The State : Day Care Center Accused

State officials canceled a $460,000 contract with an Oakland day care center after former employees reported that administrators used public funds to pay personal expenses and make a political contribution. Beebe Children’s Center Inc. committed the abuses over a five-year period, Department of Education officials charged. Most of the 120 children cared for at the center come from low-income families. The officials alleged that the center’s executive director used child care funds to pay insurance premiums on two expensive automobiles and pay her home telephone bills. A political contribution of $350 was made in 1983 to Assemblyman Elihu Harris (D-Oakland) by Beebe officials with public funds, the report charged.