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AZ - Web site offers care-center information
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Tuesday, August 28 @ 09:06:45 EDT by kkurth
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The state unveiled a new Web site Monday that allows residents to read inspection reports and other care data on Arizona child-care centers, assisted-living facilities and nursing homes.
The Web site - www. AZCareCheck.com - was created in response to a January executive order by Gov. Janet Napolitano. The site allows users to:
• Search for licensed nursing homes, assisted living facilities and child-care centers.
• Peruse inspection reports and complaint investigations, as well as view recent enforcement actions taken by the state Department of Health Services.
• View quality ratings for nursing homes across Arizona.
By putting the information online, it is hoped that DHS staff will have more time to respond to care complaints. DHS Director Sue Gerard noted that AZCareCheck.com is a good starting point when shopping for a nursing home or child-care facility, but no substitute for an in-person visit.
"Choosing quality care for your loved one is one of the biggest decisions people face," she said in a statement. "This Web site gives quick access to critical information people need to make informed decisions."
Full text available at the Arizona Republic
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MD - Child care workers to vote
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Monday, August 27 @ 12:16:50 EDT by kkurth
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The state of Maryland certified an election this week that could give collective bargaining rights to thousands of its child care workers.
A mail-in election on whether child care employees whose salaries are subsidized by the state can join a union will be conducted next month, said Merle Cuttitta, president of Service Employees International Union Local 500. The local, based in Gaithersburg, represents some 10,000 workers in education, government and community services throughout Maryland and Washington, D.C.
The issue is opposed by some advocacy organizations such as the Maryland State Family Child Care Association, which says it has represented child care providers since 1983.
The service employees union wants to represent the workers because their union dues could be paid directly by the state, the child care association said in a statement.
‘‘While SEIU has been working to get legislation to be able to collect dues from providers, the rest of the child care advocacy community has been working to get providers the rate increase that will be effective October 1, 2007,” the statement says. ‘‘We need higher rates in Maryland, but we can get them without SEIU, and when we do get the increases, providers will get to keep 100 percent of them.”
The union can work more effectively to increase pay and improve benefits for child care workers, who are ‘‘extremely dedicated people,” Cuttitta said. ‘‘This is about elevating their position,” she said.
The pay for child care employees ‘‘generally is very low,” and benefits ‘‘are minimal for most child care workers,” according to a U.S. Department of Labor report. The median hourly pay of child care workers in Maryland was $9.74 in 2006, more than the national average of $8.48, according to federal figures.
The wage for Maryland child care workers was about 58 percent of the median hourly wage of all occupations in the state, which was $16.74. Child care employees in elementary and secondary schools averaged more at $10.07, compared with $8.23 for those employed at private day care centers. Those in Montgomery and Frederick counties also make more than Baltimore workers.
Thousands of workersare eligible to vote
The union is not sure how many child care workers will be eligible to vote in next month’s election, but it provided about 2,300 child care providers’ authorization cards to the state in applying for certification of its election petition, Cuttitta said. The state Department of Education has an eligibility list of 5,866 names, while a report by the Maryland Committee for Children said there were 7,345 providers who care for children whose care is state subsidized.
There are 10,560 registered child care providers in Maryland, according to a state report in March.
Employees with Maryland’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation and the American Arbitration Association, a District organization, verified that all but 19 of the people on the cards were on the state list, for a total of 39 percent of the names on the state list.
That was more than the 30 percent needed, as stated in an executive order signed earlier this month by Gov. Martin O’Malley that paved the way for the election.
In the order, O’Malley (D) said ‘‘there is a need to stabilize the family child care workforce.” But he said the order was not meant to grant workers the right to strike.
Full text available at Gazette.net
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NJ - NORWESCAP introduces ‘Together 4 Quality’ accredidation program child care
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Monday, August 27 @ 12:01:46 EDT by kkurth
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NORWESCAP Child and Family Resource Services, the local child care resource and referral agency for Hunterdon, Sussex and Warren Counties, is prepared to introduce “Together 4 Quality,” an accreditation project.
The purpose of this new project is to enhance the quality of center based care and registered family child care in northwest New Jersey.
“Research proves that quality early care and education experiences have an impact on children’s later school success,” states Antonette Franklin, staff member at Child and Family Resource Services.
