Governor's May Revision to Cut Family Child Care Rates Will Further Devastate California's Economy for Years to Come
A note from CAPPA's CEO, Denyne Micheletti Colburn
Now that all of us have had a week to let Governor Newsom's 2020-21 May Revision sink in, respectfully, in regards to the proposals to cut the rates of family child care providers and centers, simply ...NO!
I have read and reread the May Revision proposals to child care and I cannot understand how Govenor Newsom can put forward a proposal to cut 10 percent from the rates paid to family child care providers and centers. Ten percent may not seem like a lot, but let me share with you how little child care providers and centers are reimbursed to support California's working families.
For purposes of this example, we are going to use the current reimbursement rates for Los Angeles county. Current licensed exempt rates broken down hourly for school age is $2.63 and for an infant $3.55. For licensed family child care providers child care can be broken down on an hourly reimbursement for school age is $9.85 and for infants is $11.34. Finally, for licensed center child care, an hourly school age the rate is $11.06 while for an infant it is $16.28.
If you take the existing rates above, and minus the 10 percent cut proposed in the 2020-21 May Revision, licensed exempt child care rates for school age will drop to $2.37 an hour and for an infant $3.01; $9.85 drops to $8.86 and $11.34 drops to $10.21; and finally $9.96 and $14.66.
For our high quality centers, the current set full-day rate is $48.28. The part-day rate is $29.90. The 10 percent reduction to these rates will be to $43.45 and $26.91 respectively.
To further highlight the devastation of the 10 percent reductions to reimbursement rates, remember that California's 2020 minimum wage is $12.00 per hour. Although the child care providers and centers are mainly small businesses, it is important to have for a point of reference the minimum wage to compare how far behind California's existing child care providers fall behind in terms of a revenue stream that could be thought of as sustainable and livable. Actually, California's existing reimbursement rate levels contribute to an industry where the child care providers and early education teachers too qualify for low-income subsidies.
I know that there is fear out there and that the economy is struggling. However, to support our economy and to get people back to work, child care is needed. It is not a "nice to have", it is a MUST HAVE!
is a public non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Since it was incorporated in 1965, CAPMC has been making a positive difference in our county. CAPMC is committed to improving the social well-being and economic capacity of low to moderate-income individuals and families, as well as providing opportunities to achieve economic independence.
For the past five decades, CAPMC has been the voice and catalyst of empowerment and opportunity to the "at risk" and "invisible" population living in our communities.
NEW! In response to requests, the required CDE COVID-19 forms for essential workers have been translated into Spanish
COVID-19 twice Weekly Zoom Calls: Our commitment to you is to have scheduled at least once per week a call wherein we can all connect. As questions arise, forward them to CAPPA so that we can address them on these calls. Look for a weekly email to register. Recording and Q&A will also be posted on the Member's Only page.
Best Practices CAPPA has been working on Best Practices and policies to support you during this challenging time.
The CAPPA Board has made it a priority to support our field with a coordinated calendar to note upcoming statewide conferences, federal conferences of relevance, CDE and DSS stakeholder meetings and legislative and budget deadlines and hearings.
NOTE: If you would like to share your newsletter or items of interest with our field via the Monday morning e-Newsletter, then please email us a link. Please make sure that you have a link included to an online version or viewing.
Become a Monday
Morning
Update Partner!
Our Monday Morning Update supports our Early Learning & Child Care field with timely information about what is going on in California and nationally; as well as dates to be aware and upcoming events.
Our weekly (50 times per year) Monday morning distribution is to more than 4,000 federal and state local agencies, resource and referrals, contractors, legislators and their staffs', centers, parents, providers, state departments and advocates.
To help support the continuation of this resource and or advertise in the Monday Morning Update, click HERE.
You can also make a donation to CAPPA and CAPPA Children's Foundation
The Children's Foundation is a non-profit organization (501(c)3), Taxpayer Identification Number is 03-0521444. Your generous donation is tax deductible.
Operating a child care center was never a big money-maker in the best of times, but running one during a pandemic is basically like taking a bunch of money and setting it on fire.
Arlean Cole, who runs a child care center called Arlean's Little Treasures out of her home in Harvest, Alabama, says she's spending about $3,500 a month in overhead costs to stay open right now. She's only bringing in about half that amount in tuition.
Only six of her usual 12 kids are still attending, and they're only doing half-days. The ones coming in are the children of essential workers, and the rest are at home with parents who are teleworking and reluctant to send their kids to day care during a pandemic. Those parents are asking Cole to hold their spots, and they're not paying her.
Cole is down to just one employee, from her usual three. The 44-year-old mother of six children, who has been running her own day care for seven years, isn't sure how much longer she can stay in business.
