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Panel launches state dashboard, hears Head Start and PDG updates and CAPE anniversary
Summary
The panel reviewed system updates: the statewide early-childhood dashboard is live and will update quarterly; Head Start programs report flat federal funding and serve about 6,200 children statewide; CAPE marked its first year and panelists reported roughly 13,000 registrants and multiple course offerings.
Melissa Schonberger moved the meeting from agenda items into system updates and highlighted two statewide opportunities: the Caine conference on resilience (April 23–24 in Wichita) and an Innovation Center pilot to recruit 15 new home-based child care providers in select counties.
Heather Schrottberger summarized the Kansas Head Start Association's winter meeting and annual report. She said Head Start funding currently supports approximately 6,200 federally funded slots across 78 counties and that Head Start programs employ roughly 2,500 staff statewide; she also noted Head Start is monitoring federal program-performance standard changes and anticipating flat federal funding for fiscal year 2026.
Megan Kluth (University of Kansas Center for Public Partnerships and Research) gave Preschool Development Grant updates: a rural family-experiences gap analysis is available, a gap analysis on early childhood mental health will follow, and PDG-funded "childcare zones" are supporting local two-county collaborations and strategies for expanding local capacity.
Sarah Gardner (KUCPPR) announced the state early-childhood dashboard is live on AllInForKansasKids.org and will be updated quarterly; panelists were invited to contribute data or request demos. Schonberger and Patty Peschel highlighted CAPE's first birthday and the platform's reach: as reported to the panel, about 13,000 professionals registered within CAPE in its first year, with multiple courses and offerings available.
The chair reminded members of upcoming dates (Children's Cabinet board: Feb. 3; governance summit: Feb. 20) and proposed moving the May panel from May 15 to May 14 to avoid a scheduling conflict; no objections were raised and the calendar will be updated. The formal meeting closed and work groups moved into breakout sessions.
No financial decisions were adopted during the meeting; updates focused on information-sharing, resource publishing and invitations for panel contributions and data.
