4Cs Executive Director, Letter to State Legislators
02/22/2011 -
Below you can read a letter that 4Cs Executive Director, Melanie Dodson, sent on behalf of 4Cs to Senator Mark Leno who is the Vice Chair of the Budget Conference Committee that will be making decisions this week on budget cuts made to many 4Cs programs. Letters were sent to all local legislators, in case they have the opportunity to discuss these issues with their colleagues on the committee.
Now is the time to advocate! Please feel free to use some of the language included to create your message. The most important person to receive this message right now is Senator Mark Leno as he is on the budget committee and he represents part of Sonoma County.
To contact Senator Mark Leno:
Capitol
(916) 651-4003
State Capitol, Room 5100
Sacramento, CA 95814
San Rafael
(415) 479-6612
Marin Civic Center
3501 Civic Center Drive Suite 425
San Rafael, CA 94903
The Letter Begins Here
February 22, 2011
Dear Senator Leno,
There are no good choices in this year’s state budget proposal that truly support the mission of 4Cs to “inspire our community to support the well-being of every child and to improve the quality and availability of child care in Sonoma County.” In fact, the proposals reduce the availability and overall quality of the system as well as put a huge burden on our low income single parent, working households and jeopardize numerous small child care businesses.
However, given the situation in which we find ourselves, on behalf of the Community Child Care Council of Sonoma County (4Cs) and the 1500 children and their families that are served in our Alternative Payment Program and our 13 state funded Preschools/Child Development Centers, if there must be cuts to Early Care & Education, I ask that you vote for the following:
OPPOSE Senate action to reduce the Alternative Payment Program (APP) family support from 17.5 percent to 15 percent. In October when our family support contract was reduced from 19 percent to 17.5 (82.5 percent of our contract must be paid to providers), we were forced to immediately lay off staff and reduce staff hours which created delays and chaos for families and providers, created unmanageable caseloads for caseworkers, and has the potential to result in an increase in errors. Currently, we are not fully staffed to do all of the work being required of us and specifically in regards to Stage 3 we have not been paid for services provided since December.
All of the proposed reductions have a compounded impact on an agency like 4Cs that provides Alternative Payment Services, Child Care Resource & Referral Services and Direct Service Child Development Centers. Reductions in provider rates and levels, elimination of services for 11-12 year olds, and total reductions in contracts forces contractors into situations where there is not enough money to comply with mandates and ensure adequate oversight of public dollars. Finally, there are no other public or private entities that can operate a contract with 3 percent to 4.7 percent administrative and 13.0 percent for family and child support.
SUPPORT Assembly action for a 10 percent (or less) reduction to all contracts, including preschool. Although any reduction to these painfully underfunded Early Care & Education programs will be devastating and will mean a reduction in slots available to children, an across the board reduction of funding to all program types may be the best option to maintain a skeleton of the existing early care and education infrastructure from which possible future growth may happen.
SUPPORT Assembly action to reject the proposal to eliminate eligibility for 11-12 year old child care services. Although there are existing after-school programs, waiting lists, funding and access does not fully meet the demand or the need for off-hour care.
SUPPORT Assembly action to reduce the family State Median Income from 75 percent to 70 percent.
SUPPORT Assembly action to restore Stage 3.
SUPPORT Assembly action for child care deferral of $150 million to shore up existing delivery early care and education infrastructure.
SUPPORT Senate action to NOT eliminate funding for the Centralized Eligibility List (CEL). The requirement that one CEL be established in each county that could be accessed by families has served to support families by allowing them to register via a single list that can be accessed by all child care contractors. Over 3000 Sonoma County families currently are on this list.
I understand that we all must share in cuts and that there are only hard decisions before us. On behalf of 4Cs, we believe the above areas will get savings from the early care and education field without totally decimating the core family delivery infrastructure. And when the time comes to rebuild, we hope to be there for that too. If you have any questions or need further information, please contact me.
Respectfully,
Melanie Dodson, Executive Director
Community Child Care Council of Sonoma County (4Cs)
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