Supervisor Chan to Discuss Budget Impact on Early Education

By Supervisor Wilma Chan's Office

District 3 Supervisor Wilma Chan and other leaders in the community will highlight how Governor Brown’s proposed budget will effect early childhood education at a meeting tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. at Yuk Yau Child Development Center 291 10th St. in Oakland.

About 12,000 Alameda County children receive child care and preschool services through State subsidies for low-income families. A majority attend licensed, center-based programs that meet high quality standards and are reimbursed directly by the State Department of Education. Some receive vouchers, which are used to pay for child care at licensed centers, family child care homes, or with family, a friend, or neighbor. Regardless of where they go, funding from the state preschool program makes it possible – and those funds are being slashed.

These cuts are real and may happen soon. They include:

• Loss of an estimated $34 million to Alameda County
• Loss of about one-third of Alameda County child care slots for low-income children
• Increase the length of Alameda County’s waiting list for child care assistance, which already exceeds 5,700 children.

This system of high-quality, high impact education is currently slated to be devastated by budget cuts from the State of California.  Statewide, since 2008, over 100,000 annual student “slots” have been eliminated. This year, the governor proposes to slash another 61,000 student slots. For a child care center like Yuk Yau, this will mean the loss of 10-30 students from their 96 student body population. 

On the positive side, this event will highlight the success that early education helps to foster and feature parent and even alumni testimonials.  The event will also feature a discussion of how effective early education can influence outcomes in our K-12 school system.

This event is an outcome of Alameda County’s “Human Impact Budget,” an innovative process developed by Supervisor Wilma Chan and adopted by the Board of Supervisors.  It aims to educate local residents about state budget cuts with a direct focus on impacts to people, families and communities.

Event participants to include:

·         Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan

·         Oakland Unified School District Director Tony Smith

·         Oakland Unified School District Board Director David Kakishiba

·         Carlise King, California Resource and Referral Network Research Director

·         Yuk Yau Child Development Center Director Tanya Harris

·         Yuk Yau Alumni Judith Tang, J.D. (the first Chinese-American partner at her law firm)

·         Parents of child care age children who rely on state-funded preschool (speaking Cantonese, English and Spanish)