For working parents of young children like Rebecca Moralez, "stage three funding" for child care can be just the boost they need. "If I had not been able to have child care, I would not have been able to have got my education, and turned my life around. I worked myself off of section eight in a year. I have no public assistance whatsoever."
But now, Valley Oak Child Services Executive Director Karen Marlatt says budget cuts triggered by a shortfall of state revenue could keep many families from getting that assistance that meant so much for Moralez. "Families will actually lose child care, which can jeopardize their employment, because a minimum wage earning family is not making enough money to pay the additional cost of child care, and pay rent, and food."
That funding was cut before. Last October former Governor Arnold Swarzenegger eliminated "stage three funding" from the budget. That ruling was later overturned after the organization "Parent Voices" filed a suit against the Department of Education for not being given appeal rights. The effects of the funding cuts then were devastating. "There was a lot of families that have not been on aid for five or six years, that had to go back on aid, and that's not what the program is for. This program is to move these families successfully to independence," according to Marlatt.
Valley Oak Child Services has already had to reduce staffing, and consolidate operations into one building due to the past budget cuts. Now with an additional 23 million dollars in cuts on the way, Marlatt says there's no other option than to reduce the amount of assistance they can provide. "We have an early estimate that 250 children could lose care, and that's probably about 175 families."
Moralez says the loss of subsidized child care is one most of those families cannot afford. "It's a matter of how we're going to pay the rent. It's about how we're going to keep a roof over our children's head. We need our jobs to pay our rent, and with child care being what it is, without these subsidies we wouldn't be able to make ends meet. It would be impossible, this is what makes ends meet."
