Review of Smart Start Conference Update

8/4/2019 Review of Smart Start Conference Update

1/18

1 | S m a r t S t a r t C o n f e r e n c e R e v i e w

First Annual Smart Start Oklahoma Conference

Champions for Change orHow Much More Than The Already-Allotted One Billion Dollars

Per Year Can Champions Justify Spending On Unproven Early

Childhood Programming In Oklahoma?

By Jenni White

Thursday, August 18, 2011, Restore Oklahoma Public Education (ROPE) board member Lynn Habluetzel

and I attended the Smart Start Oklahoma conference as part of our ongoing inquiry into the efficacy,

practicality and necessity ofpublicly funded preK programming. Although we went into the conference

with an admitted bias against such an endeavor (please see our published articles on the topichere

(White) andhere(White)), we felt it important to give the group a chance to communicate their vision

to us on their own turf so to speak.

Sadly, this excursion only reinforced our assessment that publicly funded preK is as impractical a notion

as that of finding a unicorn in ones backyard and then riding him (or her) across a rainbow to a land of

milk and honey where all of mankind (womankind) will join hands, sing Kum Ba Yah and live happily ever

after especially in the face of crushing national debt.

Even more wretched, is that the ideology behind the idea of creating preK Nirvana with taxpayer funds

appears deeply cemented into this group of well-meaning, kind-hearted, but Constitutionally-challenged

individuals. I doubt very seriously if any number of facts presented to preempt their creed would be met

with anything other than contemptuous looks, comments about the hardness of our hearts and/or a full

lecture series on the Effects of Poverty and Learning in Young Children.

Lisa Klein, Keynote Speaker

Our keynote speaker of the morning was Lisa Klein, the Executive Director of theBirth to Five Policy

Alliance(Birth to Five Policy Alliance) introduced by Ken Levit, Executive Director of theGeorge Kaiser

Family Foundation(George Kaiser Family Foundation). Birth to Five is funded by five philanthropic

organizations which are divulged under the About Us tab on their website. Just to the right of this list,

are a series of FAQs down the gutter of the page. I was most interested in the following:

Who does the Alliance Fund?

The Alliance funds state and national not-for-profit organizations whose missions align with the

Alliance focus on improving state policies for young, vulnerable children. Rather than funding

individual work, the Alliance invests in collaborative activities among organizations doing related

work in order to accomplish shared goals. The organizations we fund impact or sustain policies in

states including but not limited to: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine,

Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington and

Wisconsin.
http://restoreoklahomapubliceducation.blogspot.com/2011/08/universal-prek-what-would-founders-say.htmlhttp://restoreoklahomapubliceducation.blogspot.com/2011/08/universal-prek-what-would-founders-say.htmlhttp://restoreoklahomapubliceducation.blogspot.com/2011/08/universal-prek-what-would-founders-say.htmlhttp://restoreoklahomapubliceducation.blogspot.com/2011/08/some-races-just-shouldnt-be-run.htmlhttp://restoreoklahomapubliceducation.blogspot.com/2011/08/some-races-just-shouldnt-be-run.htmlhttp://restoreoklahomapubliceducation.blogspot.com/2011/08/some-races-just-shouldnt-be-run.htmlhttp://birthtofivepolicy.org/http://birthtofivepolicy.org/http://birthtofivepolicy.org/http://birthtofivepolicy.org/http://www.gkff.org/http://www.gkff.org/http://www.gkff.org/http://www.gkff.org/http://www.gkff.org/http://www.gkff.org/http://birthtofivepolicy.org/http://birthtofivepolicy.org/http://restoreoklahomapubliceducation.blogspot.com/2011/08/some-races-just-shouldnt-be-run.htmlhttp://restoreoklahomapubliceducation.blogspot.com/2011/08/universal-prek-what-would-founders-say.html


2/18


Well return to this paragraph and what the verbiage actually means a la Ken Levit a bit further down

the page.

