(Radio Iowa) – A bill tabled in the Iowa House would have eliminated Iowa’s 34 volunteer boards that coordinate local early childhood services, with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services taking over the system. Supporters of the Early Childhood Iowa boards say they ensure services are tailored to the specific needs of kids in their communities.

McKinley Bailey is executive director of the Early Childhood Iowa board for Hamilton, Humboldt and Wright Counties. He says state officials don’t understand how the boards function. “If you pull all of this out of there, you are ripping apart a system and they have never taken the time to figure out what they’re blowing up,” Bailey said. “They don’t even know the basics of what we do and how we do it.”

The volunteer-led Early Childhood Iowa boards support programs and activities in their areas that focus on children under the age of six. Officials in the Department of Health and Human Services argued having the agency take over would ensure more efficient and consistent services for young Iowa children. Republican members of a House subcommittee say they want to find ways to improve the system, but they don’t support the agency’s bill.