“NORWESCAP Child and Family Resource Services has partnered with nineteen child care programs to increase the number of accredited child care programs available for children and families,” adds Sharon Giacchino, director.
“Each child care program will select a State approved national accreditation to pursue.”
Currently in Sussex County, there are four accredited child care programs. “Together 4 Quality” will increase that number to eleven.
NORWESCAP Child and Family Resource Services’ team of child care specialists and child care health consultants will conduct several research based rating scales to gather information on program services and assist each child care program in developing a quality improvement plan.
Through free on-site technical assistance and training, NORWESCAP staff will work with programs to navigate accreditation standards, as well as implement policy and environmental changes that affect the quality of services offered to children and families.
The child care programs selected to participate in the project in Sussex County are Blessed Beginnings Preschool and Kindergarten; Great Beginnings Early Childhood Learning Center; Rainbows of Learning; Family Child Care Provider- Jacqueline Schmitt; Smart Start Too; and the Sussex County YMCA After School Program.
At a recent project kick-off celebration, directors and key staff members participated in accreditation training. Representatives from both the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the National Early Childhood Program Accreditation were present to give overviews of their quality standards.
During the day’s events, directors shared their thought about “Together 4 Quality” and accreditation.
“Accreditation is a visible way to validate our hard work and high standards,” according to Karen Rothstadt, director of Great Beginnings Early Childhood Learning Center in Hardyston.
“The staff at NORWESCAP CFRS has been a very positive professional influence to the school. Their proactive attitudes and support will surely be a tremendous help.”
When asked how accreditation will impact Great Beginnings, Rothstadt responds, “Our families are very supportive and accreditation will help us further unify our goals with the parents.”
Full text available at Straus Newspapers
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NY - Schools offering child care centers
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Monday, August 27 @ 10:18:13 EDT by kkurth
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At West Side High School, kids sprawled on the floor as an African music CD played. A few jokesters had their peers in stitches.
The fun in one corner ended, however, when a stranger's greeting set off a fountain of tears from one diaper-clad youngster.
West Side is one of 40 New York high schools that house a day care center. It serves the babies and toddlers of students - teenage parents who are trying to stay on track and raise little ones.
Danielle Ford said the center allows her to stick with her studies while she brings up Nazaiah, a brown-eyed toddler with a killer smile.
"I have nobody else to watch him for me," she said as she watched her son dance in circles. "He has fun here. If he was home with me, he wouldn't get to play with kids his age."
Many urban school districts have day care centers attached to some schools. In Washington, D.C., five schools have day care facilities, including Bell Multicultural, a bustling high school that serves about 800 students.
Doris Briones credits Bell's day care center with allowing her to graduate last spring. She is now enrolled in a college-prep program.
"When I got pregnant, I was really depressed. I thought that everything was gone already for me," she said. "This day care center helped me through four years of school. By taking care of my child and letting me have the opportunity to study, here I am."
Bell's principal, Maria Tukeva, decided to add the center to the school a few years ago. First, she had to overcome her fear that providing free day care - just off the main corridor, for everybody to see - might make parenting look desirable or easy. To counter that message, she asks the teenage moms to participate in a pregnancy prevention program.
"We have the teen mothers speak to other young ladies to let them know it may look really cute and fun, but it's really not that easy. That's part of the way they give back to the school," Tukeva said.
About 80 day care centers attached to public schools have gone through the rigorous process of earning accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young People. Two are in Vista, Calif., outside San Diego.
Susie Bristow, director of the district's teen-parent program, says the day care workers spend a lot of time teaching mothers the basics of child care. "They're good mammas, but they are babies having babies," Bristow said.
She says pregnant girls often have to be prodded to stay in school, even with the availability of day care. "We do a really good job of going to their houses and getting them off their sofa," Bristow said.
One in four girls who drop out of school does so because she is pregnant or a parent, according to a survey by the nonprofit Gates Foundation. Very few boys who drop out cite that reason.
Studies indicate that when teenage parents go on to earn high-school degrees, the odds increase that their children will finish school.
Research shows children of teenage mothers lag behind other children when it comes to school readiness, language development and communication and interpersonal skills. But studies also show that providing disadvantaged children with high-quality preschool can narrow those differences.
