Pessimism has no place in Children's Movement

In his Sept. 9 column about the Children's Movement of Florida ("Putting kids first: a fine idea, but ..."), Bill Cotterell summarizes our state's long, sad and harmful history when it comes to providing for its children. But then he concludes the possibilities for the future for Florida's children in a pessimistic — and, dare I say, defeatist — way.

Well, I am not giving up — nor are, just for two examples, the 1,200 people who attended the Milk Party rally in Tallahassee last week, or the thousand who attended a similar gathering the very next evening in Gainesville. This all happened in the first few days of a month-long Children's Movement tour that wasn't even publicly announced until a month ago.

When it comes to programs that help children and parents — all of our state's children and parents — it is precisely the shameful history recounted by Mr. Cotterell that inspired the formation of the Children's Movement of Florida. The consequences of these failures is what propels this movement and generates the outpouring of support we have seen.

Science tells us that 90 percent of brain development occurs during the first five years of life. And yet, by every objective standard, Florida — the fourth-largest state in the nation — ranks poorly in measure after measure in how we invest in our youngest, most vulnerable citizens.

Florida's irrational policies, blended with inattention and inaction, ultimately inflict harm on everyone's future, most especially the future of our children. We cannot leave things this way. If we do, Florida simply won't be able to compete in this 21st century global economy.

The mission of the Children's Movement of Florida is about changing the priorities of decision-making in Florida. It is about making sure that the needs and the futures of children — especially our youngest children — are at the very front of the line when lawmakers and others make decisions.

Mr. Cotterell and I come from the same generation. We share much in common. But unlike him, I am not about to give up. Neither are the tens of thousands of Floridians who care about our children so much that they are joining us on our journey.

About the author: David Lawrence Jr. is president and co-chair of the Children's Movement of Florida, president of the Early Childhood Initiative Foundation of Miami, university scholar for early childhood development and readiness at the University of Florida, and retired publisher of the Miami Herald.

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September 9, 2010

Bill Cotterell: Putting kids first: a fine idea, but ...

There used to be a bumper sticker that said, "It will be a great day when schools have all they need and the Pentagon has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber."

The late Budd Bell, a tireless volunteer advocate for the poor, held a symbolic bake sale in the Capitol's fourth-floor rotunda to raise a few dimes for children's programs. Kind soul that she was, Bell wound up giving most of her cookies to House and Senate pages or visiting schoolchildren, but she drew a few TV cameras and reporters, making the point that the Legislature wasn't meeting the need.

Now there's a big, colorful bus and some smart, dedicated people rolling across Florida on a 15-city campaign to make children a priority of Florida government. If we find money for high-speed rail or buying land in the Everglades or building prisons, the Children's Movement of Florida contends, we should find more for pre-kindgergartens and child health insurance.

"We know from study after study that Florida ranks lousy in indicators that measure how we invest in our children: health care, education, readiness for school," David Lawrence, the retired Miami Herald publisher who is the spark plug of the campaign, told the Pensacola News Journal at the start of the trek. "Painfully, sadly and sinfully, the picture for children is growing worse."

The "Milk Party" — a word play on the Tea Party gatherings that Republican legislators and GOP gubernatorial nominee Rick Scott admire — drew an SRO crowd in Tallahassee on Tuesday. It's an impressive effort, but for two flaws.

First, legislators don't need to be told they are short-changing kids. They know it, that's what the leadership meant to do, and they don't care — at least, not as much as they care for tax cuts, which they are convinced will trickle down.

Second, the missing piece of the campaign is prevention. Lawrence told me Wednesday that "parenting and mentoring" is a big part of the Children's Movement agenda, but it needs to be Job One.

That's a tough sell in the Capitol. Mention family planning and the right wing hears "abortion" or condoms in high schools — and, besides, conservatives hate to see all that sex going unpunished. Mention something like Scott's idea of drug-testing welfare recipients, and the left hears "blaming the victim" and "preaching morality."

Meanwhile, the kids keep on having kids.

Any child-welfare program that doesn't begin with prevention education — yes, even in elementary grades — is unrealistic. We know legislators won't spend money on kids already here, so why not put the emphasis on not having more?

It's not just the mechanics of prevention. Social policy will start working when it's geared toward changing public attitudes so that having children you can't support is considered — dare we say it? — wrong.

Doers of good have tried for decades to get lawmakers to spend more money on kids. Gov. Lawton Chiles dedicated his whole eight years to it. He started 20 years ago, and the need hasn't changed.

No state agency has been more reorganized, and re- reorganized, than Florida's health and welfare bureaucracy. The old Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services even included the prison system at one time. They broke off the Department of Corrections, then they carved out the Department of Health, Department of Juvenile Justice, Agency for Persons With Disabilities and Department of Elder Affairs.

When he became secretary of the old HRS, Jim Towey likened the job to being given one tank of gas and having to drive to Miami. He knew he couldn't get there, but he couldn't refuse to get as far as he could.

When he became speaker of the House, Tom Gustafson warned members that their constituents couldn't build walls high enough around their gated communities if they didn't address the needs of poor children. They nodded thoughtfully.

Florida TaxWatch, occasional task forces and blue ribbon commissions, university and foundation researchers, and platoons of children's advocates have given legislators detailed documentation, charts, graphs and trend lines. They've nodded thoughtfully.

Nothing changes because the people who need social programs don't elect the House and Senate leadership. They were not writing checks to the Scott campaign last week at the Associated Industries of Florida headquarters. Many don't vote.

Legislative and congressional district boundaries are drawn by the leadership, currently Republicans, to cement their party's power. If you're a legislator and must choose between lunch with lobbyists who give money to you and your party, or milk and cookies with Lawrence and the kids at the Civic Center, what are you going to do?Both, probably. Fleece the guys in the Fletcher Cantey suits on Adams Street, then hotfoot it down the hill to show your grave concern about Florida's future generations. The money from the first stop goes for TV ads and mass mailings about how you're working to hold down taxes and create jobs — and how your opponent isn't.

Lawrence has kept the idealism that brought him into newspapering more than 40 years ago. He even considered running for governor a while ago, but came to his senses. He thinks his milk-and-cookies express can put kids on the agenda, this time.

"If we give people enough information — non-ideological information, not right, not left -- I think folks will, more often than not, do the right thing," he said.

In a preview story on the Tallahassee rally Tuesday, reporter Iricka Berlinger's lead stated, "failure is not an option" for the Children's Movement.

No, but it's a probability.

Contact Senior Political Writer Bill Cotterell at (850) 671-6545 or at bcotterell@tallahassee. com.

Read the full article here.