By Carolyn Martin, CHEC Director of Government Relations
The State Wants Your Data
Does your family use any kind of state-funded programs for your young children — like state-funded child care or preschool? This legislative session a bill was passed into law to administer the Colorado Universal Preschool Program and move all early childhood programs into the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC). The bill (HB22-1295) gives CDEC the authority to collect data “to monitor early childhood outcomes throughout the state, which must include outcomes in health, including physical, social-emotional, and dental; learning; and overall well-being” with the goal of evaluating “long-term outcomes.”
Maybe you think they’re just wanting to protect children by tracking their well-being. If you understood the legislature and the education system, you would think differently. Being involved up at the Capitol and watching legislators make law, it is pretty clear that most of the legislators think the state can do a better job taking care of your children than you can. They often use those rare cases of abuse and neglect to justify their intrusion into your family. And for some, the state is God.
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