California's Children

30,000 kids dumped from early ed w/May revise cuts

May 22, 2012: If the $517 million in cuts to early education -- proposed in Governor Brown's "May revise" to the California 2012-13 budget -- are enacted by the Legislature, approximately 30,000 children living in California's lowest-income families will no longer have access to early education programs. (In the past four years, early ed has taken a 42% hit -- nearly $1 billion.)

According to Giuliana Halasz, above, CEO of the Professional Association for Childhood Education Alternative Payment Program (PACEAPP):

 "These cuts will also drive many small [early education] centers out of business, resulting in more than just a business closing: [these changes remove] a child care infrastructure that will be difficult and costly to replace...Early childhood education adds 200,000 jobs and $11 billion to California's economy. This proposal is a job killer for the clients we serve. Women are the losers here. They are a majority of the clients, small business owners and teachers. Governor Brown's drastic budget cuts are a direct attack on our children and their future..."

Also included in the May revise is the Governor's proposal to move administration of subsidized child care from the Dept. of Education to the Dept. of Social Services, essentially gutting the early education component of the program and reducing it to a babysitting service. [Full disclosure: California's Children is sponsored by Human Services Management Corporation, a San Francisco-based company that administers the PACE Alternative Payment Program. The editor of this site, Wendy Lestina, has been an advocate for early education in low-income neighborhoods in California for nearly 50 years.]

Head Start grant competition begins today: four CA agencies up for grabs

April 20, 2012: Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health & Human Services in Washington, D.C. opened the Head Start grant competition today for 97 Head Start service regions across the country that were deemed, in September 2010, to be "poorly performing grantees" in the bottom 25% of national Head Starts [history, covered in reporting after the break, below]. (At left, Yvette Sanchez Fuentes, national director of the Office of Head Start.)

That Head Starts would compete for funds was announced by the Obama Administration last November. The criteria established for receiving Head Start funds require that grantees meet "rigorous quality benchmarks," according to  H&HS officials.

Head Start monies are open to all eligible organizations; applicants have 90 days to submit their Head Start grant proposals online through www.Grants.gov.

In California, there are four Head Starts deemed to be "poorly performing" that are required to compete for grants: Contra Costa County, San Francisco's Institute for Human and Social Development, the Los Angeles County Office of Education, and E Center, a nine-county administrator of Head Start programs based in Ukiah (Mendocino County).

For more information, potential grantees can visit the H&HS Applicant Support website. 

Previously reported on California's Children:

September 25, 2010: As reported yesterday by Lisa Guernsey in Early Ed Watch (and thanks to a tip from California's Children commenter, Michael Kemp), the federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF) (Dept. of Health and Human Services) proposed new rules earlier this week that will require "the bottom 25% of Head Start organizations to re-apply for their grants and compete against other local organizations that until now have been effectively shut out." 

58% of preschoolers don't play outdoors "on a daily basis"

UPDATE, April 5, 2012: A new study has found that 58% of preschoolers, aged 3 to 5 years, who have a regular childcare provider outside of the home, do not play outdoors with their parents on a daily basis; the findings were published online Monday by the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, and reported on by Karen Kaplan for the LA Times blog Booster Shots.

These findings add to previous research that shows preschoolers are already developing a sedentary lifestyle early on, potentially contributing to the obesity epidemic.

A study published in January found childcare providers unintentionally limit outdoor unstructured play to far less than the recommended daily amount (60 minutes). Read below for more on this study.

Researchers led by Dimitri A. Christakis M.D., above, director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, University of Washington, analyzed data on 10,700 children from the US Department of Education's Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (2001).

Findings from the Christakis study:

• Girls were 15% less likely than boys to be taken outside to play with a parent on a daily basis.

• Compared with white mothers, Hispanic mothers were 20% less likely to take their preschoolers outside every day, black mothers were 41% less likely, and Asian mothers were 49% less likely.

• The amount of time kids spent in front of TVs, computers and other screens was not related to their odds of going outside each day with a parent. Neither was household income or parents’ perception of the safety of their neighborhood.

Long Beach teacher cuts wipe out district control of Head Start

February 22, 2012: Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) Board of Education, the third largest district in the state with 84,000 students, unanimously approved the layoff on Tuesday of 308 employees, as part of a series of budget reductions of $15-20 million by July 1, 2012.

According to the LBUSD website, "The 308 certificated jobs include the school district’s special and temporary contract teachers, as well as most of the teaching staff at the district’s Child Development Centers, and Head Start  programs that provide pre-K and other services.

The CDC cuts are a result of state cuts in funding for that program.  And while the local Head Start program and its employees have earned repeated state and national recognition for their exemplary work, the federally funded program is encroaching into the school district’s operating budget, which LBUSD can no longer afford, [LBUSD Superintendent Christopher J. Steinhausertold the school board]."

Reporting in the Long Beach Press Telegram, Kelly Puente writes:

Officials said the outcome of Head Start and the numbers of those laid off could change depending on the state budget, teacher retirements and other funding sources to be determined over the next few months. By law, however, the LBUSD is required to notify teachers of pending layoffs by March 15.

The board's vote effectively ends the LBUSD control of the Head Start Program, which serves 2,300 low-income children in 23 preschool centers in the district. The district claims the program is costing the district more than $200,000 a year.

Joe Boyd, executive director of the Teachers Association of Long Beach, urged the board to vote against the layoffs. Boyd said teachers in bargaining with the school district have already agreed to pay cuts and reductions in health benefits in exchange for a long-term commitment to keep Head Start.

Written for California's Children by Elizabeth J Carlyle.

Photo: L-R: Christian and Adrian Klenz, who attend Head Start, with home made signs opposing the cuts to the program at the board of education meeting on Tuesday. (Brittany Murray/ Press Telegram)

 

Stats on impact of child care cuts reveal conflict with high COL

California Child Care Resource & Referral network released a report last week on the impact of 2012-13 budget cuts on families and children.

Among other stats, the report notes:

62,000 children lose child care (-$517 million)
• A family of three earning less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Level will lose their child care subsidy
o New Eligibility Limits: family of 2= $29,420; family of 3= $37,060; family of 4 = $44,700; family of 5=$52,340 ...

And gives the astonishing figure:

The family self-sufficiency level in Los Angeles County is $72,240 for a family of three to meet  basic needs.

The three-person family composition is a single parent with an infant and a toddler, both in child care while the parent works.