We Are The Government and We Are Here To Help

In the current issue of the Memphis Flyer, a story titled "The Price of Safety" [not online] discusses the onerous recommendation of the Child-Care Transportation Safety Report. It proposes new regulations requiring all daycare centers to be licensed by the Department of Human Services and to purchase vans meeting Federal standards. These vans will also have to be staffed with a monitor.

Of course, the immediate effect of this will be to either shut down centers that can't afford the new vehicles, leaving fewer options for parents, or raise the costs of daycare. Don't be surprised to see calls from certain quarters for public assistance for lower-income families, in the wake of this.

But the recommendation for new, Federal-standard vans would not have done much to stop the most recent deaths of children in daycare vans. They were all the fault of drivers, harried or drugged. Pressed to hold labor costs down, it is difficult to see how daycare centers will be able to pay enough to attract employees of enough caliber to care for children as much as parents do, of higher caliber than they already get.

The real reason for all this comes from State Representative Kathryn Bowers who, as the Flyer notes, is "actively involved in child-care legislation." She says, "Even though it doesn't directly involve transportation, it was difficult for me to get around the fact that it's much more difficult to open a bar than it is to open a daycare center in terms of responsibility of owners and investigation...and that gives me pause."

Ah, there we are. Getting government fingers tighter around daycare. Watch for teacher's unions to start circling, too.

Until next time, that is all.