On Tuesday, a bipartite group of Sacramento legislators published a letter urging the delegation of the California congress to protect the Head Start besieged program and reject any proposal for Trump administration discounts.
The letter, which was signed by more than three -quarters of state legislators, said they were “deeply alarmed” by a growing list of cuts to the federal early childhood program under the Trump administration – including the threat of total elimination – and asked that the Congress “rejects all the proposals that weaken or eliminate the length in advance”.
“This is probably the most bipartite letter and problem on which we have worked in the years, and that’s it to protect and save our Head Start program,” said assembly conference Patrick Ahrens (D-Silicon) during a press conference.
Head Start also benefits from overwhelming public support throughout the political spectrum with 74% of Trump voters in support of the program, according to a survey in April with more than 1,000 voters registered nationally. The Upone Insights company survey was conducted on behalf of the Five Five Ans fund, which puts pressure on the congress on early childhood education.
California receives $ 1.5 billion a year for Head Start. The program provides childcare services, education, medical care and nutrient meals to more than 80,000 children at low income from birth at the age of five in the state and employs around 26,000 workers.
Due to recent cuts and threats, nearly 1,000 Head Start employees in California have already received pink sheets, Ahrens said.
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Two of the members who spoke at the conference – Ahrens and Republican Assembly Heather Hadwick (R -Alturas) – had themselves followed Head Start programs. “I still distinctly remember eating fresh fruit for the first time in my life, because the Head Start program offers free breakfast,” said Ahrens.
In rural districts, such as the counties of Modoc, Siskiyou and Lassen, “Head Start is not only one option among many. Often, it is the only option,” said Hadwick, who represents these areas. “I fully believe that we have to reduce our budget and reduce waste. I just hope that we do not do it on the back of families of low -income workers and our children. ”
“Access to a reliable early education helps parents work or pursue training, and early childhood jobs – a lot owned by women of color – support community well -being and economic mobility,” wrote legislators in the letter. Already, a shortage of access to childcare “should cost California” 17 billion dollars in loss of productivity and economic production “each year, they wrote, and the cuts at Head Start” would exacerbate this loss “.
Last month, a first version of President Trump’s budget proposed to completely eliminate the Head Start program. This proposal seemed to have been withdrawn in the “meager” presidential budget plan published last week, but the administration underestimated the program several times.
In January, an executive decree to temporarily freeze all federal financial aid in January on the left Head Staff, suddenly cannot access the funds that had been promised to them. In February, dozens of federal staff were dismissed at the start office of the Ministry of Health and Social Services in Washington, DC and in April, the administration announced that five of the 12 regional offices managing relations with the beneficiaries of Head Start would be immediately closed and that all employees have been laid off, including Region 9, which covers four states, including California.
This article is part of the Times early childhood education initiative, focusing on the learning and development of California children from birth to the age of 5. For more information on the initiative and its philanthropic donors, go to latimes.com/earlyyed.
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