Ms. Klein took the podium and immediately I was struck by her language and tone. I dont believe Ive

ever heard a person at a professional meeting emit quite as many curse words from a dais. I am certain

Ms. Klein is exuberant about her work and that is laudable, however, I found her lack of decorum

distressing.

During her time on the platform, Ms. Klein shared that Oklahoma has lead the country in establishing

publicly funded four-year-old preK programming. Oklahoma doesnt have a waiting list for programs and

money is readily available for those seeking to use the programs. In fact, Oklahoma is the state with the

highest subsidy of programming up to 88% of income. Oklahomas State Department of Education

funds preK to the tune of 10 million dollars which is matched in funding by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Responding to remarks of the opening speaker for the conference (Oklahoma State Treasurer, Ken

Miller) who mentioned the Republican aversion to Nanny State programs (in context of a greater

message that public funding for programs assisting children should be held to a different standard), Ms.

Klein commented, State programs [such as Head Start] that are voluntarily used cannot be considered

Nanny State.

She mentioned her disappointment at the fact that Oklahoma did not pass legislation to increase

standards for the Reaching for the Stars (Oklahoma Department of Human Services) program as there

was a need for more, high quality centers. She then showed a video ofChuck Mills(Head Start), a Head

Start graduate who is now a successful banker and entrepreneur. Mr. Miles was in the Head Start

program for one year, from 1965 to 1966. The year he spent in the program allowed him to go on to

serve his country in the military and become a successful businessman and individual.

Ms. Klein continued from the video by explaining how business and civic leaders can help bolster preK

programming by encouraging law makers to enhance Reaching for the Stars. Lawmakers should adopt a

policy position supporting public investments in effective high quality early education programs, while

business leaders should promote early learning policies as part of their economic development agenda.

Other interested individuals were encouraged to take messages from child advocates and deliver them

to lawmakers.

Next, a video of Professor James Heckman, Nobel Memorial Prize winner in Economics at the University

of Chicago was shown called, The Heckman Equation: The Economics of Human Potential (The

Heckman Equation). Professor Heckman believes in a simple strategy for developing human capitol,

Invest + Develop + Sustain = Gain.

Following the video, Ms. Klein wrapped up her remarks by making the following statements:

President Obama believes in early childhood education President Obama is offering a Race to the Top grant to fund Early Childhood Education programs These grants can push plans for early learning We cant afford not to go for any dollar we can get We need to give children an early start because our investment produces a great rate of return Early learning reduces social inequalities and increases our rate of investment in Early Childhood

Education

Ms. Klein finished by channeling Shakespeare and reciting What A Piece of Work is Man from Hamlet.
http://www.okdhs.org/programsandservices/cc/stars/http://www.okdhs.org/programsandservices/cc/stars/http://www.okdhs.org/programsandservices/cc/stars/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfmzlu1NSa4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfmzlu1NSa4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfmzlu1NSa4http://www.heckmanequation.org/heckman-equationhttp://www.heckmanequation.org/heckman-equationhttp://www.heckmanequation.org/heckman-equationhttp://www.heckmanequation.org/heckman-equationhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfmzlu1NSa4http://www.okdhs.org/programsandservices/cc/stars/


3/18


Barry Downing, Northrock, Inc.

The next speaker was Barry Downing, founder ofNorthrock, Inc.(Northrock, Inc.) out of Kansas, who

was introduced by Bob Ross, President and CEO of theInasmuch Foundation(Inasmuch Foundation).

Out of Northrock, Inc., Mr. Downing boreThe Opportunity Project TOP Early Learning Centers (The

Opportunity Project). I will admit I did not take notes on Mr. Downings remarks. I simply couldnt getpast his story. He informed the audience that he had grown up in a single parent household. His mother

and brother and he had been so desperately poor, Downing had found it necessary to spend his younger

years working in order just to eat. Though challenging, Downing attributed his experience of growing up

in poverty to a highly developed work ethic and a drive that pressed him toward his great successes in

life.