"It's like I'm working for free," Cole told HuffPost. "I give myself two or three months. If it doesn't go back to what it was, I'll have to close down or drastically cut it to two or three kids."
She paused, then added, "I can't survive on that."
Public Participation Line: 1-877-692-8957 Access Code: 131 54 37
The public is encouraged to provide written testimony before the hearing. Please send your written testimony to:
BudgetSub2@asm.ca.gov.
Please note that any emails sent to that address are considered public comment.
NOTE: THIS COMMITTEE WILL TAKE WRITTEN AND VERBAL TESTIMONY ON THE PROPOSAL TO CUT FAMILY CHILD CARE AND CENTER RATES BY 10 PERCENT. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD.
An uplifting way to start the week, for those of us who need a break from the chaos that is our lives.
During this time where we are all stressed, it would be great to celebrate the positive. Each week we will celebrate
everyday heroes, inspiring movements and great things happening in our field.
Supporting the community one donation at a time!
Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) is distributing thousands of essential items on a weekly basis to parents and child care providers in Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties. On April 4th, Governor Newsom released an executive order recognizing child care providers as part of the essential workforce. Two weeks later, on April 18th, CCRC held its first distribution drive thru event for parents and child care providers in Northern Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Since then, CCRC has been hosting two distribution drive thru events EVERY WEEK! Read more:
Let us knowwhat your organization is doing, we would love to feature you in the coming weeks!
What's Happening
California
In the CAPPA Monday Morning Update, we will highlight a few of the bills identified as relevant to our field and/or to the families and children we serve. To see the more expansive listing of bills, click here where there are links to all of the bill along with factsheets and sample letters if available. If there is a piece of legislation that you would like to have noted for our field, please email.
Updated 5/6/2020 Tentative 2020 Legislative Calendar - subject to change
Senate
Assembly
Last day for policy committees to report fiscal bills to Appropriations (1st house)
May 29
May 22
Last day for policy committees to report nonfiscal bills to the floor (1st house)
June 5
May 29
Last day for Appropriations to report fiscal bills to the floor (1st house)
June 19
June 5
Last day for bills to pass the floor of the first house
June 26
June 19
Summer Recess
July 2 - July 13
June 19 - July 13
Last day for policy committees to report fiscal bills to Appropriations (2nd house)
July 31
(both houses)
Last day for policy committees to report nonfiscal bills to the floor (2nd house)
August 7
(both houses)
Last day for Appropriations to report fiscal bills to the floor (2nd house)
August 14
(both houses)
Last day for bills to pass the floor of the second house
Click here to see calendar of field events/interests and legislative hearings and deadlines. If you would like something added to the field calendar,
click here and submit details.
Legislative Spotlight: SB 1409 (Caballero)
2020-21 Federal Budget & Policy Updates
Federal
This week, House Democrats released their draft of the next COVID-19 stimulus package, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, known as the HEROES ACT. The package includes only $7 billion in additional funding for child care, allocated through CCDBG. According to a recent NWLC and CLASP analysis, this will not even be enough to stabilize the child care industry for one month. In the coming days it is crucial that you continue to reach out to your congressional delegations and your Hill contacts to demand more funding for child care so the industry can survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
The HEROES Act was passed by the House on Friday. The legislation will now move to the Senate, where a number of Republican senators already plan to oppose it.
Here are some other legislative proposals included in the HEROES Act:
$875 billion in fiscal relief for state and local governments
Establishing a $200 billion "heroes fund" for hazard pay for essential workers
Improving emergency paid leave by eliminating large and small employer exemptions, eliminating exclusions for health care providers and emergency responders, expanding qualifying uses for paid leave, and increasing wage replacement for caregiving leave
$850 million for "family care" for essential workers
Extension of UI benefits
Temporary boost in SNAP benefits, along with an increase in minimum benefit amount and suspension of SNAP work requirements
$100 billion in emergency rental assistance
12-month national moratorium on eviction filings for nonpayment of rent and expanded moratorium on foreclosures
Retroactive improvements to recovery rebates (including expanding eligibility to older dependents and immigrant families who file taxes without an SSN)
On Thursday, CNBC published an article detailing why the $7 billion in relief funding for the child care sector included in the HEROES Act will not be enough to stabilize the American child care system. The article, which includes perspectives from national child care advocates and local providers, outlines the need for at least $50 billion in immediate relief funding to keep the child care sector afloat throughout this crisis, and shows how the American child care system will not be able to weather the storm without it. To read and share the article, click here.
Below is the first page from a three page document. Read the full document from Zero to Three here.
