Category: Child Care

Will Newsom Mend the Gaps in State’s New Plan for Early Learning?

Here’s my latest op-ed published today in CalMatters: Will Newsom mend the gaps in state’s new plan for early learning?

California’s just released Master Plan for Early Learning and Care is smartly timed to be in line for funding, should a Biden-Harris administration secure additional resources for their ambitious caregiving initiative.

State policymakers need to address four serious gaps in the plan to ensure access to affordable care for all of California’s working families and fair compensation for the early care workforce.

Early Childhood Education Bill Package Announced

California Assemblymember Kevin McCarty held a press conference this morning with Senate and Assembly colleagues to announce a bill package, taking action on Governor Newsom’s Master Plan for Early Learning and Care released last week.

Here’s the list of the announced bills and priorities:

• AB 22 (Asm. McCarty): Universal Transitional Kindergarten – Expands UTK to all 4-year-olds.

• SB 50 (Senator Limón): The California Early Learning and Care Program establishes a coherent framework of whole-child services for children 0-6.

• Tiered Funding Rate Reform: Address inadequate funding for child care system and need to pay fair wages for a high quality early education. Legislation and Budget action to follow.

• AB 92 (Asm. Reyes): Preschool & Childcare & development services: family fees-Alleviates burden of family fees for low-income families.

• Preschool Expulsion Ban (Asm. Rubio): Prohibits suspensions and expulsions in subsidized early learning programs.

• Mandatory Kindergarten (Senator Rubio): Makes kindergarten compulsory.

 

Mayor’s Task Force on Child Care: Blast from the Past!

Many years ago, I worked for Sacramento Mayor Anne Rudin and staffed her Mayor’s Task Force on Child Care.

When I was conducting research for my recent child care op-ed in the Sacramento Bee, I came across the report that the Task Force produced.  Definitely a blast from the past!

Posting that report here as some of the recommendations are worth updating for 2018!

A special shout out to Council Member Angelique Ashby who is working to identify city-owned sites that could be used to open child care centers for city employees (and other residents, when spaces are available).  Another shout out to Council Member Eric Guerra who is planning a hearing on child care in Spring 2018.

Two recommendations to consider:

1) The City of Sacramento needs a Child Care Master Plan that identifies how different jurisdictions can help build the supply of quality, affordable child care. No group is currently taking the lead in forging this vision, and the City could play a major role in bringing people together.

2) The City of Sacramento should hire a Child Care Coordinator. The City previously had a Child Care Coordinator, and, until the position was cut, she provided the leadership, facilitation and persistence  to build the supply of child care.

 

 

 

New Leadership for CA Women’s Caucus in 2017

2017 launches with new leadership at the California Legislative Women’s Caucus.

Assembly Member Cristina Garcia steps in as Chair; and Senator Connie M. Leyva is Vice Chair.

Garcia, elected to a two-year term, also serves as First Vice Chair of the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. Known as a strong advocate for women’s issues and a champion of electing more women to public office, Gacia went to the mat this past year for AB 1561, her “No Tax on Tampons” bill. The legislation received majority support in the Senate and Assembly, but was vetoed by the Governor.

Garcia is now working with Caucus members to set their policy priorities for the new year.

Without doubt, 2016 was one of the Caucus’ most successful years ever – and a tip of the hat goes to the Immediate Past Chair, Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, for her leadership and tenacity.

Working with the Stronger California Advocates Network, the Caucus championed a proactive policy agenda on economic security and secured a multi-year budget commitment of over $500 million for subsidized child care.

While not a complete list, two other major successes are worth noting:

  • Culminating a years-long battle, Senator Holly J. Mitchell succeeded in repealing the Maximum Family Grant, a provision in the state welfare program that had denied aid for infants born into poverty.
  • Senator Leyva also had a big win, securing passage of the 2016 Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (SB 1015), which establishes permanent overtime protection for California’s 300,000 domestic workers.

The bad news for the Women’s Caucus is that their numbers in 2017 are diminished. Twenty-six women now serve in the State Senate and Assembly – down from 30 the previous year.

 

Single Moms in Poverty – Are Programs Designed to Serve Them?

Prosperity Threatened: Perspectives on Childhood Poverty in California is a new report from Next Generation worth checking out.

This section in particular is a wake-up call for policymakers and advocates:

Rates of poverty among single mothers in California also stand out, particularly when observing this trend at the county level. Single mothers make up 22 percent of all households in California with children under the age of 18 years of age.

Among all single parent households, women make of nearly 73 percent of the total, making poverty among single households an issue disproportionately affecting mothers.

As expected, the rates of poverty for single mothers were highest in counties with higher overall poverty rates, as seen in Appendix D, yet the persistence of single mother poverty rates may be their defining feature. In no county outside of Calaveras County do single mother poverty rates dip below 20 percent. And while the statewide poverty rate for single mothers is at a shocking 35.5 percent, there are six counties where the majority of single mothers live in poverty.

If policymakers and advocates were to really consider the implications of single moms and poverty, I think there would be a seismic shift in how we design programs and deliver services.  

Frequently the focus in policy debates is on protecting or expanding existing programs.  Rarely do you hear this question:  If a program is primarily intended to serve single MOMS, how would we design the program?

Take, for example, welfare.  If you were designing a welfare-to-work program to serve a single parent, you would insist upon part-time work as a real option — so that mothers could be available to their children, providing support and nurturance and stopping the generational cycle of poverty.

You would insist upon flex-time, so that doctor’s appointments and parent-teacher conferences would be a priority — not a reason to lose a job.

Schools would offer easy access to social services.  Child care, after-school care and school meals would be available, dependable and engaging for the kids.

Educational training would be a priority — not a hurdle — to help single parents jump-start their financial independence.

Rather than offering one-0n-one counseling and oversight, county services might build social networks to help single parents support one another.

For a host of reasons, the shift to single-parent families is a trend that will not be reversing, despite the admonishments of conservative politicians.  Quite the opposite.

In fact, unless we want to see an economic restructuring of society along gender lines, we better start thinking about how our social services and our workplaces support single moms and do more to design programs that meet their needs.