Public/Private Partnerships Panel Discussion

This section was titled, Leveraging Resources for Oklahoma Children and included facilitator, Dave

Lopez, Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce, Martha Burger from Chesapeake, Senator Andrew Rice,

Representative Randy McDaniel and Ken Levit.

Unfortunately, though there was much discussion as to how Oklahoma could leverage businesses to

help get kids into preK programs, there were only two times in the entire 30 minute plus discussion

where anyone mentioned the word family. Senator Rice mentioned the need to look at the whole

family at one point, but I do not remember the context from which he spoke. He also mentioned his

family and how putting his kids in a private day care really helped them get ahead once they were

attending their private elementary school. Randy McDaniel was the only panelist who mentioned a need

to find ways to support, protect and preserve the family unit as a way of preventing poverty and caring

for young children.

This session did, however, contain my most favorite commentary of the conference. Dave Lopez asked a

question of the panel regarding how they imagined philanthropy as a means by which to champion

children. Of course there were the usual remarks about creating local and national tax breaks for

organizations and individuals supporting the effort of early childhood education, but it was the response

of Ken Levit that really did it for me.

In response to this question, Mr. Levit took the floor for a number of minutes to explain how important

philanthropic organizations like the Kaiser Family Foundation were, because they made monies available

to non-profits for research. The data generated from researching Early Childhood issues could then be

used to secure public funding.

As much money as there is in philanthropy, there isnt enough. We must have public funding, Levit

said just before he went on to add that really good researchers are expensive and non-profits must

have a way to be able to afford the research necessary to secure needed public sector funding.
http://www.northrockinc.com/http://www.northrockinc.com/http://www.northrockinc.com/http://www.inasmuchfoundation.org/http://www.inasmuchfoundation.org/http://www.inasmuchfoundation.org/http://www.theopportunityproject.com/http://www.theopportunityproject.com/http://www.theopportunityproject.com/http://www.theopportunityproject.com/http://www.inasmuchfoundation.org/http://www.northrockinc.com/


4/18


David Blatt, Oklahoma Policy Institute

After lunch and the Appreciation Award conferral upon Governor and Kim Henry, David Blatt and his

associate Gene Perry took the podium to present the Fiscal Map of Early Care and Learning Programs in

Oklahoma.

The handout of the slide presentation given to the attendees can be found in Appendix A.

I will go into this information more in detail in the summation portion of this review.

Breakout Sessions

There were two breakout sessions offered to attendees, one could attend an Oklahoma Partnership for

School Readiness Board Meeting or a Smart Start Communities Meeting. Lynn and I chose to attend

neither due to the possibility of securing a meeting with a nearby legislative staffer on another issue.

Pat McGuigan of CapitolBeatOk.com attended the Board Meeting, however, and posted, School

readiness partnership plans to make recommendations to Governor Mary Fallin (McGuigan).

Public Hearing on Governor Recommendations

This was the final activity of the day. Lynn and I, again, did not attend, but the document produced for

Governor Fallin and reviewed at this hearing can be foundhere(Oklahoma Partnership for School

Readiness Recommendations for 2012).

Commentary

The clash of ideologies between ROPE and this group of Early Childhood interests is nothing short ofTitan, I fear. For example:

The idea that the term Nanny State cannot possibly include programs for which participation isVOLUNTARY was past the tipping point of logical.

o Government at any level becomes Nanny when public money feeds it tounmanageable size in order for it to provide things to people who could otherwise be

taught to provide for themselves but wont be because the government Nanny

doesnt think they could ever do it well enough.

Successful businessman and entrepreneur Chuck Mills is successful for no other reason than theone year he spent in Head Start?

o Appeal to authority maybe? One year? His mother looks like a pretty caring person fromthe picture I bet that had nothing to do with his success. While I congratulate Chuck

heartily on his accomplishments, the tie to Head Start was completely non-sequitur.

