Doing what matters for Tuscaloosa (and Alabama's) children

She may be affiliated with a different political party, but she and the governor agree on one thing: success for Alabama's children starts with early intervention.

In her presentation to more than 200 teachers, students, and community leaders, Marquita Davis, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Children’s Affairs, stressed the need for urgent attention to young children around the state as well as to the families that raise them.

Davis spoke at the “Doing What Matters for Tuscaloosa’s Children” conference, held at the Paul W. Bryant Conference Center on Wednesday, Feb. 5. Davis’ presentation was the first of morning and introduced the audience to the state’s efforts to provide adequate Pre-kindergarten education to young children before elementary school.

“A vision without action is just a hallucination,” Davis said. “We are focusedon doing more than just talking. And you all are doing a fabulous job here in Tuscaloosa with Jump Start. You are really pioneering something that we at the state level want to see across the state.”

Wesley Church, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Alabama echoed Davis’s message about early preventative measures.

“I think starting young is the best way to ensure these kids grow up with a chance,” Church said. “But there has to be more money. In this economy, everyone has to tighten his belt, but the kids shouldn’t suffer.”

Publisher of Kidsville News! and small business owner Mike Woodard had a different view of the funding issue.

“I agree that education is under-funded all around,” Woodard said. “But no one is remembering where all this money comes from. It comes from you and it comes from me. No one in Montgomery, or Washington for that matter, remembers that anymore.”

Woodard has gone from publishing Kidsville News!, a literacy publication delivered free to elementary school children, once a month in four counties to just one county since November. He blames the drop in advertising interest on the struggling economy, which hurts small businesses, his advertising bread and butter.

Woodard cited excessive spending on structures that could be built for less money, with the extra money going to fund the programs themselves. He said building grade schools which resembled buildings on the campus of the University of Alabama was wasteful.

“Instead of taxing us to death, why don’t they re-allocate some of the money they already have. It’s about efficiency, not ‘us versus the government.’”

According to the Department of Children’s Affairs website, the mission of the department is to “provide state leadership to identify, analyze, streamline and coordinate services for the 1.2 million children up through the age of 19 throughout Alabama.”

In a state that is not known for its stellar education standards, Alabama’s Pre-kindergarten

programs are tied for best in the country.

Davis identified distinct areas for which her department is responsible: The Children First Trust Fund, a fund set up in the mid 1990s that routes certain tax money directly to education, the Head Start program, which works in conjunction with the federal government’s Head Start policies to manage and maintain the facilities, and the Alabama Office of School Readiness, which focuses on giving children the tools they need to succeed before formal school begins. Most of her presentation focused on the school readiness.

Davis stressed the value the department places on children as young as three to four years old. In states like Texas, there are no minimum requirements for teacher/children ratios in Pre-kindergarten classrooms. She said Alabama’s requirements were much different and more structured.

In most cases, there can be no higher than a nine to one children to adult ratio in these classrooms. If there are special needs children in the class, the number is lowered to allow to proper care.

“Four year olds are smart,” Davis said. “They notice things and they will tell you all about them. If you don’t think four year olds have anything to say, try being in an environment with forty of them. That’s why we keep the ratio low.”

According to Davis, the cost of quality child care in the state of Alabama can run as high as $800 a month, higher than some private school tuitions for much older children. Having state-run programs allows parents to feel confident that the care facility is preparing their child for school and also ensuring a safe environment.

Other speakers at the conference included Tuscaloosa mayor Walt Maddox, Northport mayor Bobby Herndon, Linda Tilly, executive director of VOICES for Alabama’s children, Stephen Black, director of Impact Alabama, and Dr. Carolyn Dahl, dean of the University of Alabama College of Continuing Studies.