Some parents lose education services amid state changes to early childhood program

When Topeka resident Kaitlin Alegria’s baby son, Marcus, had some problems with mobility in his legs, Alegria was concerned.

Then, an educator from Parents as Teachers helped have her child evaluated by a therapist, who showed the family some exercises to help little Marcus improve his flexibility. The issue was resolved, Alegria says, giving her “peace of mind.”

Jamie Crispin, another local mother, found Parents as Teachers helpful when her son, August, had some trouble crawling. During the monthly home visits her family received through the program, Crispin learned tips to encourage him to crawl more.

“I think the program has really helped foster growth and development in our son,” Crispin said.

Both mothers recently learned they no longer qualify for these Parents As Teachers home visits. The visits are designed to support healthy development in young children and to identify any problem areas — such as trouble with fine motor skills or social-emotional interaction — early on, when they are often easier to resolve.

Starting in July, Kansas will pay for Parents as Teachers with federal public aid dollars instead of state resources. This frees up state money, but with federal funding comes federal rules, and those rule out serving parents like Alegria and Crispin. Instead, the program will now focus on serving low-income families and those facing other specific hurdles.

Eileen Hawley, spokeswoman for Gov. Sam Brownback, said this change offers some advantages.

“We believe that the valuable resources of the Parents as Teachers program should be targeted to those families most in need of services,” Hawley said.

Moreover, the federal source — Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF — will ensure “a stable funding stream,” she said. “The use of TANF funds here will not affect other programs.”

But with a program as popular as this one, it isn’t surprising that advocates want it open to everyone, much in the way that any child is welcome to attend a public school.

Nancy Keel, executive director of the Kansas Parents as Teachers Association, agrees Parents as Teachers should help the most vulnerable of children, but says families who exceed the income cutoff can benefit from access to this public resource, too.

“Very few young parents are millionaires,” Keel said. “They start off life with school debt, house debt, car debt.”

“Babies don’t come with instructions,” she added. “We have information that is probably as close to instructions as you can get, and it’s a crime, in my opinion, that every parent doesn’t get this information.”

In fiscal 2015, the 75 Parents as Teachers programs across Kansas served just shy of 9,000 families, yet there are about 62,000 families either expecting a baby or with a child up to age 3.

“There’s never been enough funding to serve all of the potential families” that would benefit from Parents as Teachers, says Dean Zajic, of the Kansas State Department of Education.

The amount of funding for it will stay the same this year — about $7.2 million — even if the source of that money changes. This means it will be possible to continue serving as many families as previously. Some parents will lose services, but others who meet federal requirements could take their place.

Families are eligible if they meet one of 19 criteria. Low income is defined as earning up to twice the federal poverty threshold. Families also qualify if their baby was born with very low birth weight, or if a parent is suffering mental illness, incarcerated, or abusing substances, for example.

About 30,000 families are eligible based on the income criterion alone. That already is more families than Parents as Teachers has funding to serve.

Misty Kruger, spokeswoman for Topeka Unified School District 501, said her district — which operates the Parents as Teachers program that Crispin and Alegria had enrolled in — doesn’t know yet how many families who currently receive services will no longer qualify. The district is communicating with parents about the new criteria.

The district has concerns about the change.

“With the TANF funding guidelines and eligibility requirements,” Kruger said, “we fear there will be families that we could be serving or would benefit from the services but will not apply or will not qualify.”

According to the education department, it also is possible districts could continue to serve some families that don’t meet federal criteria by spending their own money for that. Under state law, districts already were required to pony up 65 cents for every dollar that the state — or now the federal government — invests in Parents as Teachers. Those locally pooled funds aren’t subject to federal spending criteria, meaning how to use them is “a local decision,” Zajic said.

Moreover, districts could consider allowing families that don’t qualify for Parents as Teachers to pay to participate.

Keel said most school districts likely haven’t had time yet to figure out the logistics of potentially charging families.

If that option surfaces down the road, it could be too late for parents like Alegria and Crispin, whose sons may already have passed the age cutoff of 3 years old. Both said they would consider paying for Parents as Teachers if that option becomes available.

Alegria called Parents as Teachers “invaluable” — a reliable resource that meant she didn’t have to scour the internet for information that may or may not be accurate.

“Any question you had as a first-time parent,” she said, “I was able to get a research-based answer.”