Upcoming CAPPA Events
Network and CAPPA Joint Annual Conference 2020
September 16-18, 2020 DoubleTree Hotel Sacramento Sacramento, CA
We find ourselves in a surreal place in our lives - at work and at home. We never thought at the start of the year that this is where we'd find ourselves. And, while we don't know exactly where we'll be in September when the Joint Network/CAPPA Conference is scheduled, it is with hope and perseverance, that we are continuing on our mission to plan this year's conference. As the world evolves over the next few months, and we all strive to navigate the changing landscape, the plans for the Joint Conference will also move forward and evolve.
To be prepared in the event that we are all able to join together at the DoubleTree Hotel in Sacramento, September 16 - 18, 2020, we have decided to move forward as usual with the planning process for the Joint Network/CAPPA Conference.
Registration information, along with a preliminary conference program, will be released in July. At that time, online registration will be open and attendees will be able to indicate their workshop selections when they register for the conference.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDE Child Development and Nutrition Fiscal Services (CDNFS) Office would like to inform you that the following forms have been updated to allow for e-Signature. The e-Signature requires the use of Adobe Acrobat and is optional. Forms will still be accepted with a wet signature.
The purpose of this letter is to provide Alternative Payment Program (APP) contractors with information regarding the process to apply for contingency funds.
Pursuant to Education Code Section 8222.1, per the Budget Act of 2019, the CDE shall reallocate funds as necessary to reimburse APPs (excluding CalWORKs) for actual and allowable costs incurred for additional services. An APP may apply for reimbursement of up to three (3) percent of their contract amount, or for a greater amount subject to the discretion of the Department, based on availability of funds. Applications may be submitted as early as May 1, 2020, but no later than September 30, 2020. The CDE will approve or deny applications submitted pursuant to this section, but willnot consider applications received after September 30, 2020, of the current calendar year for additional costs incurred during the 2019-20 fiscal year.
The CDE will distribute reimbursement funds for each approved application within 90 days of receipt of the application if it was filed between May 1 and July 20 inclusive of the current calendar year. Applications received after July 20 are not subject to the 90-day requirement for the distribution of funds. If requests for reimbursement pursuant to this section exceed available funds, CDE will assign priority for reimbursement according to the order in which it receives the applications.
Funds received by an APP pursuant to this section that are not substantiated by the program's annual audit must be returned to CDE and are not subject to the appeal process.
The Contingency Fund Application, form CDFS 1571, is now available on the Internet at http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/cd/. Please note, this form cannot be submitted electronically and must be received by the CDE nolater than September 30, 2020.
If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact me at 916-324-6611, or email JClegg@cde.ca.gov.
Sincerely,
Jordan Clegg, Staff Services Manager I Child Development & Nutrition Fiscal Services Fiscal and Administrative Services Division
BY CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF CHILD CARE EMPLOYMENT (CSCCE) In an effort to understand the effects of COVID-19 on child care programs and early educators throughout California, the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) conducted a brief survey of licensed child care centers and licensed family child care programs in the state. More than 2,000 programs responded to this survey from April 13-30, 2020: 34 percent of survey respondents are centers, and 66 percent are family child care programs. Many of these programs remain open: 34 percent of centers indicated that they are currently open, and 72 percent of family child care programs are open.
The data presented in these briefs were collected from state child care licensing regulations that were in effect as of December 21, 2017, and from responses to the National Association for Regulatory Administration's 2017 survey of state licensing agencies from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
For Grandparents, Filling In for Child Care Can Be 'Wonderful and Exhausting'
By Dani Blum
When Reva Fishner's son sent her a video of his Brooklyn apartment, his place was utter chaos - furniture upended, the contents of the cabinets strewn on the floor. The source of the damage: her son's 3-year-old twins, who had been largely left to their own devices while their parents tried to work from home during the pandemic. After straining to juggle work and child care for about six weeks, her son and his family needed a lifeboat.
Fishner, 66, of Manhattan, who had recently recovered from coronavirus, was ready for the challenge; she and her husband moved into her sister's vacated house in New Jersey with her son, his wife and the grandkids in tow.
Before the pandemic, Fishner and her husband would pick their grandchildren up from school a few times each week. Now, they're providing more than 40 hours of care. "It's been so incredibly challenging for me," she said. "It's just all day. There are no breaks."
Click here to read full article via the New York Times
Schools, Homelessness, Health Care See Less Money In California Gov. Gavin Newsom's Revised Budget
Facing a landmark budget shortfall amid a historic pandemic that's left millions of Californians jobless and many more sheltering in their homes for weeks, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a fiscal path forward on Thursday with his annual "May Revise" budget.
It attempts to balance a projected $54 billion deficit, but schools, homelessess and health care will see less money for programs.
"Nothing breaks my heart more than budget cuts," said Newsom at a press conference. "There's a human being behind every single number."
Click here to read full article via Capitol Public Radio
An uplifting way to start the week, for those of us who need a break from the chaos that is our lives.
