The Early Childhood Transition Task Force will have its second meeting next week on Tuesday, May 16. 

Gov. Laura Kelly established the task force in January 2023. Executive Order #23-01 sets the membership, purpose, guiding principles and deliverables for the Task Force’s work. It charges the Task Force with working “toward the mission of creating a framework for a model single-agency governance structure for early childhood programming that consolidates initiatives and funding under the leadership of a new cabinet-level position.”  

At the May 16 meeting, the Task Force will review lessons learned from other states that have restructured the administration of early childhood programming. 

The meeting will be livestreamed at 10 a.m. To view the live stream, visit kslegislature.org and select “Audio/Video,” then select “Statehouse Live & Archive” and navigate to May 16. 

Executive Order #23-01 directs the Task Force to conduct “a series of stakeholder engagement opportunities to elicit feedback on the current early childhood governance structure and better understand the needs of parents, families, providers, and businesses.” 

These stakeholder engagement opportunities are tentatively scheduled for June 26-30. KSDEweekly will include details about these meetings once they are available so that education personnel can plan to attend and share this information with their communities. 

Amanda Petersen, director of the Kansas State Department of Education’s Early Childhood team, was appointed to the Task Force as the Commissioner of Education’s designee. Email Petersen (apetersen@ksde.org) to further discuss this work.