It is 3- and 4-year-olds who attend child care centers attached to public schools in Philadelphia.
Felecia Ward, a spokeswoman for the school district, said there used to be more than a dozen centers for infants at Philadelphia schools. They were underused, she said, and all closed two years ago.
The day care centers attached to New York City's schools also are underused, says Cami Anderson, superintendent of the city's alternative high school and programs.
Teenage pregnancy rates have declined since the early 1990s. Yet an estimated 400,000 teenagers still give birth each year.
In New York City, about 7,000 girls in the school system are either pregnant or are parents. About 500 use the day care centers attached to schools.
The district is conducting a review of the centers to see if improvements are needed and to determine whether the centers are in the right locations and publicized enough.
Full text available at the Charlotte Observer
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CA - Program encourages education for child-care workers
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Friday, August 24 @ 08:55:58 EDT by kkurth
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Debbie Blumenthal credits a little-known stipend program for child-care professionals with helping her get through college.
The preschool director of Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks earned a bachelor's degree in childhood development earlier this year.
"It's been such a great program for me personally," Blumenthal said of the Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Educational Standards (CARES) Project.
The program, sponsored by First 5 Ventura County, pays childcare workers for taking college courses in early childhood development on their way to obtaining a child development permit or bachelor's degree.
Officials for the program said more than 200 people from homeor centerbased facilities throughout the county received a stipend ranging from $600 to $1,200 for college courses this year.
Research shows that a teacher's qualifications are important indicators of how well students perform in school, so helping people get more education helps students, said Jennifer Johnson, director of operations at First 5 Ventura County.
In addition, the stipend is an incentive for workers to improve their education in the child-care field, she said.
Last year, the first year of the three-year program, three people earned an associate degree and six a bachelor's degree, she said. Results for the 2006-07 school year are still being calculated but are expected next month, Johnson said.
The program is entering its final year, and it's too early to know if the state commission, First 5 California, will continue the program beyond 2008, Johnson said. Blumenthal's success with college and the program may have inspired others to sign up.
She said about eight people on her staff now participate in the project and attend college.
Full text available at the Acorn
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CA - State budget deadlock is over
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Wednesday, August 22 @ 09:06:28 EDT by kkurth
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After Republicans lifted a one-vote blockade, the Senate sent the governor a $145 billion budget yesterday that ends a 52-day deadlock and allows the state to pay nearly $3 billion in bills.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the budget late tomorrow or Friday. The state is scrambling to begin making payments to health care providers and others hit by the delay.
Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, R-Tustin, provided the key vote for a budget supported by the Republican governor and Democrats that passed the Assembly on July 20 with bipartisan backing but was blocked by Senate Republicans.
Senate Republicans, claiming victory, said they obtained a promise of $700 million in spending vetoes by the governor and prevented environmental lawsuits from tying up bond-funded transportation and levee projects.
“This is a responsible budget, but it is not a perfect budget,” Ackerman said in a statement. “Even with the governor's promise to veto hundreds of millions of dollars, California is facing a multimillion dollar deficit next year.”
Democrats said the governor agreed to make the spending vetoes weeks earlier and that the legislation against environmental lawsuits is insignificant. Though Democrats have majorities in both the Assembly and Senate, a handful of Republican votes were needed because a two-thirds vote of the Legislature is required to pass a budget.
Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata, D-Oakland, said the main result of the Republican holdout was harm to those who depend on government services unfunded because there was no budget.
“Who in their right mind would let children or disabled people suffer?” Perata asked. “And who would do that if they didn't have to – and for what? What greater good was served here today?”
Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, mentioned news reports of the harm caused when state payments were withheld from nursing homes, homes for the developmentally disabled, child care centers and others.
Full text available at The Union Tribune
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FL - Manatee considers stricter child care rules
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Tuesday, August 21 @ 10:00:48 EDT by kkurth
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About 100 at-home day care centers throughout Manatee have long been among the least regulated in the state.
Now, the County Commission is considering a resolution that would force these facilities to become state licensed, a designation requiring stricter staff training and regular inspections.
"It's just a good thing for the community," said Brian Murphy, chairman of the Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County. "It's for the safety of the children. At least they will have someone looking in."
