Original Source | Associated Press
By Jonathan J. Cooper, Friday February 4, 2011

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber's proposed budget includes an overhaul of the state programs aimed at giving at-risk children a better start in life.

Kitzhaber wants to merge the agencies that take care of young children and require them to prove they're getting results.

It's a lofty goal fraught with political and bureaucratic land mines, but one that would significantly change the way parents of at-risk young children interact with the government.

"This could be his signature moment in terms of the budget," Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, said of Kitzhaber's early childhood initiatives. "I think if there's an issue that will define him, truly in terms of his heart of hearts, it's this issue."

The budget also includes something a Kitz¬haber advisory committee called for: a computer system that integrates data from a variety of state agencies that deal with children's health and development.

The committee says doctors and social service workers should identify babies and young children in jeopardy of falling behind once they start school, and those children should be referred to support managers in the schools who would track the development of children and get them the services they need.

Health and education programs for children younger than 6 are provided by an array of programs spread across at least six state agencies. There's Head Start, Even Start, Smart Start and Healthy Start. There's the Commission on Children and Families and the Education Related Day Care program.

It's a bureaucratic jum¬ble that collectively spends $380 million a year, Kitz¬haber says, and doesn't have enough results to show for it. Programs are splintered into independent silos that measure their success based on the number of children served rather than the results produced, and are failing to get children ready to learn by the time they reach school age, he says.

"We need a better return on investment for that $380 million," Kitz¬haber said when he released his budget proposal Tuesday.

Kitzhaber's recommended budget would merge more than a dozen state-funded programs into a new Early Learning Council and creates a senior staff position with authority to determine how the money is spent.

The governor argues that failures in children's first five years have significant budget consequences for decades. Many children who aren't prepared for school struggle in their classes, eventually drop out and become dependent on food stamps, public health care and other social services, he says. Some spend their lives in and out of prison, costing money instead of contributing to the economy.

Kitzhaber's early childhood committee, created days after he was elected in November, says a first step should be creating a uniform database that tracks all aspects of a child's development from birth through school. The system would integrate data about the child's health, social and emotional development and educational progress. It would be fed by screenings at birth, by schools and by data on their parents' use of state services like welfare.

The report says children exposed to poverty, unstable family backgrounds, substance abuse and relatives with criminal records are especially vulnerable to falling behind in school, and it's difficult for children to catch up once they lag their peers. About 40 percent of the 45,000 children born annually in Oregon meet these criteria.

"Forty percent is a lot, and that should be an alarm to all of us that we have to be really responsible here," said Lynne Saxton, co-chairwoman of Kitz¬haber's early childhood committee.

There's much to like in Kitzhaber's proposals, like eliminating redundant programs and focusing on programs that provide the best return on their investment, said Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, R-Scio. It's encouraging that she can praise some of the initiatives proposed by a Democratic governor, Sprenger said. The challenge, and the potential for conflict, she said, comes from the details: Which programs should be boosted and which should be cut?

"I would rather lose a particular program and build up other programs than have multiple programs that are barely adequate," said Sprenger, who serves as the House Republican co-chairwoman on the budget subcommittee that deals with education.

Kitzhaber's committee proposes spending on average $5,225 per child per year and empowering the school-based family support manager to come up with the right nonprofit and government services to meet a particular child's needs. The committee says children should be evaluated periodically to ensure they're making progress, and it recommends adjusting contracts with service providers so they're required to prove they're achieving results.

Kitzhaber spokesman Tim Raphael said the transition team's recommendation is a starting point and any plan that passes the Legislature will be worked out between law¬makers, interest groups and others with a stake in the outcome. Those negotiations will determine the specifics, such as where the money comes from and which services will be offered.

Kitzhaber and his advisers acknowledge such widespread change would be tough to achieve. The system has been around for years, and there's comfort in the status quo. And many of the people affected by a change won't be convinced that the change is needed or helpful.

Reform advocates have proposed similar changes before without success, but Kitzhaber says the struggling economy and a deep budget gap create an unprecedented opportunity to force some agreement.