Children were often referred to ashuman capital(Lamey) and tied to the term return oninvestment - to establish a pipeline through the business community? The term investment
http://capitolbeatok.com/_webapp_3960597/School_readiness_partnership_plans_to_make_recommendations_to_Governor_Mary_Fallinhttp://capitolbeatok.com/_webapp_3960597/School_readiness_partnership_plans_to_make_recommendations_to_Governor_Mary_Fallinhttp://capitolbeatok.com/_webapp_3960597/School_readiness_partnership_plans_to_make_recommendations_to_Governor_Mary_Fallinhttp://www.smartstartok.org/files/Gov%20Rec%20for%20public%20comment.pdfhttp://www.smartstartok.org/files/Gov%20Rec%20for%20public%20comment.pdfhttp://www.smartstartok.org/files/Gov%20Rec%20for%20public%20comment.pdfhttp://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/30-years/timeline.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/30-years/timeline.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/30-years/timeline.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/30-years/timeline.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2http://www.smartstartok.org/files/Gov%20Rec%20for%20public%20comment.pdfhttp://capitolbeatok.com/_webapp_3960597/School_readiness_partnership_plans_to_make_recommendations_to_Governor_Mary_Fallinhttp://capitolbeatok.com/_webapp_3960597/School_readiness_partnership_plans_to_make_recommendations_to_Governor_Mary_Fallin


5/18


here, apparently equates with those tax payer funds provided through state and federal

budgeting.

o Shockingly none of the perpetrators of public early childhood on the stage that dayseemed to understand that they had reduced children to soulless creatures in some

corporate machine in order to perpetrate funding of their programs.

I am sure Barry Downing means well, but how does this man pull himself up by his bootstraps,admit the valuable lessons he learned from his struggles and then specifically set about to

prevent other kids from having the same opportunities?

Far and away the most pretentious, patronizing and perplexing point of discovery was thatphilanthropists dont really want to spend their money for specific solutions to the problems

they decry. No. Philanthropists, instead, see themselves as super heroes with the combined

roles of Protector of the Non-Profit and Conduit for the Dissemination of Public Monies to

Protected Non-Profits.

o Though Ken Levit seems to believe that, as much money as there is in philanthropythere will never be enough I would challenge him to put Kaisers money into the

actual programs they espouse, not into research to provide PUBLIC money for the

programs they espouse and see how long it lasts.

Summation

Thestudy commissioned on Head Start(Burke)by the US Government in 1988 during the reauthorization

of the program (results of which were not released until January of 2010) found no real lasting benefit

across the 5000 children studied while enrolled in Head Start. A study byCATO Institute(Schaeffer) also

found, .Oklahomas achievement scores on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, AKA

the nations report-card) suggest that the states universal preschool program is at best ineffective

and at worst harmful to student achievement. Another,comprehensive study(Burke) comparing the

preK programs of Oklahoma and Georgia concludes, The experiences in Georgia and Oklahoma suggest

that a federal program to encourage states to offer universal preschool would be costly and ineffective

in delivering the significant, long-term benefits that its supporters promise.

Obviously, some very well-heeled, well-respected researchers do not agree with the Smart Start

communitys assessment of the return on investment for public preK certainly not well enough to

advocate for additional public funding.

Speaking of funding, what does Oklahoma spend on publicly funded preK programming? According to

David Blatts analysis, Oklahoma spends a total of1.5 BILLION dollars on early childhood programs! Themajority of this funding comes from the federal government through health and wellness subsidies such

as TANF, SNAP and WIC, however, early education amounts to 30% of the total Early Childhood budget.

Additionally, although OPI records the amount spent by the state Department of Education as $195+

million dollars, as evidenced by the notes scrawled on the slide entitled FY2010 Snapshot Major Funding

