Wilson Urges Sharp Boost in Child Care

Focusing on California children as the top priority for his final year in office, Gov. Pete Wilson on Tuesday proposed an expansion of services for infants and preschoolers from poor families that includes a $665-million increase in state and federal funds for day care.

If approved by the Legislature, the increase would bring California’s total spending on child care in the next fiscal year to about $1.8 billion, more than double the amount spent last year.

The rapid increase--which some advocates consider barely adequate--is a direct response to new welfare reforms that are forcing hundreds of thousands of indigent parents into the work force.

Aiming at many of the same youngsters, Wilson coupled his child-care announcement with a $54-million proposal intended to reflect new scientific research about brain development in infants.

The governor’s proposed Early Childhood Development Initiative would provide hearing tests at birth to nearly 60,000 newborns to detect impediments to brain development. And the initiative would guarantee, for the first time, subsidized preschool for every 4-year-old from a family whose earnings are below the federal poverty level of $16,050 for a family of four.

“We can make a real difference,” the governor said at a kickoff event Tuesday at which he and his wife, Gayle, read a story to a class of suburban Sacramento preschoolers. “With a good beginning, the odds of a happy ending are greatly increased.”

Several Orange County officials applauded Wilson’s announcement, saying thousands of local children could benefit.

“The governor’s proposal is just wonderful, and we’re hopeful that what it means for Orange County is that our allocation will finally be equal to our need,” said Ellin Chariton, child-care manager for the Orange County Department of Education, which runs the primary county program for low-income families.

About 30,000 local children are in families that receive welfare, and they will need day care as their parents become employed, Chariton said.

Another 17,000 children in low-income families--80% of whom do not receive welfare--already are on the county’s waiting list for day care, she said.

Orange County received $7.7 million in the last fiscal year’s allocation, which fell far short of the need, Chariton said.

California’s surging economy is providing Wilson with the financial resources to leave office on one of the highest notes of his seven-year tenure. The child- and infant-care proposal is the latest news in a week of spending announcements that the administration has trickled out to reporters as a prelude to Wilson’s annual--and final--State of the State speech tonight.

Already, the governor has pitched an ambitious classroom construction plan with a total cost of $16 billion, half paid by the state and half by local governments. He has also proposed new money to care for senior citizens and a $2.1-billion bond plan for a long list of water and environmental projects.

Regarding child care, lawmakers and community advocates had anticipated the need for a sharp increase. Most were cautiously optimistic Tuesday that the governor’s proposal would be enough for the upcoming year, although some were still concerned.

“Is the amount the governor has proposed right?” asked Frank Mecca, director of the County Welfare Directors Assn. “Who knows? I don’t think anyone knows. We are all sort of making the best projections we can, given that we live in an era of incredible uncertainty.”

Child care for the poor--including those from working families--has been overlooked by state lawmakers for so long that all of those involved recognize a gargantuan need for new services.

Until now, it has been considered too expensive. Industry surveys suggest that it costs more to supervise a single infant than to pay the welfare check for a family of three.

Last year, state authorities estimated that more than 500,000 youngsters from poor families who were eligible for subsidized child care were unable to obtain it because of a lack of funding. In contrast, barely 250,000 children were receiving state-subsidized child care last year.

Officials anticipate that the new funds will raise that support to a total of 404,000 subsidized child-care slots. They know, however, that even that will not eliminate the pressure for more.

New requirements, beginning this year, that welfare recipients obtain employment will also mean that the state must find care for many of the 1.9 million children whose families have received assistance.

Federal welfare law prohibits a state from forcing a welfare parent to get a job unless child care is available. At the same time, the federal law includes a rigorous schedule for each state to follow in moving its welfare recipients into the work force.

California’s welfare caseload has dropped nearly 20% in the last two years, thanks largely to the healthy economy and the anticipation of welfare reform.

In Orange County, the number of welfare recipients has dropped by 14% in the past 18 months, continuing a decline that began in October 1994, said Angelo Doti, director of welfare reform at the Social Services Agency. Welfare applications have plummeted from 2,500 to 1,500 a month.

Wilson is taking some of the savings from the decrease in the welfare caseload and reinvesting it in his latest child assistance proposals.

Even then, however, child advocates say money is only part of the problem. With such a rapid expansion of the day-care system, advocates worry about the quality and training of the new providers.

Partly in response to that concern, Wilson’s proposal Tuesday included nearly $4 million for voluntary training of any child-care worker--including a family member or neighbor of the infant or youth.

Another major problem is the child-care system’s capacity. Even with unlimited funds, state authorities say, there would be a limit to how quickly they could hire new employees and open new centers.

Wilson made his child-care announcement in a preschool center at Florence Markofer Elementary School in Elk Grove, outside Sacramento. Before speaking with parents, teachers and reporters, the governor and his wife read to a group of 3- and 4-year-olds from an oversized picture book of “The Three Bears.”

“Who’s been eating my porridge?” the governor grumbled, lowering his voice to fit the father bear character. Turning to his wife, he added: “I’ll let you do the baby bear.”

The event was staged to illustrate the attention to preschool children and infants that the governor hopes to draw with his new initiative. Wilson cited a Rand Corp. study’s finding that 90% of a child’s brain development occurs in the first three years of life.

“My early childhood development initiative will begin at the beginning . . .,” Wilson said.

Times staff writer Lisa Richardson contributed to this report.