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As often happens, the most vulnerable segments of our population often are hit the hardest, and this year is no exception.
To help recoup a nearly $20 billion shortfall in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed $1.2 billion in cuts to child care funds, which would eliminate most subsidized child care for low-income families.
He also proposed to eliminate California’s welfare program, CalWORKs, which serves 1.4 million people, 1.1 million of whom are children.
In Lake County, subsidy programs serve 380 families and 712 children.
The local impacts of this situation are significant.
Without a state budget, child care programs funded through the California Department of Education also do not receive payments without a signed budget.
Currently, 12 CDE-funded programs are located throughout Lake County, including nine operated through Lake County Office of Education.
These programs have not received funding since June 2010. They have been operating on reserves and loans for three months, and there is no end in sight.
LCOE lost the only two full-day preschool programs they offered and are now only offering three-hour programs at all sites, which impacted 48 working families.
Since 1997, The Learning House has operated three state-funded centers in Clearlake – The Hillcrest House, The Toddler House and The Learning House Preschool.
Families depend on these programs to continue working, for emotional relief and guidance on parenting, but without some relief this respected small business may have to close its doors.
Many of their parents would have to quit their jobs, because the cost of child care alone would exceed the entire average monthly income of these families.
Without a signed budget, all stage two and three subsidized child care payments also are held.
In August, approximately $85,000 in payments to Lake County child care providers were held due to the impasse.
According to Nicole McKay, Child Care Subsidy Manager for North Coast Opportunities, “This year has been especially tough on families and providers. Several licensed child care facilities face the possibility of closing their doors due to lack of funding. It is important that parents and providers advocate for the continued funding of these programs as subsidized child care enables parents to work and move toward self-sufficiency.”
Family child care homes collectively provide care to approximately 1,200 Lake County children.
Liberty Perry, family child care provider in Clearlake, is working hard to hold on and maintain the high quality care and education she is providing.
Perry, winner of the 2010 Family Child Care Provider of the Year Award, said that 40 percent of the children in her care rely on subsidies.
She is now facing a 92-percent reduction in her personal income because of the budget delay.
According to Catherine Albiston, professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law, and her colleagues, cutting child care will have dramatic impacts on an already faltering economy:
Without subsidies, low-income single parents will not be able to work, because the cost of non-subsidized child care will exceed their income.
Child care providers will lose jobs as centers close. In Lake County, the child care industry employees nearly 500 people. Without a signed budget, a large majority of them will face unemployment or severe reduction in income, dramatically impacting Lake County’s economy.
Tax revenues will shrink and social services costs will grow. Parents need child care to work, and when Californian’s lose their jobs, tax revenues shrink. The Labor Center calculates that California will lose $3.1 billion in economic output and $157 million in state and local tax revenue due to the reduction in child care jobs alone.
Ample research demonstrates the importance of high-quality early childhood education during a child’s first five years of life.
Children who attend high-quality early childhood programs are more likely to graduate from high school and far less likely to be on welfare, become criminals or teen parents, or experience debilitating health and socioeconomic problems.
Studies focused specifically on California have shown that if high-quality early childhood programming were more widely accessible, juvenile crime would fall 19 percent and the high school dropout rate would decrease by 14 percent.
Nobel Prize winning economist James Heckman concluded that, “the most cost-effective strategy for strengthening the future American workforce is to invest greater human and financial resources in the social and cognitive environments of children who are disadvantaged, beginning as early as possible.”
Lake County needs quality child care providers to keep our families working, our economy growing and our children thriving.
For more information on child care in Lake County, contact the Lake County Child Care Planning Council at 707-994-4795 or visit the group's Web site at www.lakecountychildcareplanning.com.
Shelly Mascari is the director of the Lake County Child Care Planning Council.
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