Sources: Federal and State (page 10), that amount could NOT have included the amount the state aid
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/01/14/long-overdue-head-start-evaluation-shows-no-lasting-benefit-for-children/http://blog.heritage.org/2010/01/14/long-overdue-head-start-evaluation-shows-no-lasting-benefit-for-children/http://blog.heritage.org/2010/01/14/long-overdue-head-start-evaluation-shows-no-lasting-benefit-for-children/http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/ok-preschool-study-provides-no-evidence-of-lasting-benefits-from-preschool/http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/ok-preschool-study-provides-no-evidence-of-lasting-benefits-from-preschool/http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/ok-preschool-study-provides-no-evidence-of-lasting-benefits-from-preschool/http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/05/Does-Universal-Preschool-Improve-Learning-Lessons-from-Georgia-and-Oklahoma#_ftn53http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/05/Does-Universal-Preschool-Improve-Learning-Lessons-from-Georgia-and-Oklahoma#_ftn53http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/05/Does-Universal-Preschool-Improve-Learning-Lessons-from-Georgia-and-Oklahoma#_ftn53http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/05/Does-Universal-Preschool-Improve-Learning-Lessons-from-Georgia-and-Oklahoma#_ftn53http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/ok-preschool-study-provides-no-evidence-of-lasting-benefits-from-preschool/http://blog.heritage.org/2010/01/14/long-overdue-head-start-evaluation-shows-no-lasting-benefit-for-children/


6/18


school funding formula provides preK 3 through kindergarten programming. Adding these 365 million

dollars not previously added brings the total spent by Oklahoma tax payers to over 560 MILLION dollars.

How much more must Oklahomans pay for a program that provides AT BEST mixed results?

Now, though the layers of bureaucracy associated with public early childhood programming become

evident the longer one looks at the figures supplied by OPI, Oklahoma early childhoodsupporters are

begging(Rolland) Governor Mary Fallin to apply for aRace to the Top Early Learning grant(Ed.Gov) to

get yet MORE money and add more bureaucracy to an already bloated system.

For example, contained in the Oklahoma partnership for School Readiness Recommendations (OPSR) for

2012 is a recommendation to collect personal data from ALL children in Oklahoma early learning

programs. As weve detailed in our paper on theCommon Core Standards and Race to the Top(al), this

stipulation is strategically placed. RTT grants ALL require student data collection through a P20 database

system. Never has anyone been able to explain to us how collecting data on babies will drive

improvements in early childhood program outcomes. Whats it going to cost to run this monstrosity?

Whos going to collect data? What data will be collected? How much bigger does government grow to

provide such a database? All these questions and more will undoubtedly be answered monetarily by

state taxpayers only after such a system is in place.

Also contained in the OPSR recommendations specifically in order to get an RTT Early Learning grant is

the Education Departments favorite stick for beating students and teachers alike ASSESSMENTS! Yes,

we will be testing babies for school readiness.

Maureen Kelleher(Kelleher) reports in the journal EdWeek, The proposed assessment requirements for

the new Race to the Top early-learning competition are sparking concerns from some preschool

advocates, who fear the provisions could lead to high-stakes testing of young children and unfairaccountability measures imposed on educators. This should be concerning to any advocate involved in

public preschool especially in light of some of thetesting issues(Brevard) beingcurrently reported

(Sikes).

Beyond the unintended consequences behind such programming elements, a recent paper by the

American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research(Krvaric) has found that compliance with federal

programs like the ESEA provides significant barriers to fulfilling the actual policy goals ascribed. In

addition, fiscal and administrative requirements often lead to expensive and time-consuming

compliance processes not related to improving student achievement or school success.

Then theres the study from George Mason University that asks, Do Intergovernmental Grants CreateRatchets in State and Local Taxes? (Crowley)The answer being, Our results clearly demonstrate that

grant funding to state and local governments results in higher own source revenue and taxes in the

future to support the programs initiated with the federal grant monies.

