"Children Learning, Parents Earning, Communities Growing"
May 16, 2022 | Issue #20
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2022-23 May Revision Kicks the "Child Care" Can Down the Road for One More Year

The release on Friday of the Governor's May Revision at least in regard to subsidized child care, was filled with many missed opportunities, an incomplete understanding of the needs of real working families and lack of a longer term realistic strategy for this field.

For the last year, working parents, family child care providers and center businesses as well as community partners have united in the ask of higher reimbursement rates for subsidized child care professional providers, a waiver of family fees and a single static fair and equitable voucher type for all income eligible families. Also on the radar was building more child care capacity for working families to access as well as pushing for a meaningful mixed delivery system for our earliest learners that does not pit the real needs of working families against schools that operate with shorter hours or of the private child care businesses against the behemoth K-12 system.

In response to how the May Revision prioritized the real needs of working families to access schooling and care options in hours that more accurately capture real needs such as early morning, evening, weekend and year-round care, it was silent. However, it was clear of the preference of Governor Newsom to fund K-12 at the expense of private child care businesses by proposing to increase the state TK-12 funding per student to approximately $17,000 in 2022-23 up from $14,174. TK-12 would also receive an additional $8.3 billion more than proposed in January. So this is a heavy increase at a time when statewide, the net enrollment in K-12 publicly funded schools fell by 2.6 percent, or 160,000 students from the previous year. As an outsider watching this, one can only conclude that the Governor wants to build up the numbers lost in the K-12 system at any cost, regardless of the capacity or understanding of the needs of 3 and 4 year old learners, and willing to shutter thousands of family child care homes and centers.

The May Revision proposes to extend the sunset date on the waiver of subsidized child care family fees and use of a single voucher for all income eligible families. Although pleased at this, it is concerning that for another 12-months, struggling low-income families, mainly single mom head-of-household families will have this threat looming over them. That in a year from now they will be forced to make the decision to either pay family fees or quit their jobs. Pay family fees or to hear the cries of their children due to hunger. Pay family fees or risk homelessness.

The May Revision allowed for a one-year reprieve for families who have unstable work hours but that were able to secure stable child care in a quality setting and have that care reimbursed. Before the pandemic, families that worked in the fields, needed flexibility in their hours to care for a sick family member or had a job that did not provide them stable consistent hours, well then their children paid the price by receiving child care from a provider where the promise of reimbursement could be guaranteed.

However, during the pandemic, Governor Newsom recognized this inequity and instituted via an Executive Order that any family child care provider or center that accepted a child care voucher for care would be reimbursed a set amount valuing the cost for the "slot" held for the child. During the pandemic, Governor Newsom recognized that all parents deserved to have a voucher that allowed fair and equitable access to any child care provider regardless of the parents work scheduled. Further, the Governor recognized that child care businesses deserved to be reimbursed for the cost of holding a "slot" for a child just as in the private pay market.

Therefore, it was concerning in the May Revision for Governor Newsom to say that the very lowest income families will be given a one-year reprieve on paying family fees. That families with unstable work hours will be given a one-year reprieve on being able to access high quality stable child care in parity with other subsidized families. However, come July 1, 2023, these two policies will cease and California's poorest of working families will be pushed further down in poverty and their children denied fair and equitable access to wonderful child care settings better able to prepare them for a lifetime of learning.

It is concerning that when the Governor is now projecting nearly $55 billion in higher revenue for California, when he is overfunding nearly every other area in the state budget and creating many new programs, that he continues to penalize poor families and children in this way. The struggle must still continue to inform this Governor and his Administration that funding child care and supporting equitable and fair access for all families to a well-resourced field is not a drain on an economy but it the backbone of a healthy and thriving economy.