The breaking of an industry. The burdensome regulations ain't just for ECE. Try some mazapan.
The breaking of an industry
I have written in the past (see the earlier newsletter linked first below for the context) about how the decision-making happens in the State's Dept of Early Childhood: the director, whose sole authority to make policy was recently renewed by our legislature, is the only person at the Dept who makes the rules.
The only person in the entire state who makes decisions which affect the entirety of an industry.
A reader recently shared a white paper** from the Early Childhood Education Association of Colorado (ECEA in keeping with how they describe themselves) They are a trade group which represents independent early childhood and daycare centers in this state. I wanted to pass it along to you because it helps flesh out what I wrote about earlier.
It helps give a sense of the impact of policy in Colorado, policy made by a precious few but which impacts many. It offers counterpoint to the claims of our governor (and others) about the success of Universal Pre-K as well as their bragging about encouraging the growth of the preschool and childcare industry (as well as its workforce).
There is a lot in the paper which I will leave to you to read up on if you are of a mind to. Some of the things are, in my opinion, open to some reasonable discussion (as one example, see the bit about the "safe sleep" rules), but I want to keep to my purpose above and stick to the things that highlight how our state government is making it unnecessarily harder on providers.
Screenshot 1 offers a good overview of the situation. I highlighted the parts that stuck out to me.
Screenshots 2 - 4 list out some of the current policy that adds a burden to providers which I find to be either burdensome, unfair, duplicative, or some combination.
In looking through these rules and policies, I do not think that there would be any loss of safety for a child or worker if some of them were dropped or pared down. For example, consider the professional development requirements. I can tell you, as the husband of someone who is a long-time early childhood educator, there is an outsized amount of professional development my wife must do every year, just as likely as not to be duplicates of trainings she had not too long ago. She didn't forget. She's not violated a rule. But she must spend the time and the employer must pay her to do it.
There is also, as you can note in screenshot 4 an example of the government suddenly changing the rules and leaving providers scrambling to catch up.
I would also urge you to look on the right hand side of the paper as you scroll to note the fiscal impact estimates. The numbers are big. Having seen these impacts, I want you to think about how readily and well your local providers can handle (unintended or no) government burdens like these.
The state, the director of the Dept of Early Childhood, may have every good intention in the world regarding their rules. The problem here comes in when you have one person, in one office in the Front Range, getting to be the sole decider.
How is it possible that this one individual could hope to know enough about the wide array of problems and constraints providers in this state face? Meanwhile, how are they to speak up while they're busy trying to keep their operations running amid the huge regulatory burden placed on them?
**A white paper is an informational document issued by a company or not-for-profit organization to promote or highlight the features of a solution, product, or service that it offers or plans to offer.
https://coloradoaccountabilityproject.substack.com/p/a-peek-ahead-at-waterag-legislation?utm_source=publication-search
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fNVbyovSiQOJHtbmgLeoTHPmjAzCPS4T/view
The burdensome regulations ain't just for ECE.
The post prior to this one covered a white paper about the state's regulatory and administrative burden for daycare and preschool.
Our state is also, according to a Chamber of Commerce study outlined in the Sum and Substance article below, harming other industries with its ever-growing list of laws, regulations, and rules.
A representative quote:
"The number of new regulations affecting private industries that went into law between 2020 and 2023 increased 7.1%, or 2.3% annually, according to Maryland-based market-research and regulatory-analysis firm StratACUMEN group, which did the study for the Chamber. Pipeline transportation, personal services (ranging from pet groomers to funeral homes) and chemical manufacturing all saw at least 50% growth in the number of regulations governing those sectors in the four-year period, the report found."
And let us not forget that while excess regulation is harmful across the board, it is ESPECIALLY harmful to small business where the operator must parse their time between a variety of activities. Often owners face the difficulty of not growing their business so they can divert their time to ensure compliance with state rules.
Or, well, purchasing said compliance at retail prices (instead of wholesale by having a whole department of employees to handle it).
This is an increasingly unfair and increasing harmful way to try and run our state and I'll have you note the dates of the study coincide with the largest-ever power held in this state by Democrats.
https://tsscolorado.com/study-finds-colorado-regulations-among-highest-in-nation-costing-jobs/
Mazapan
We've hit that point again. With the holidays, I keep running up on the last post before a break outside of Friday, but here we are.
We're at the last post til the weekend due to the New Year's holiday and thus I wanted to present something for fun, not related to politics.
Have you ever heard of mazapan? If not, I bet you will know its cousin, marzipan.
Mazapan is a Mexican candy similar to marzipan, though instead of almonds, it's made with peanuts. It's actually quite simple to make, per the blog post I found linked below (which also gives some possible context/history on the candy).
When I stop in at the tortilleria in Ft Morgan on my way back and forth from Denver for fresh tortillas (just like any other bread, fresh and closer to homemade is definitely better), I'll often toss one of the little rounds of mazapan in on the ticket to snack on for those last miles into Sterling.
If you see one out and about, give it a try. It's kind of like the inside of a peanut butter cup, perhaps a little less sweet.
That's it til the weekend. Enjoy your New Years celebration whatever that may be!
https://adanmedrano.com/mazapan-mexican-candy/