Establishing the Office of Early Childhood Includes Risky Changes for Children

Emily Barnes | May 7, 2025

HB 2045 began as the revival of work across multiple years toward addressing pinch points in the child care system and streamlining the early childhood governance system in Kansas. Lawmakers passed this bill during the 2025 session. While there are many positive things that will help streamline some processes relating to early childhood program governance, there are also a few provisions added along the way that we fear will jeopardize the health and safety of children in certain early learning settings. 

The Legislature passed the bill (Senate, 30-10; House, 99-23), and the Governor signed it into law April 24, 2025.

The bill can be found here. 

What's in the Bill?

Office of Early Childhood – Transition to Begin July 1, 2025 

Many advocates and organizations initially supported this legislation due to the proposal to streamline the early childhood system and address some concerns by the Legislature regarding child care regulations. This streamlining effort will come together into the Office of Early Childhood, which will bring programs that impact children in their early years together under one roof.

The Office will be the central point for programs, including child care licensing, child care subsidy, home visiting programs, and others. This can increase consistency and reduce confusion. One additional position within the Office is the child care ombudsman. This individual can address concerns from providers and families. For instance, if a provider feels that they have been treated unfairly during an inspection, the ombudsman can offer them the ability to voice their concern and work toward a resolution.

Kansas policymakers and advocates have struggled to understand the funding sources for and appropriations to early childhood programs. The bill directs the Director of Early Childhood to create reports that will give funding information to lawmakers to help the system operate effectively. Knowing what is available and how it is being spent allows Kansas advocates to make informed budgetary requests and urge lawmakers to more deeply invest in our children.

The consolidation work will begin in the summer of 2025. The Governor will appoint the members of the Transition Team by July 1, 2025, and the Director of Early Childhood by January 1, 2026. The transition is set to be completed by July 1, 2026.

On January 20, 2026 (and every year thereafter), the Director of Early Childhood will be required to submit a report to the Senate and House Commerce Committees that includes an explanation of program funding, metrics and measurements of programs, changes to rules and regulations, and current or expected pilot programs.

Significant Changes to the Kansas Children’s Cabinet – Effective July 1, 2025

Currently, the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund Board is made up of non-voting appointees from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), the Department for Children and Families, the Kansas Board of Regents, the Commissioner of Education, the Commissioner of Juvenile Justice, and a member of the Kansas Supreme Court. The Governor also appoints five voting members of the public with knowledge of the needs of children and families. Finally, the Speaker of the House, the Senate President, and each chamber’s Minority Leader appoint one voting person. 

Under the bill, the Director of Early Childhood will be added as a non-voting member and changes the Commissioner of Juvenile Justice appointee to the Secretary of Corrections. The bill also adds two legislative appointees (one by each chamber’s Majority Leader) and stipulates that every legislative appointment be a legislative member rather than just any person the legislator chooses. Voting membership will increase to 11, with the Governor continuing to appoint five people and the Legislature appointing six people (compared to four previously). Because the Cabinet will now be made up of a majority of lawmakers, its operations and influence could significantly change and possibly become more political. 

(Note: John Wilson, President and CEO of Kansas Action for Children, currently serves on the Children’s Cabinet at the Senate Minority Leader’s designated appointee.) 

Child Care Licensing Threshold – Effective July 1, 2025 

In a last-minute change, the House Commerce Committee added an amendment creating a floor for when the state can require a home-based provider to be licensed in order to provide care legally.  

Under current rules, those exempt from licensure can provide no more than 20 cumulative hours of care for up to two children each week. However, the bill drastically expanded that threshold so an unlicensed provider will legally be able to provide up to 35 hours per child each week for up to four children (two of which can be infants) unrelated to them. 

Creating this as a floor (rather than a set number of hours as the bill originally stated) will allow a future administration to increase the hours through the rules and regulations process. We are concerned that this could lead to licensing regulations being completely upended in the future and children facing increased risks of harm while in unlicensed care.  

We know that licensure provides children with higher quality, safer environments in which to grow and thrive. Due to the process by which this provision was added to the bill, the child care community was unable to weigh in and advise on the risks to children if it became law. Thorough monitoring of the impacts of this change will be necessary to ensure that Kansas children are safe. Now with this bill becoming law, parents must be more vigilant in examining the child care settings they place their children into.  

Loosening Vaccine Requirements in Child Care Settings – Effective July 1, 2025

Another last-minute change added by the House Commerce Committee loosened vaccine requirements in child care settings. Parents are already able to decline immunizations for their children using medical and religious belief exemptions, but HB 2045 expands the definition of religious beliefs to now include “theistic and non-theistic moral and ethical beliefs.” This allows parents to now opt their child out of vaccination requirements for basically any reason.

There is evidence that increased usage of vaccine exemptions results in the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases. This fact — coupled with parents not knowing for certain their children are around other kids who are vaccinated — could prove especially troublesome. Now, more children with medical conditions or who are too young to be vaccinated will be more at risk of contracting diseases and seeing adverse effects or even death.

Similar to the licensure provision described above, this amendment moved forward without input from medical professionals or being vetted by the health committees. While child care providers still have the choice whether to accept unvaccinated children, Kansas has increased the likelihood that the state’s youngest children (many of whom are too young to be protected) will be at risk of contracting vaccine-preventable diseases.

Other Provisions

Beyond the most talked-about parts of the bill, the measure also does the following:

• Directs KDHE to update rules and regulations, including child care ratios and the 35-hour licensure threshold, by October 1, 2025. This will involve a public hearing with open comments about the proposed changes.
  
  
• Changes annual education requirements for providers. Currently, providers must receive 16 hours of training; under the bill, that number drops to 10. This change will be implemented July 1, 2025.
  
  
• Updates professional requirements for the director and other staff within a child care facility, including adjusting and reducing required levels of education. This is effective July 1, 2025.
  
  
• Reduces inside and outside square footage required per child in centers. This change will be effective July 1, 2025.
  
  
• Adds safe sleep practices for infants younger than 12 months old, which increases safety. This change will be effective July 1, 2026.
  
  
• Creates a certification process for licensing specialists to promote consistency during inspections. This change will be effective July 1, 2026.
  
  
• Codifies current practice of prohibiting federal funds being used for unfilled spots. (Effective July 1, 2025.)
  
  
• Gives the Legislature greater oversight of Children’s Initiatives Funds. (Beginning July 1, 2025.)

The Bottom Line

Changes to the early childhood system can set up Kansas to improve the experiences kids have in their earliest years. KAC supports the work that provides clarity, reduces barriers, and increases the quality environments that enrich children’s learning experiences. We hope Kansas lawmakers will use the streamlining of the early childhood governance system as an opportunity for robust investment. However, the state must proceed with caution, as it has now added language that goes against recommended best practice for care.

While the work toward establishing the Office of Early Childhood began as an effort to make the system more efficient, the concessions proponents made throughout the process added provisions could jeopardize children’s safety. Although the new Office holds true potential to ease bottlenecks and barriers for families and providers, the possibility of harm to children from the last-minute additions that reduce the quality of care may outweigh the good Kansans see in the long term.

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