An Update on Zoning Regulations in Tulsa, OK
In early 2023, we shared how zoning regulations were negatively impacting the child care landscape in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the time, Cindy Decker – executive director of Tulsa Educare – detailed local efforts to leverage connections and community partners and lift the voices of impacted business owners.
This summer, due to Tulsa Educare and partners’ extensive efforts and persistence, a state bill was passed limiting a municipality’s ability to further restrict child care licensing beyond that of state code and requirements. This is expected to eliminate the proposed new restrictions that the city of Tulsa was considering.
We celebrate this amazing advocacy effort to educate the public and bring awareness to both the early childhood field and the need for greater support for child care. Congratulations to all partners involved in this accomplishment!
What’s Next, In Tulsa and Beyond
While Tulsa’s city planning board understood this state bill as setting precedent for their process and procedures, other city governance did not agree. More committees and regulators started to pay close attention to this issue, raising concerns about due process and order of operations, and stressing a need for new and further review from additional regulatory agencies.
Head Start is certainly not new to these kinds of requests and does not shy away from transparency – but the potential time needed to process and support such claims and the impact on confidence in programming are undoubtable costs.
“I wish I could say I was on cloud nine – but instead, it’s like cloud five or six,” Cindy Decker shared.
This captures the sentiment of the field of early childhood education right now: We see success and a path forward towards strengthening communities and systems. Regulators and legislators are listening and responding to the needs of early learning and care providers. Yet with each hurdle we leap, another remains. Progress in this work requires both patience and sustained effort – and without the support of backing organizations like Head Start, how can any small business fight the tide of these pressures and demands?
We are thankful for the example that Tulsa Educare has set with city zoning regulations – a real-life look at what is playing out across the country, as child care programs seek to provide an essential service.
Embracing and supporting a strong child care system strengthens us all, from families to schools to communities nationwide. By valuing the early childhood workforce and the essential services this field provides, we are investing in both our present and our future!
This is the fourth blog in an ongoing series providing updates on Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCP). EHS-CCPs are federally-funded, locally-run programs that bring together the best of Early Head Start and child care by layering funding to provide comprehensive, continuous early child development and family engagement services to infants, toddlers and their families. Currently, 13 Educare organizations in 12 states and the District of Columbia administer EHS-CCP grants.
About the Author
Andrew Bourassa is a former member of the Educare Network EHS-CCP Community of Practice (CoP). The vision of this CoP is to build a community of Network leaders who gain support from one another, share ideas, collaborate on professional development initiatives, and inform the early childhood field through advocacy and policy change. We want to continue fostering relationships throughout the Network and build on existing connections and structures to ensure ongoing communication is effectively supported.
