re)examine its early childhood governance should not … begin with a model in mind but rather with a focus on its goals and desired outcomes for early childhood.” Recommendations emerging from a thorough and evidence-informed study will fulfill key objectives of Goal 4 of the early childhood action plan, providing a thoughtful, systems approach to changes in policy, practice and structure.
Vermont has an inspired, aspiring, and broadly supported vision for early childhood services. We have an action plan and policy agenda that have evolved over years of collective examination, passionate discussion, and iterative practice exploring what is known, what is possible, and what is best.
Let’s build on what we have achieved and learned, keeping Vermont’s young children and their families at the center of our consideration, not tear up the emerging masterpiece and start over.