Private day care centers are either "registered" or licensed. Registered facilities must adhere to state child-care regulations, but are inspected only when state officials receive a complaint. About 500 children throughout the county attend registered day care centers.
Licensed centers require more staff training. The state Department of Children and Families inspects them at least twice a year. More than 100 Manatee day care centers are licensed.
The Early Learning Coalition has been pushing for the measure since this spring. The group's efforts were driven in part by the May 2006 drowning of an 18-month-old boy at a registered, but not licensed, Manatee day care center.
Commissioners will consider the proposal at their regular meeting Tuesday.
Home day care facilities may supervise a maximum of 10 children at any given time.
Sarasota County already requires at-home day care facilities to be licensed. Charlotte County does not.
The proposed regulations would not apply to family baby sitters. Rather, the state defines day care centers as settings where two or more unrelated children are regularly supervised in exchange for money.
Full text available at the Herald Tribune
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TX - Program focuses on child care
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Tuesday, August 21 @ 09:39:45 EDT by kkurth
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Eighteen children in Texas died last year in unregulated child care, according to a report from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
That’s in addition to 10 in 2005 and eight in 2004.
The state agency urges parents to do their homework before placing children in daycare.
A “Don’t Be in the Dark About Child Care” campaign kicks off for the second year this week, according to a statement released by the department.
The Child Care Licensing division urges parents to “choose legal, regulated child care and do some homework before putting their children in someone else’s hands.”
The goal of the campaign is to educate parents about the dangers of illegal child care and to encourage unlicensed operators to step into the light, get inspected and get licensed.
“Unfortunately, more and more child care operations are going underground,” DFPSD Assistant Commissioner for Child Care Licensing Diana Spiser said.
“Illegal operations may seem attractive,” she noted. “They may be less expensive, but there are no checks and balances to protect children.”
By contrast, she said licensed day care must adhere to state health and safety standards and undergo periodic inspections.
Parents can check an online DFPS database — www.txchildcaresearch.org — to make sure a center or home is legal and to research its record. Those without Internet access can call 1-888-TX-CHILD for assistance.
Child Care Licensing also is sending letters to public libraries and daycare centers urging staff to get the word out.
Full text available at The Paris News
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CA - Lakeport area NCO providers hold breath on budget
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Tuesday, August 21 @ 09:33:54 EDT by kkurth
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A letter sent out to local child care providers by North Coast Opportunities (NCO) says that 250,000 kids statewide are impacted by the fact that the state's budget is as yet unsigned, meaning providers will have to wait for their July checks.
The state's fiscal year ended June 30, putting the delay at 51 days. According to NCO, 1,699 kids would be affected throughout Lake and Mendocino counties.
Spokesman for State Senator Pat Wiggins' office David Miller told the Record-Bee Monday morning that Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman announced earlier that day that a "tentative deal has been struck." The Assembly was expected to reconvene early Monday evening to discuss the budget, but Miller noted at late announcement that it would remain in recess until 8:30 p.m.
In a recent opinion-editorial piece published in the Record-Bee, Wiggins noted that "Senate Republicans are damanding another $700 million cuts beyond what has been on the table," and notes that the budget has the support of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and failed an early August vote in the Senate by only one vote.
Local provider Cambria Adams said she'd called 15 legislators Monday to push the issue. "Homes are starting to go into foreclosure," said Adams, relating what she knew from talking to other day care providers. Of those in Lake County, she estimated that 80 to 90 percent rely on childcare as their only income or receive state funding through NCO.
Joann Matz, NCO's resource and referral specialist for the Northshore, explained that NCO provides a state subsidies for parents with low incomes or who are on CalWorks, a welfare-to-work program for cash aid recipients. "Without a budget we can't pay the providers who are caring for these children," said Matz. She said a Monday memo said July's payment would be split in half, which local providers told the Record-Bee has been happening for the past few months.
Tina Thompson of Thompson's Teddy Bear Den explained that in general, NCO pays its providers a month behind.
"We haven't received anything for July," said Thompson. "And we will not until the budget is final. That's the policy," she said, addidng that in the eight years she's been a provider, this is only the second time she's seen NCO's funds frozen because of the state's late budget.
