New CBP Report Highlights the Importance of Greater Investment in Child Care and Development Programs

Yesterday the California Budget Project (CBP) released a new report that takes an in-depth look at funding trends and policy issues related to the state’s child care and development programs, which are key in helping parents in lower-income families find or retain jobs as well as preparing children for success in school.

Starting Strong: Why Investing in Child Care and Development Programs Is Critical for Families and California’s Economic Future shows that state policymakers have cut total funding for child care and preschool programs by nearly 40 percent since 2007-08.

Even with the modest improvements made in the 2013-14 state budget, California funds about 110,000 fewer child care and state preschool spots than it did six years ago — a drop of nearly one-quarter.

In addition to examining child care and development funding and policy changes, the new report highlights actions that state policymakers could take to boost access to affordable, high-quality care.

— Steven Bliss

This entry was posted on Friday, November 15th, 2013 at 1:40 pm and is filed under Human Services & Child Care, State Budget. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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