Preschool Policymaking By Stealth: An Alternate Framework for the Policy Process

Background and Purpose:

In recent years, a number of scholars have begun to examine the political context of public preschool in the United States and to analyze progress and setbacks in attempts at public preschool policy expansion at both the federal and state levels.  The majority of these writers have used traditional policy process theories to guide their analyses, such as Kingdon’s (1995) Multiple Streams Theory or the Advocacy and Coalition Framework (Jenkins-Smith et al., 2014), which assert that a coordinated advocacy movement is critical for substantial policy change. This study proposes an alternative framework of the policy process, “Policymaking by Stealth”, as a new lens for analyzing policies in unfavorable political environments, such as the passage of public preschool policy in two unlikely “pioneer states” (Bushouse, 2009).

Methods:

A comparative case study design, commonly used in studies of policy adoption (Collier, 1993), was used to explore the passage of universal public preschool in Oklahoma and West Virginia, and to further develop the Policymaking by Stealth Framework for understanding the politics of policy adoption in unfavorable policy contexts. Data on the two cases were obtained through a wide variety of published and recorded secondary sources, as well as stakeholder interviews. One of the key strengths of the comparative case study method in political research is its high construct validity (Collier, 1998), and in this case we were able to use an in-depth study of the policy process in both states to explore the theoretical concept of Policymaking by Stealth.

Results:

Based on analysis of the adoption of pre-K policies in Oklahoma and West Virginia, three key elements of the Policymaking by Stealth Framework emerged.

*Stealth Policy Design – A policy proposal that avoids identification with politically unpopular issues, is aligned with established, supported institutions, and includes a funding structure that both avoids attention to the long-term costs of the program, avoids the need for frequent re-appropriation, and facilitates future expansion.

*Stealth Policy Strategy – A policy passage strategy that is based on drawing as little attention as possible to the policy, including the exclusion of an organized advocacy response, avoidance of all media attention, and the attachment of the proposed policy into large omnibus bills to decrease the likelihood of detection or scrutiny.

*Stealth Policy Actor – A policy entrepreneur within the state legislature who is committed to the issue, but more importantly, skilled at political maneuvering.

Policymaking by Stealth is able to explain the passage of pre-K in Oklahoma and West Virginia while accounting for aspects of each case that cannot be explained by traditional theories of the policy process

Conclusions and Implications:

A key contribution of Policymaking by Stealth is a reframing of the role of policy advocates.  Policymaking by Stealth suggests that in complex political contexts, the role of advocates is subtler than traditionally conceptualized. This framework could be applied to instances of unexpected passage of policies related to other politically challenging issues, such as abortion access, gun control or environmental regulation, and could perhaps lead to new advocacy practice models.