And while NCO notes most providers have "continued to provide your valuable service to subsidized families throughout this crisis," Adams noted that it hasn't been easy.
Full text available at the Lake County Record Bee
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IL - Budget blues hit child care?
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Friday, August 17 @ 09:52:52 EDT by kkurth
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Flora Sweeney has worked in child day care in West Dundee for 25 years and estimates she was underfunded by the state in 20 of those years.
Now, having received her government check a few days late and wondering -- as much as or more than anyone in Springfield -- what exactly Gov. Rod Blagojevich is going to do next, Sweeney says she's had enough.
Sweeney owns Early Education Station on Willow Lane, which is funded mostly with state dollars. As per a court order, state paychecks are being delivered, but the budget crisis has prevented other state dollars -- like those that go to Education Station -- from leaving Springfield. With the ongoing impasse and increasing gaps between the subsidies paid per child and costs incurred per child, Sweeney said she's becoming more concerned.
For example, the average day-care rate for a 2-year-old averages out to $42 per day at Education Station, with the state paying about $32 of the cost. For a 3-year-old, the average rate is $37 per day, with about $26 coming from the state.
Legally, she could charge more, but most of her client parents are receiving subsidies themselves and could not afford to pay higher rates, Sweeney said. With 20 employees on the payroll, it's imperative that she receive monthly government checks on time, she said.
Full text available at the Courier News
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VA - Kaine's preschool expansion to include private, religious centers
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Friday, August 17 @ 09:28:52 EDT by kkurth
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An expansion of preschool could accommodate an additional 17,000 low-income 4-year-olds within five years, partly through state reimbursements to church-run and private early childhood programs, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Thursday.
The state would pay about $75 million more a year to expand Head Start and other pre-kindergarten programs that now cost the state about $50 million annually.
Kaine's program, which he calls "Start Strong," would expand enrollment by broadening eligibility from children of families with annual incomes of $26,845 or less to include the working poor, with incomes of up to $38,203 a year.
Enrollment for children and participation in the program by either public, nonprofit, religious or private child-care providers would be voluntary, Kaine said.
Providers, whether public schools, churches or day care provided either in private businesses or in people's homes, would have to meet instructional quality standards that have not yet been developed, he said.
"The experience of a year of research and review of other states and international models has convinced us to take advantage of the network we already have rather than scrap it and start from scratch," Kaine told reporters after briefing a lunch crowd of educators, lobbyists and business leaders who filled a hotel ballroom.
The state will reimburse religious and private firms for every pupil who is part of the state-backed program. Kaine dismissed any similarity to the contentious idea of tax-supported "vouchers" that defray the education costs for parents who prefer private schools to public ones for their children.
"I am a big fan of K-12 education publicly funded and not vouchers or tuition tax credits," Kaine said. But to expand preschool using only public schools, the cost would run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, a nonstarter with the state facing a $300 million budget shortfall.
"I think that just as in college education there is a very diverse network of public and private institutions and the private institutions receive public support from TAG (tuition assistance) grants that support kids that go to in-state private schools," he said. "The expansion of this diverse network for pre-K education makes a lot of sense but it doesn't affect what I think is the appropriate organizational model for K-12."
Reaction from legislative Republicans was guarded.
G. Paul Nardo, the top aide to House Speaker William J. Howell, said it was too early and there were too few details available to fairly judge it.
"It's so scaled back. It's a shadow of itself," Nardo said. "It's clear he was listening to us."
As a candidate two years ago, Kaine envisioned a universal pre-kindergarten initiative that would have entitled every Virginia 4-year-old to free public preschool, regardless of whether the child's family is wealthy or impoverished.
Full text available at the Washington Examiner
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IL - Budget crisis delays child-care checks
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Thursday, August 16 @ 10:56:31 EDT by kkurth
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While the governor and Legislature dicker on a new state budget, there are some 70,000 families in Illinois that rely on the child-care assistance program funded by the state.
Nicole Hernandez, 27, is a Zion day-care provider for the program, and she watches three kids for a woman who is attending school and works part time. Hernandez hasn't been paid for July yet, and she is worried that the August paycheck might be held hostage by the budget crisis.
"They said the July check was delayed because of a computer error," she said.
