California is still struggling with a massive budget deficit, but advocates have scored some success in defeating Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed funding cuts that would eliminate child care slots and support for providers, according to reports.

After the governor proposed the cuts last month, advocates launched the Campaign to Save Child Care and then gained legislative support in recent weeks.

In less than a week after the Governor proposed the total elimination of state general fund support for child care subsidies and support services as well as total elimination of CalWORKs, the Assembly budget subcommittees (in a joint hearing) on Education and Health & Human Services voted on May 19th to reject both May Budget Revision proposals. At the May 25th Senate Budget & Fiscal Review Committee hearing, Senators also voted to reject both proposals. – California Child Care Resource and Referral Network.

The budget cycle, though, is not over. Still, the tone among legislators is a hopeful sign for advocates still worried about deep cuts to child care programs.

“The CCCRRN (California Child Care Resource and Referral Network) and the California Department of Education estimate that a total 200,000 children would be affected by the (governor’s) cuts; 100,000 working parents would have to leave their jobs to care for their children; and 130,000 jobs in the child care field would be eliminated.” – “Child Care Funding on the Potential Chopping Block of State Budgets,” CLASP, 6/10.

This Sunday is Father’s Day and here are a few of the nation’s top dad bloggers to help you keep track of news about the modern dad:

• Daddytypes: A Weblog for New Dads.
• Dadcentric: Join the Movement
• RebelDad: Putting Fatherhood Under the Microscope.
• Evolution of Dad (Website with a blog about a new film by the same name.)

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed deep cuts in early learning programs – elimination of a welfare-to-work initiative and its child care support and subsidized child care services – in an effort to close a $19.1 billion budget deficit, advocacy groups are reporting.

The May budget proposal would eliminate state support “for the need-based, subsidized child care programs,” saving $1.2 billion and cutting roughly 142,000 subsidized slots for children in the process, according to the Sacramento-based Child Development Policy Institute. The new plan also proposes deep cuts in other child care programs. You can see details here.

Now, the suggested cuts are far from a done deal. In fact, Gov. Schwarzenegger’s ideas were not well received by Democratic legislators, who objected to many of the budget proposals and called the plan “a non-starter,” according to First 5 LA.

“If God forbid this budget became a reality, California would be the only state in the union to not have a safety net for children,” Senate pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said.

California’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell had similar worries.

“…I have grave concerns that child care for thousands of preschool age children will be eliminated,” O’Connell said “This cut is yet another severe blow to poor- and middle-class working families who are struggling to provide for their families.”

(Both quotes were provided by Preschool California.)

As the nation’s biggest state, California’s budget-balancing steps tied to child care are worth watching, and there are a lot of details in the Child Development Policy Institute’s report about how deeply this important state could cut.

Pesticides linked to ADHD: Exposure to pesticides may be contributing to the rise in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Pediatrics reports.

“The present study adds to the accumulating evidence linking higher levels of pesticide exposure to adverse developmental outcomes. Our findings support the hypothesis that current levels of organophosphate pesticide exposure might contribute to the childhood burden of ADHD.” – “Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Urinary Metabolites of Organophosphate Pesticides,” Pediatrics, 5/17/10.

MSNBC.com has more, “Pesticides in kids linked to ADHD: Researcher advises parents to buy organic, wash produce.”

“Exposure to pesticides used on common kid-friendly foods — including frozen blueberries, fresh strawberries and celery — appears to boost the chances that children will be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, new research shows.” – “Pesticides in kids linked to ADHD.” 5/17/10.

Since California is the nation’s biggest state, when its policymakers consider major child care cuts it is worth watching. This year California is weighing proposals that would cut hundreds of millions of dollars from early learning programs and eliminate thousands of child care spaces, a group reports.

In his budget plan, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed cutting 18,000 child care spaces in the CalWORKS program for lower-income families, First 5 LA said in a budget analysis released this week.

If a family could not get or lost one of these child care spaces they could face another obstacle because “the Legislative Analyst's Office points out that roughly 200,000 children are already on waiting lists for non-CalWORKs slots, so those families displaced by the proposed elimination of Stage 3 slots would likely find it difficult to find other options,” the advocacy group said.

The budget plan would also reduce reimbursement rates for licensed and license-exempt providers, according to the analysis.

Now, California faces a huge budget deficit, but First 5 LA makes the point that struggling parents will have a harder time getting back to work if they can’t find quality affordable child care. More working moms and dads would help the economy and hopefully reduce the budget deficit.

