State Budget
As California continues to face tough budget choices, preserving and optimizing funding for early care and education programs is a priority for Preschool California.
Continuing budget deficits mean California’s early learning programs are at risk for significant cuts. We must maintain these investments while doing more and better with existing early learning resources, preparing more children to succeed in school and maximizing our share of federal early learning investments.
It is critical that California maintains the basic infrastructure of the early learning and development programs that serve our state’s youngest learners, including high-quality preschool programs.
Current Budgetary Landscape
Gov. Brown’s January budget proposal attempts to close the $9.2 billion budget gap with dramatic cuts to preschool and child care, balancing the budget on the backs of our most vulnerable children and families. The proposal calls for $517 million in cuts to child care and development programs for low-income children, affecting about 62,000 children in early care and education programs. A fact sheet on the full impact of this possible funding reduction is now available here. This proposed cut comes as early care and education programs have already suffered close to $1 billion in reductions in the last three years, cutting more than 80,000 low-income children from child development programs.
In addition to these devastating cuts, which would be achieved through reduced eligibility and a reduction in the reimbursement rate for both contracted and voucher programs, the governor proposes to shift all programs except part-day state preschool to county welfare agencies starting in 2013-14 at no savings. The County welfare offices will issue eligible families vouchers for child care, effectively eliminating close to half of the California State Preschool Program and the entire General Child Care program as they will no longer be contracted, nor have the same educational components. This realignment will also mean that it will be at the discretion of the County Welfare offices as to whether they wish to serve non-CalWORKS families, dramatically reducing services to non-welfare low-income families.
Find more information on the state budget using the below resources.
Media
Contact Us
Scott Moore, Senior Policy Advisor
(510) 271-0075 ext.305
Send an email to Scott
Impacts of Governor's Child Care Budget on Children, Child Care Workesr and Communities | 02.17.2012
2012-13 budget impacts found by California's Child Care Resource & Referral Network. 62,000 children lose care; more than 100,000 child care workers' jobs are at risk; California's child care system will be dismantled. Additional resources can be found in the Resource & Referral Network's advocacy toolkit. more
Gov. Brown's 2012-2013 budget calls for devastating cuts | 01.06.2012
Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2012-13 budget proposal, released yesterday, calls for $517 M in cuts to child development. The Governor estimates this will cut 62,000 children from early care and education programs. After suffering devastating cuts in recent years this radical proposal decimates our child development system and leaves California’s most vulnerable children without care. In addition to proposing to cut an unprecedented number of children from early care and education programs, Gov. Brown proposed to move up the kindergarten entry date, kicking 125,000 children out of school. more
The Sacramento Bee: Editorial: Brown should seek feds' $100 million | 09.15.2011
With the deadline only a month away, Gov. Jerry Brown hasn't decided whether California will apply. He is concerned that one-time investments could bring cost pressures for further improvements in the future. Given the importance of early learning to later academic success, that's a good problem to have. The state ought to leverage federal dollars for one-time investments, which can be incorporated into California's long-term vision for quality early learning. more
Assembly and Senate Budget Committees Take Votes on Child Care Budget Items | 06.08.2011
The Senate Budget Committee had a meeting on Wednesday, June 7, to finalize a number of outstanding policy issues. A child care and development reductions compromise was presented during the hearing. more
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