Finally, it is important to include here what a majority of Oklahomans believe. A recent study done by

Oklahomas own Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) through the organization Sooner Poll in
http://newsok.com/article/3595680http://newsok.com/article/3595680http://newsok.com/article/3595680http://newsok.com/article/3595680http://www.ed.gov/early-learning/elc-draft-summaryhttp://www.ed.gov/early-learning/elc-draft-summaryhttp://www.ed.gov/early-learning/elc-draft-summaryhttp://www.restoreokpubliceducation.com/node/687http://www.restoreokpubliceducation.com/node/687http://www.restoreokpubliceducation.com/node/687http://www.smartstartok.org/files/Gov%20Rec%20for%20public%20comment.pdfhttp://www.smartstartok.org/files/Gov%20Rec%20for%20public%20comment.pdfhttp://www.smartstartok.org/files/Gov%20Rec%20for%20public%20comment.pdfhttp://www.smartstartok.org/files/Gov%20Rec%20for%20public%20comment.pdfhttp://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/08/18/01early.h31.html?tkn=TWLFojbDBgfhHA%2FXs0eaFpjPCkR5pIVBTpw2&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/08/18/01early.h31.html?tkn=TWLFojbDBgfhHA%2FXs0eaFpjPCkR5pIVBTpw2&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1http://grumpythings.blogspot.com/2011/08/south-carolina-parents-challenge.htmlhttp://grumpythings.blogspot.com/2011/08/south-carolina-parents-challenge.htmlhttp://grumpythings.blogspot.com/2011/08/south-carolina-parents-challenge.htmlhttp://bobsidlethoughtsandmusings.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/when-test-results-are-the-only-thing-that-matter/http://bobsidlethoughtsandmusings.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/when-test-results-are-the-only-thing-that-matter/http://bobsidlethoughtsandmusings.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/when-test-results-are-the-only-thing-that-matter/http://www.aei.org/outlook/101068http://www.aei.org/outlook/101068http://mercatus.org/publication/do-intergovernmental-grants-create-ratchets-state-and-local-taxeshttp://mercatus.org/publication/do-intergovernmental-grants-create-ratchets-state-and-local-taxeshttp://mercatus.org/publication/do-intergovernmental-grants-create-ratchets-state-and-local-taxeshttp://mercatus.org/publication/do-intergovernmental-grants-create-ratchets-state-and-local-taxeshttp://mercatus.org/publication/do-intergovernmental-grants-create-ratchets-state-and-local-taxeshttp://www.aei.org/outlook/101068http://bobsidlethoughtsandmusings.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/when-test-results-are-the-only-thing-that-matter/http://grumpythings.blogspot.com/2011/08/south-carolina-parents-challenge.htmlhttp://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/08/18/01early.h31.html?tkn=TWLFojbDBgfhHA%2FXs0eaFpjPCkR5pIVBTpw2&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1http://www.smartstartok.org/files/Gov%20Rec%20for%20public%20comment.pdfhttp://www.smartstartok.org/files/Gov%20Rec%20for%20public%20comment.pdfhttp://www.restoreokpubliceducation.com/node/687http://www.ed.gov/early-learning/elc-draft-summaryhttp://newsok.com/article/3595680http://newsok.com/article/3595680


7/18


Oklahoma City, shows astrong majority of likely voters prefer tax relieve over early childhood programs

such as pre-school(Shapard). Why are we taxing folks a majority of whom do not have confidence in

publicly funded preK programs on at least some level for a program that has been SHOWN not to have

the confidence of researchers both inside and outside the profession?

Closing

Not even us hard-hearted conservatives want children to suffer poverty or illiteracy; we simply have

different methods for solving these issues than our friends in the Smart Start community philanthropy

for charity, not philanthropy to create avenues for government intervention.

Unfortunately, the root of both the problems of poverty and illiteracy isthe degradation of the family

(Schlafly). With our country falling into moral decline and the role of churches in society being drastically

undercut out of an irrational and inappropriate fear of violating church/state separation, it becomes

harder and harder to create appropriate, private family support mechanisms.

Current social programs such as TANF, WIC and SNAP only Band-Aid the clear and present danger to

Americas children out of wedlock births and poverty caused by an upside down view of family

structure and misaligned priorities. Such programs only trap users in a system from which there is little

incentive to leave, because they can be used in virtual perpetuity, stifling ability and drive toward self-

sufficiency, all the while providing little to no education on the means of escape.