“CalWORKs parents who have lost their state-funded child care may also be forced to choose between working or attending school, and staying at home to care for their children. In the worst case scenario, they may decide to leave their children in substandard care,” First 5 LA said in its budget analysis.

Health Care Dollars in Jeopardy in Washington: Now that President Barack Obama has signed health care reform into law, The Children’s Alliance reminds us it is Cover the Uninsured Week in Washington State and that hundreds of thousands of dollars are at stake.

“Yet the state Senate’s budget proposal calls for a complete elimination of funding for Apple Health for Kids outreach.”
“If the state’s $425,000 outreach investment is cut, we’ll lose an equal amount of federal matching dollars, which would severely limit outreach organizations’ ability to find eligible families and connect children to Apple Health for Kids.” – Cover the Uninsured Week – and crunch time for Apple Health for Kids outreach, Children’s Alliance, 3/22/10.

Check out the whole post.

California has been cutting programs not adding new ideas, but it clearly wants to add early learning work because it’s a major element of the state’s bid for some of $4.35 billion in fresh federal education reform dollars, according to California Progress Report.

… California mentions early learning repeatedly throughout its 129-page application – a recognition that early learning programs play an important role in making the state competitive for a share of the funds. -- “Early Learning Key Part of Race to the Top Education Reform Conversation.”

In its request for billions of Race to the Top dollars, Cali also appeared to endorse PreK-3rd – a movement to better integrate early learning with the first grades of school, Catherine Atkin, president of the non-profit Preschool California, wrote.

…Among the 800 local educational agencies that signed agreements to address each of the Race to the Top reform areas, nearly a third also committed to improving the quality of early childhood education by helping students make better transitions between preschool and kindergarten, a voluntary element of the agreements.

(Check out the relatively short article. It is worth a few minutes.)

Obama Update: I didn’t hear a lot about early learning in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. In fact, I didn’t hear anything until roughly 34 minutes into his speech, when he mentioned his plan to nearly double the child care tax credit.

Don’t Forget English Language Learners: I came across a set of researchers’ ideas on Twitter about how to use economic stimulus funds to help English language learners. There is a section devoted to Head Start, Early Head Start and the Child Care Development Block Grant towards the end.

California faces yet another large budget shortfall and that means policymakers in the nation’s biggest state may face a new round of tough decisions on early learning spending.

Earlier this month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked off the debate by declaring a fiscal emergency and proposing his new budget, which contained potential child care cuts, Preschool California reported. If California doesn’t receive a big bump in federal funding, it would trigger cuts that could eliminate the state’s CalWorks program, which supports poorer families with child care aid and employment help, and its Healthy Families health care coverage for kids, according to an analysis provided by the advocacy group.

The governor’s budget also contains cuts to child care reimbursement rates. It wasn’t all bad news, however. The governor’s budget “increases by $65.5 million to backfill Pre-School one-time funds used in the current year,” Preschool California said. (We are still waiting for more details about the budget plan.)

Now isn’t a great time to cut child care spending in California because the state received a C for its early learning and development in a recent report card issued by Children Now, an Oakland, California-based advocacy group.

It could be another tough year of state funding battles.

After a tough budget battle this year, California delivered good news this week, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order creating a council that will lead the development of a statewide early learning system.

After struggling with a massive budget deficit, the new council will help California secure up to $10.7 million in federal economic stimulus money for early learning efforts, according to the governor’s press release.

“The council will lead efforts to develop a high-quality, comprehensive early childhood education system and will strengthen state-level coordination and collaboration among California’s early learning and child care programs. The council will also make recommendations on developing a comprehensive early childhood data system; increasing access to early childhood education, particularly for the children who need it most; and developing or enhancing systems that improve children’s school readiness,” Preschool California said in a statement.

Among the council’s new duties are offering recommendations about a statewide plan for career and professional development in early childhood education and on unified data collection for public early learning programs. The order also calls on the council to assess the ability of California’s higher education system to support and develop professionals in early education.

The effort tracks what is happening in Washington state, where education leaders are in the middle of drafting a statewide early learning plan.

The executive order links Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger and Democratic President Barack Obama on an important early learning initiative according to First 5 California. 

“By signing the executive order, Governor Schwarzenegger is joining with the Obama Administration in its commitment to ensuring all children are prepared to succeed in school and in life, First 5 California executive director Kris Perry said in a statement.

News on Home Visitation: The U.S. House of Representatives approved a program that would funnel $750 million to home visitation programs over five years as part of a sweeping plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system, The Early Ed Watch Blog reported yesterday. Read details.