For Immediate Release
May 25, 2010 |
Contact:
Patty Siegel
415-882-0234
patty@rrnetwork.org |
Campaign to Save Child Care
More than 150 child care supporters appear
before Senate Budget Committee Tuesday
to oppose Governor’s proposed
elimination of Child Care
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – In response to the Governor’s 2010-2011 Budget May Revision, which proposes an unprecedented $2.3 billion combined elimination of CalWORKs and General Fund support for California’s neediest children and families, child care advocates launched the "Campaign to Save Child Care" in opposition to the cuts. More than 150 campaign supporters including parents, providers, directors, teachers, child care resource and referral programs, alternative payment providers, local planning councils, and organizations committed to quality, accessible, affordable child care will attend the Senate Budget Committee hearing on the Governor’s child care proposals today at 9:30 am in the State Capitol.
Kyshanda Collins, a single mother of a 7 month old son from Sacramento, spoke on behalf of Parent Voices at the press conference: "I currently am a CalWORKs recipient and depend on child care assistance to care for my son while I attend Kaplan College to become a Medical Assistant. When I graduate I have the potential to earn $29.50 hour as a medical assistant. If these programs are eliminated, I will not be able to finish school and achieve the economic security my son and I need."
Since the end of WWII, California has recognized the value and importance of providing child care services to working families and their children. Our 68-year-old system has evolved to provide care to young children in a variety of settings – home and center based – that meet the needs of our diverse working families.
Campaign supporters expressed their outrage at this proposed massive dismantling of a child care system which would impact:
- 100,0001 parents working and contributing to California’s struggling economy
- More than 130,000 child care providers,2 including licensed family child care homes and paid assistants; center staff (directors, teachers, and assistants); and license-exempt child care providers3 serving low-income families
Reductions in state supported child care services will result not only in lost employment for low income working parents and their child care teachers and providers, but will also endanger child safety and eliminate learning opportunities for the 200,000 young children4 who would lose their child care beginning July 1, 2010. Brain research demonstrates that early education experiences – from birth to age five – are critical in determining whether a child’s brain develops a proper foundation for learning and success in school and later life. Eliminating child care and early learning opportunities literally imperils our children’s capacity for learning.
The threat to dismantle the entire child care system is not only outrageous in its scope but irresponsible, leaving the child care field in limbo. This kind of anxiety pulsing throughout the state will result in hiring freezes, staff layoffs, and frozen enrollment beginning in the next few weeks. Employment opportunities for parents will be jeopardized without the guarantee of subsidized child care, creating further economic insecurity in the state. Equally devastating, California’s youngest children will lose access to our highest quality child care programs. Commenting on the impact of the proposed elimination on state funded child care programs Kathy Laferty, State Board President of the California Child Development Administrators Association (CCDAA) and the Executive Director of Cambridge Community Center, a state supported child care facility in Concord said: "If the Governor’s proposal is adopted, many of my families will only have the option of sending their children to part-day state preschool programs. This is not a viable option for them since they will be left without child care for the rest of the day. This proposal will result in three quarters of my families, many of whom have never been on TANF or CalWORKs, having to give up employment and apply for cash assistance, which is also slated for elimination."
Campaign representative, Patty Siegel, of the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, stated, "Rome was not built in a day, nor was our child care system. Our centers and home- based providers – the foundation of our system – cannot put their programs on pause while we wait for California’s economy to pick up. This radical budget surgery will result in the permanent loss of child care facilities, teachers and staff throughout the state, leaving California even less prepared for the economic rebound hoped for in the not-so-distant future."
"The Campaign to Save Child Care" support has grown to 150 statewide and local organizations including labor unions, faith based organizations, children’s advocacy groups and welfare rights advocates. They stand united in their opposition to this wholesale dismantling of California’s child care system. Speaking on behalf of the Child Development Policy Institute, Dennis Vicars, president commented: "Besides the obvious moral dilemma in displacing children in care, child care is the driver for economic recovery. No child care, no jobs?"
This proposal cannot become a negotiation tool for accepting the Governor’s January budget proposals. At the hearing, Campaign supporters shared impacts of the proposals on children, parents, providers and the communities they serve with members of the Senate Budget Committee. "We cannot accept corporate tax breaks at the expense of young children. This is a campaign for California’s future – a future that must address economic equity and close examination of who wins and who loses in this budget scheme" exclaimed Donna Sneeringer, Public Affairs Manger of Child Action, Inc., in Sacramento.
A list of the "Campaign to Save Child Care" supporters is available at www.rrnetwork.org.
1Estimated by dividing the total number of children served in threatened programs by two. This estimate assumes an average family size of three with one adult and two children being served.
2 Number of licensed family child care home and center-based program staff impacted was calculated by applying the percentage of licensed programs serving children receiving vouchers reported in the 2006 California Early Care and Education Workforce Study to updated 2008 supply data. These estimates were combined with the number of CDE, General Child Care state-contracted centers published in the 2009 California Child Care Portfolio to estimate the overall number of child care providers serving children receiving vouchers or in state-contracted programs impacted by proposed budget cuts.
3 Number of license-exempt providers impacted was calculated by first applying the percentage of children served in license-exempt settings in cut programs to the total number of children losing care. Total number of providers was calculated by dividing the total number of children in license-exempt care by two. This estimate assumes license-exempt providers serve an average of two children.
4Difference between maximum enrollment for FY 2009-10 revised budget and 2010-11 May Revise proposed maximum enrollment.