Hernandez is wondering whether she should continue providing the service if they are not going to get paid. "They would have to go back on welfare if they don't have someone to watch their kids," she said.
Thomas Green, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Human Services, said a technical problem is delaying the July checks for day-care providers, but he was not worried that the current budget stalemate was going to jeopardize the program or the 130,000 children across the state who are served by it.
Child Care provides low-income, working families with access to quality, affordable child care that allows them to continue working.
Families are required to cost-share on a sliding scale that takes into account family size, income and number of children in care. Families that are eligible make 50 percent of the state median incomes or less. As an example, Green said a family with two children making $20,000 would qualify.
"The program is to help people work and become self-sufficient," he said. The program increased dramatically with welfare reform in 1997.
Full text available at the Lake County News Sun
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CA - Budget pinch puts the squeeze on kids
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Thursday, August 16 @ 10:51:38 EDT by kkurth
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Teacher Marta Cueva dipped into her wallet this week to buy fabric for costumes that her young students will wear when they perform Mexican folk dances at her Berkeley school's end-of-summer show.
Their school, the Bay Area Hispano Institute for Advancement, normally would have paid for the costumes. But, like scores of other private, publicly funded children's programs in the Bay Area and across California, it hasn't received state funds since July 1 and is struggling to meet expenses as a result of the Legislature's budget standoff, which is in its seventh week.
"They are holding a lot of children, families and seniors hostage," school Director Beatriz Leyva-Cutler said of state legislators. "It should be the biggest thing everyone's talking about -- not Barry Bonds' home run record."
Leyva-Cutler, facing $15,000 in unpaid bills, got an increase in the center's line of credit and is taking out a second loan on the property so she can pay Cueva and other teachers. And parents are helping the school, known as BAHIA, by donating food for its 145 students, most of whom come from poor families. One family offered homegrown plums, while another gave meat for lunch.
Across California, many of the 785 facilities providing care for more than 500,000 poor children could have to cut services or even close unless a budget is approved soon, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said. Last month, the state withheld nearly $300 million from state-funded child care centers for lack of a spending plan for the current fiscal year.
Republican leaders in the state Senate have refused to vote on the proposed $145 billion budget until concessions are made. The Assembly approved the current version in mid-July and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed it. Formal budget negotiations are expected to resume Monday.
"We desperately need to have a state budget in order to keep our state-funded child care programs up and running," O'Connell said during a recent visit to a state-funded child care center in Sacramento.
Dozens of state-funded child care centers in the Bay Area increasingly are feeling the pinch.
In San Mateo, Bay Shore Child Care Services is using a line of credit to pay its 50 employees and keep five centers open to care for 300 children, Executive Director Ann Sims said.
"It's a lot of worry to think about your staff and children," said Sims, who estimated that the state will owe the center $300,000 by the end of this month. "I don't want my staff or my parents to panic. ... We're sort of hanging on, but there's a limit to how long we can go."
In San Francisco, a nonprofit group called the Low Income Investment Fund aims to pool resources with the city to provide emergency no-interest loans to some of the 135 public and private child care centers.
The city's oldest child care center, Holy Family Day Home, plans to apply for a loan if needed to keep serving homeless children, Executive Director Donna Cahill said. She estimated that most of the city's child care centers probably have less than a month's worth of reserves in the bank.
In Berkeley, the BAHIA program has enough cash to pay its teachers for a few more weeks.
Cueva has not been reimbursed for money she spent last month to buy groceries for the children's breakfast, lunch and snacks. But she's more worried about her paycheck.
"If I don't get paid, I will not meet my mortgage," she said this week. "I'll have problems with my credit. It took me 20 years to buy a house. It's really scary."
The nonprofit preschool and elementary-age programs help Spanish-speaking children from immigrant families transition into an English-speaking nation while maintaining their native language and culture. It also has attracted English-speaking parents who want to give their children early immersion in Spanish.
"It is a critical community resource for families who want their children to learn Spanish and have a better sense of Latino culture," said Argentine-born Alina Salganicoff, who heads the school's parent advisory council and has two children in the program. "There's an incredible demand, a waiting list of over 100. They've tried to look at how to expand, but that's tough, especially in a situation like this when you're not sure you can even meet your payroll."
