Stop Gov. Davis Stage 3 Budget Cuts

On Friday, December 6th 2002, Governor Davis announced his intention to cut all child care CalWORKs Stage 3 funding effective April 1st, 2003. This, he says, is part of his plan to meet the fiscal deficit currently being faced by the State of California. My daycare is funded by Children’s Home Society of California (CHS). In this agency alone, 775 families and 1,471 children receiving Stage 3 child care in the Greater Long Beach area will loose their funding. Many of us will have no alternative but to be placed on a waiting list of over 5,717 families to receive child care benefits. I am a single mother of 2 and I will be forced to have to come up with an additional income of $700 a month. I know there is no way I could do that. Without daycare I would be forced to quit my job and return to welfare. This would be particularly hard on me because I was diagnosed July 2002 with Multiple Sclerosis. Losing my job would mean losing my health care and Medi-Cal does not cover the medications I need to live a normal life.

Nearly one out of ten 2001 California wage earners (9.1 percent) earned less than the full-time hourly wage equivalent needed to move a family of three out of poverty, up from 7.7 percent in 1989. Two-thirds (67.8 percent) of California workers earn less than the amount needed by a single parent to support a family of three $43,000 per year ($20.89 per hour). And 38.6 percent earn less than the amount needed by a family of four supported by two full-time workers ($12.51 per hour). Over 1.5 million Californians worked at, or near, the minimum wage of $6.25 per hour in 2001. As stated by Jean Ross, Executive Director of the California Budget Project (CBP).
These figures are based on the California Budget Project’s basic family budget as described in ‘Making Ends Meet: How Much Does It Cost To Raise A Family In California?’ (Sept. 2001)

The families on Stage 3 do not make enough money to pay for daycare. I personally only make $24,356 a year, a far cry from what is estimated. Many of us will be forced to leave our jobs and return to welfare, something I am extremely upset about. I have a great job and am very happy with my company, but I will have no choice but to leave for I have no other way to pay for daycare. In today’s lagging economy where jobs are scarce there is no way I could find a job that pays $20 an hour.

The 775 families being affected are those that have successfully transitioned from welfare to entry-level positions, most of which pay only minimum wage. While taking the first steps towards self-sufficiency and respect, these families are not making enough money to pay for childcare that typically costs $125.00 a week per child. Stage 3 funding was designed to help these parents for as long as it took for them to reach financial self-sufficiency and therefore, did not have any time limits.

In 1999 ten percent of school-age children primarily cared for themselves or spent time alone with siblings younger than age 13 while their parents were employed. Programs like CalWORKs and agencies like CHS helped provide daycare so California’s children are cared for. Without CalWORKs or CHS many families will have to resort to leaving their children home alone, unsafe, or on the streets. Because this is not an option for most parents we will be forced back onto welfare.

CalWORKs Stage 3 provides subsidized child care to families that have left cash assistance and have exhausted their two-year, post-CalWORKs child care entitlement. Not being able to go back on cash aid will leave California with even more families homeless. Families with young children have become the fastest-growing segment of the population now living on the streets. Families with youngsters represent at least one-third of the homeless population. In 1991, 34 percent of the homeless were families with children, that number has continued to grow and will increase with the loss of daycare which will result in the loss of jobs because the parents no longer have adequate daycare.

In 2001 alone, CHS provided over 18,600 requests for child care. Through these programs, in fiscal year 2002, CHS provided services to over 24,000 children and over 13,000 families. In all, more than 4,098,300 days of care were provided to children across California.

I recognize that the state must find ways to curtail spending, but I hope that solutions can be found that guarantee a safe, healthy and appropriate environment for all children, before it’s too late. Once families get as far as being homeless it’s even harder to get back on their feet. Not to mention the effects this will have on our children.

I BEG YOU AS A MOTHER, PLEASE HELP FIND AN ALTERNATIVE BESIDES CUTTING DAYCARE.