Scads and oodles of private child care programs exist in different iterations across the state. There is no

reason not to allow low income families to use a state stipend for any private program they choose. But,

instead of leaving users attached to the system for eons, wean users off via increased co-pays over a six

month to one year time period. If the using family is still unable to subsist, there are numerous shelters

and churches ready to help and goodness knows, maybe one or two kids (or parents!) will get so sick

of being poor, theyll learn how to pull themselves up like Barry Downing and go on to make millions

down the road!

Social engineering through publicly supported social programming wont fix social ills. Just like junkies

and alcoholics can only get better once they hit bottom and decide they need help, providing individuals

avenues through which to continue failed behaviors wont provide impetus to succeed. Humans must

learn to trust the humanity of others and the resilience of the human spirit, or we are doomed to fail all

of society over time, not just those in need.
http://capitolbeatok.com/_webapp_3960590/Strong_majority_of_likely_voters_prefer_tax_relief_over_early_childhood_programs,_pre-schoolhttp://capitolbeatok.com/_webapp_3960590/Strong_majority_of_likely_voters_prefer_tax_relief_over_early_childhood_programs,_pre-schoolhttp://capitolbeatok.com/_webapp_3960590/Strong_majority_of_likely_voters_prefer_tax_relief_over_early_childhood_programs,_pre-schoolhttp://capitolbeatok.com/_webapp_3960590/Strong_majority_of_likely_voters_prefer_tax_relief_over_early_childhood_programs,_pre-schoolhttp://www.eagleforum.org/psr/2000/apr00/psrapr2000.htmlhttp://www.eagleforum.org/psr/2000/apr00/psrapr2000.htmlhttp://www.eagleforum.org/psr/2000/apr00/psrapr2000.htmlhttp://www.eagleforum.org/psr/2000/apr00/psrapr2000.htmlhttp://capitolbeatok.com/_webapp_3960590/Strong_majority_of_likely_voters_prefer_tax_relief_over_early_childhood_programs,_pre-schoolhttp://capitolbeatok.com/_webapp_3960590/Strong_majority_of_likely_voters_prefer_tax_relief_over_early_childhood_programs,_pre-school


8/18


Appendix A


9/18



10/18



11/18



12/18



13/18



14/18



15/18



16/18



17/18


Works Cited

al, White et. Restore Oklahoma Public Education. May 2011. August 2011

.

Birth to Five Policy Alliance. n.d. .

Brevard, Sandra. Grumpy Educators. 21 August 2011.

.

Burke, Lindsey. Heritage Foundation. 14 January 2010. 22 August 2011

.

. Heritage Foundation. 14 May 2009. 22 August 2011

.

Crowley, Russel S. Sobel and George R. Mercatus Center, George Washington University. August 2010.

August 2011 .

Ed.Gov. 2011. .

George Kaiser Family Foundation. n.d. .

Head Start. Chuck Mills. 10 January 2011. 23 August 2011

.

Inasmuch Foundation. n.d. .

Kelleher, Maureen. "Critics worry that Early Learning Challenge may lead to high-stakes testing." Ed

Week (2011).

Krvaric, Melissa Junge and Sheara. American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. 9 July 2011.

21 August 2011 .

McGuigan, Patrick B. CapitolBeatOk.com. 19 August 2011. 22 August 2011

.

Northrock, Inc. n.d. .

Oklahoma Department of Human Services. n.d.

.

Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness Recommendations for 2012. 9 August 2011. 22 August 2011

.


18/18


Schaeffer, Adam. CATO Institute. 27 June 2008. 22 August 2011 .

Schlafly, Phyllis. The Phyllis Schlafly Report. April 2000. 16 August 2011

.

Sikes, Bob. Scathing Purple Musings. August 2011. August 2011

.

The Heckman Equation. n.d. 23 August 2011 .

The Opportunity Project. n.d. .

White, Jenni. "Let's Not Be So Quick To Enter This Race." 30 July 2011. NewsOk.com. August 2011

.

. "Universal Pre-K. What Would Our Founders Say?" August 2011. blogspot.com.

.

Documents

Review of Smart Start Conference Update