Impasse is called a threat to children - The state schools chief says lack of a budget puts at risk child-care agencies and jobs.
The state budget impasse that has lingered for more than a month is holding up $1 billion in payments to California's 785 state-funded child-care agencies, putting at risk 500,000 low-income children who could lose services, state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said Tuesday.
O'Connell said thousands of licensed child-care programs served by the agencies are on the brink of closing, with many issuing IOUs to employees or taking out costly lines of credit that could mean future reductions in services. The ripple effect if programs cannot weather the budget delay could be devastating, he said, putting in jeopardy the jobs of parents who depend on child care as well as the state's 24,000 child-care workers.
"Many of the most vulnerable and helpless Californians are in fear of losing important services," O'Connell said during a news conference at the Emerson Children's Center in Burbank. "The programs provide developmentally appropriate instruction for students from the day they're born to 12 years old. The programs also provide meals, and for many children they are the most nutritious they will receive all day."
O'Connell accused Senate Republicans of refusing to agree to a balanced budget in a fit of gamesmanship over spending cuts that could have severe consequences for children and their families. Child-care providers are not the only ones at risk. The state Franchise Tax Board said Tuesday it was holding up 202,000 claims totaling more than $63 million in rental assistance to elderly, blind and disabled Californians pending passage of a budget.
But Senate minority leader Dick Ackerman (R-Irvine) countered that it was Democrats who refused to bring up an emergency spending measure introduced by Republicans last week that might have allowed funds to flow to critical state services, including child-care agencies.
"Our main goal is to get a balanced budget because we know next year's budget could be much worse than this year," Ackerman said. "It is the Democrats who are holding up funding, but we will continue to meet to get a resolution."
Democrats disagree. They say they have already made major spending concessions in a budget proposal that enjoyed bipartisan support in the Assembly. The Senate needs one more GOP vote to approve a spending plan by the required two-thirds majority.
