Governor Sebelius has been pushing a universal pre-K program. Reasonable people can disagree on the merits of the idea–we think that they are oversold–but should the governor get her way, we wonder if another court fight will afflict Kansas.
This comes to mind while reading an article about a pre-K program in Florida. The Kansas connection? Sebelius’s advisor on the subject doesn’t like Florida’s program, saying that they have done it on the cheap. Abby Thorman says, of Florida, “Because of both the low per-child funding and the real absence of standards for high quality, Florida became the model of exactly what we didn’t want to do.”
The St. Petersburg Times notes that “The constitutional amendment that established pre-K in this state mandated that it be high quality. And an advisory panel recommended specific criteria to meet the mark.”
Someehow, this all sounds vaguely familiar. Imagine this: Kansas sets up a pre-K program. Some providers are unhappy with their funding. They find some enterprising lawyers, and another lawsuit is underway.