The school has tried to shelter its poor families from the financial crisis, asking full-paying parents who can afford it to pay their tuition a few months in advance, Salganicoff said.
"The kids come first, so we're trying to rally as much as possible," she said. "A lot of child care providers are very exposed: The money's not there but the kids still are and the parents still have to work. And if the schools borrow money with interest, it's going to cost them more."
Full text available at the San Francisco Chronicale
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CA - Local child-care center copes with impasse
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Tuesday, August 14 @ 12:11:50 EDT by kkurth
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Borrowing on credit and scrambling for money isn't how Peter Ryce usually pays his employees.
But Ryce, program director of Beginnings, Briceland's child-care center, has no other choice.
"We're a child-care center and funded by the state -- without a budget, there's no funding," he said. "Because payroll goes on ... there's no way we can pay them."
The state budget impasse, which has lasted more than a month, is holding up $1 billion in payments to California's 785 state-funded child-care agencies, impeding their ability to operate soundly, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said in a press release.
"The budget stalemate has gone on far too long," he said Tuesday. "The Senate Republican's refusal to agree to a balanced budget is having an impact on the 500,000 children who receive state-funded child-care services."
Because the California Department of Education can't pay early care and education programs until a signed contract is enacted, many agencies are finding themselves in a bind.
"Although agencies with CDE contracts are encouraged to have a reserve, it is difficult for agencies to manage the fiscal burden of operating a program over an extended period of time with no income to cover costs," the release said. "The impact is particularly acute for child development agencies that have a signed contract for 2007-08, because while the CDE has prepared the first payment for these agencies, checks can not be prepared until the budget is signed."
Changing Tides Family Services Executive Director Carol Hill said though the agency doesn't depend entirely on state funds, the impasse has forced it to rely on credit to pay some July and August wages.
"And after that, we don't know," she said. "Hopefully there will be a budget by then."
Full text available at the Times-Standard
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ID - Idaho must repay feds $1.18 million meant for poor families
Submitted by kkurth. Posted on Tuesday, August 14 @ 09:07:57 EDT by kkurth
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The federal government wants back $1.18 million in money for poor families that Idaho spent on a poison control hot line and vaccination registry.
A spokesman for Gov. Butch Otter said the penalty shows the governor has been right to scrutinize how Idaho spends Temporary Assistance for Needy Families dollars intended for poor people.
"There are red flags flapping now," said Jon Hanian, the governor's spokesman. "I think it underscores the concern the governor raised about the potential misuse of TANF (money)."
Idaho misused $1.18 million of the federal funds for poor families, the federal Department of Health and Human Services wrote in a July 26 letter to Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Richard Armstrong.
Most of the money, $1.08 million, went to the Immunization Registry Information System, which tracks children's immunization records.
In May, Otter was widely criticized for considering cuts to Head Start and for eliminating the Parents As Teachers program and the Governor's Coordinating Council for Families and Children - each paid for by the same federal dollars that paid for the two programs for which the state is being penalized.
Otter inherited the questionable funding schemes in programs that arose from former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne's "Generation of the Child" initiative, Hanian said.
"From our perspective, this (penalty) is precisely the concern that I think the governor voiced when he took action to curtail that funding stream for the Parents as Teachers program," Hanian said.
The state can either pay back the money, appeal or negotiate a compromise, according to the letter.
Thomas Shanahan, Health and Welfare spokesman, said the agency does not dispute the misuse of funds. Federal guidelines require the money to go to low-income families. But such families aren't the only ones who benefit from the poison control hot line or immunization registry, he said.
"The feds said these things are open to all populations," Shanahan said. "It's open to everyone, so it's not eligible to be used for TANF dollars - and they were right."
But the state never tried to hide how it was spending the money.
"The thing is, we let them know what we're doing every year," Shanahan said.
So Health and Welfare officials are trying to persuade federal officials to back off the demand for repayment.
"We're saying, 'We kept you informed, and you are probably right. We kept you really well-informed of everything, and we stopped when you told us to.'"
As of July 1, the programs have been funded by a supplemental state appropriation the Legislature passed this year. After fielding the federal questions about the spending in January, Health and Welfare made sure the money would be available if the federal dollars were taken away, Shanahan said.
Full text available at the Idaho Statesman
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