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|  | News Items Posted On: March 27, 2006
Showing stories 1 - 3 of 3.
IA - Child care providers oppose cuts
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Monday, March 27 @ 10:29:32 EST by emohan
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Several child-care providers in the Iowa Quad-Cities rallied Thursday to protest what they said are cuts in federal child-care assistance that would create burdens for working parents and harm the educational and social development of their children.
Joined by representatives of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, they urged Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, to vote against President Bush’s budget proposal that they said would reduce child-care funding “in order to give new handouts and tax breaks to big business and corporate lobbyists.”
With playground equipment at Davenport’s Marquette Park as the backdrop, Tyrone Cutkomp, a staff representative for Iowa Council 61 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said Congress reduced discretionary funding in the Child Care and Development Block Grant by $20 million for fiscal year 2006 and that $500 million has been cut from the Social Service Block Grant, another major source of child-care funds.
Also speaking at the rally were Debbie Coen, owner of Miss Debbie’s Day Care in Bettendorf; Brenda Humphrey, owner of Grandmother’s Child Care in Davenport; and Monique Dillenburg, owner of Monique’s Kid Care in Davenport.
Coen said she and other registered day-care providers play an important role in the development of the children of working parents, many of whom could not afford quality day care without federal subsidies.
“We are not baby sitters. We are professionals,” she said
Humphrey said that without affordable day care, many parents could not work or would have to resort to less qualified providers.
Full text available at The Quad City Times
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CT - Child Care Funds Lacking
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Monday, March 27 @ 10:18:09 EST by emohan
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Demand for state subsidized child care is expected to double in the coming year as strict new federal welfare guidelines push as many as 3,000 lower income parents into the workforce.
But Connecticut's primary child-care subsidy, Care4Kids, is grossly unprepared for the coming onslaught, family advocates say.
The program has been cut by $53 million, or 44 percent, over the last four years despite increases in demand that left 13,000 people on a waiting list in 2005.
The budget cuts have forced state officials to enact tough new restrictions on program eligibility. That, combined with what advocates describe as a laborious and demanding application process, has led to several thousand poor, income-eligible parents - about half of those who applied between November and January - being denied assistance after they asked, advocates say.
Without an immediate infusion of state funds and changes in the way the program is administered, advocates say, thousands of additional needy parents - many of them single mothers - will remain stuck on welfare because they can't afford child care.
Full text available at the Hartford Courant
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CA - State Senate hopefuls debate early childhood education
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Monday, March 27 @ 10:14:11 EST by emohan
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The three Democratic hopefuls for state Senate seat sparred yesterday over funding for earlier childhood education, voting rights for parents without citizenship and how to provide universal health care in their first televised debate of the campaign.
Former San Mateo County supervisor Mike Nevin, former assemblyman Lou Papan and Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Leland Yee were lively on the topic of health care and education despite the early morning taping of The Game, a political talk show hosted by Mark Simon and Bob Marks.
Nevin is a supporter of Proposition 82, or the Preschool For All initiative, which would mandate preschool for all California 4-year-olds. Proposition 82 would offer three hours of free preschool a day to any 4-year-old who wants it, beginning in 2010.
Proposition 82 has a $2.4 billion price tag and would be paid for by increasing the state tax rate from 9.3 percent to 11 percent on taxable income over $400,00 for individuals and $800,000 for couples.
Nevin’s support of the plan was criticized by both Yee and Papan who argued the proposition creates more bureaucracy, wastes resources and unnecessarily taxes residents. Yee argued there are enough existing state programs to deal with early childhood education. Papan agreed.
“If we take this particular revenue stream and put it into early education we may not have the money for K-12 education,” Yee said.
Full text available at The Daily Journal
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