On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in Sacramento issued a letter urging California’s Congressional delegation to protect the struggling Head Start program and reject the proposed cuts to the Trump administration.
A letter signed by more than three-quarters of state lawmakers said they are “deeply wary” by a list of increased lists of federal infant program cuts under the Trump administration (including threats of complete removal), asking Congress “refuse any proposals to weaken or eliminate head start.”
“It’s probably the most bipartisan letter and issue we’ve worked on for years, protecting and preserving the Head Start program,” Assembly member Patrick Arlens (D-Silicon Valley) told a news conference.
According to an April survey of more than 1,000 registered voters across the country, HeadStart enjoys overwhelming public support across the political spectrum. The company’s Upone Insights voted on behalf of the first five-year fund lobbying the legislature on early childhood education.
California receives $1.5 billion a year for Head Start. The program provides childcare, education, medical care and nutritious diets to more than 80,000 low-income people from birth to age 5 in the state, employing around 26,000 workers.
Recent cuts and threats have led to nearly 1,000 HeadStart employees in California already receiving pink slips, Arlens said.
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Two members who spoke at the meeting – Arlens and Republican Congress member Heather Hadwick (R-Altulas), attended the Head Start program itself. “The Head Start program offers a free breakfast so I can clearly remember that I still had fresh fruits,” Arlens said.
In rural areas such as Modoc, Siskiyou and Lassen counties, “Headstart is not just one of many options. In many cases, that’s the only option,” said Hadwick, who represents these areas. “We fully believe that we need to cut our budgets and reduce waste. We hope that we don’t do that on the backs of low-income people, working families, our children.”
“Access to reliable early education supports parents to train or pursue, and early childhood jobs (holding by women of colour) support community well-being and economic mobility,” the lawmaker wrote in the letter. Already, they wrote that the lack of child care access is estimated at “a cost of ‘loss of productivity and economic output’ in California at $17 billion,” while cuts to Head Start “advance this loss.”
Last month, an early version of President Trump’s budget proposed to eliminate the Head Start program entirely. The proposal appeared to have been withdrawn in the “Skinny” presidential budget plan released last week, but the administration has repeatedly lowered the program.
January temporarily freezes all federal financial aid for January, leaving the left Head Start staff in January suddenly unable to access the funds they had promised. In February, numerous federal employees were fired by the Washington, D.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Head Start Office, and in April, all employees, including Region 9, which covers four states, including California, will be closed regularly, and all employees will be closed regularly.
This article is part of the Times Early Childhood Education Initiative and focuses on learning and development for California children from birth to age 5. To learn more about the initiative and its charity funders, visit latimes.com/earlyed.
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