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Use of Prop. 10 Funds Faulted

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Times Staff Writer

State auditors criticized officials in five counties Thursday for failing to properly spend more than $909 million intended for early childhood development programs.

Auditors found that the counties, including Los Angeles County, left unspent as much as 85% of the money they had received since 1998, when voters agreed to a statewide tax on tobacco products for the programs.

The report said some county panels set up to distribute the Proposition 10 money kept incomplete records, did not establish clear rules for hiring contractors or failed to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs they did fund.

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“They promised that every single penny was going to be spent on children [ages] 0 to 5. To find out we’re sitting on a pile of cash -- that doesn’t do anything for a child in Baldwin Park ... or Compton,” said Bakersfield-area Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), who sought the audit because of concerns he had with how Kern County was using its funds.

The ambitious 1998 ballot initiative championed by filmmaker and child advocate Rob Reiner proposed to funnel money from a 50-cents-per-pack tobacco tax into health, education and child-care programs for some of the neediest children in California.

In Los Angeles County, the group handing out the money is called First 5. It has earmarked $600 million for universal preschool for all 4-year-olds and $100 million for universal healthcare up to age 5. But these programs are not yet up and running, according to Executive Director Evelyn Martinez.

The auditors found that the newly established commissions generally lacked clear rules for governing themselves. For example, the Santa Clara group set a spending cap of $15,000 for unsolicited grants, but then awarded $1 million to the Children’s Discovery Museum. Some commissions could not explain how they had chosen contractors.

Florez condemned Kern County for its plan to spend $1,400 on bronze plaques recognizing the commissioners at 20 new tot lots.

All five of the commissions abided by local bidding laws in handing out Proposition 10 money. They were not required to consider all bidders. Some made sure their bidding process was open to the public, but others kept the process closed.

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Martinez said that considering the size of the undertaking, she thought L.A. County’s commission fared well in the audit. She said she expects the universal preschool program to be ready to begin after Labor Day.

Reiner’s aide Ben Austin agreed, saying, “Everybody is pointing to this as a groundbreaking program. We want to tighten it.

“We’re very confident that money that has been allocated has gone to children. If any public dollar is spent improperly, that’s something we have to look at.”

Several commissions responded in the audit that they had already begun to spend money on effective programs for children.

A grand jury investigation in Santa Barbara last year found that the county commission had misspent Proposition 10 money in its haste to set up childhood development programs.

Assemblywoman Wilma Chan (D-Alameda), chairwoman of the legislative audit committee, said the county commissions will need more oversight, but she emphasized that the criticisms in the report were “relatively minor.”

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