L.A. County Lags Badly in Child Care, Study Says

With evidence mounting that a stimulating preschool environment vastly improves children’s chances of success in life, a new report shows that Los Angeles County lags behind most other urban California counties in providing quality child care and is rapidly losing ground as the population surges.

Los Angeles County parents are half as likely as San Franciscans, for example, to find a slot for their youngsters at a licensed preschool or child-care center, and even in San Francisco the supply is short and uneven, according to a study by Policy Analysis for California Education, a research group at UC Berkeley and Stanford.

In Los Angeles County, the problem is particularly acute in fast-growing “working poor” Latino communities where many residents do not qualify for government subsidies.

The county’s woefully inadequate supply--just about 13 preschool or child-care center slots for every 100 eligible children--puts it on a par with many poor, rural counties, said Bruce Fuller, a co-director of the research group who helped write the study.

This part of the research did not take into account the large number of children served by providers who operate out of their homes. Those programs were not included because they generally do not have a strong or formal education component, researchers said.

The California Department of Education has known for years that disparities in child care exist between low-income and affluent areas, Fuller said, but it “has been slow in recognizing the severity of these inequalities . . . and has been sluggish” in dealing with the crisis, primarily for lack of funds.

Exacerbating the problem, child-care experts say, are well-intentioned if perhaps misguided reform efforts. The mandate to reduce class size for kindergarten through third grade has prompted a rush by elementary schools to woo away qualified preschool teachers, leaving many child-care programs shortchanged on staff.

“It strikes us that Gov. [Gray] Davis is putting all his eggs in [elementary and secondary] school reform, but we shouldn’t expect to raise the average reading level of 9-year-olds until we equalize access to preschool,” Fuller said. “The research of the last 10 years indicates we should focus our emphasis on early education.”

Meanwhile, the drive to lighten welfare rolls has pushed thousands of women, many of them single mothers, into the workplace, adding to the squeeze on existing child-care centers.

In Los Angeles County alone, more than 42,000 low-income families--with a total of about 75,000 children--are on waiting lists for child care, said Cliff Marcussen, executive director at Options, a child-care resource and referral organization. That understates the problem, because many families in need of child care do not know how to navigate the system to get on a list.

Need for Early Intervention Stressed

New insights into brain development indicate that the dearth of child-care centers poses far more than a mere baby-sitting problem. The National Research Council said last year that educators and parents should begin teaching literacy skills well before a child reaches kindergarten. Doing so, it said, can head off future reading difficulties and get children ready to learn.

The need for early intervention, child development experts say, is especially urgent in impoverished rural and inner-city neighborhoods. Well designed preschool programs can help make up for the lack of books and other stimulation in the home environment.

State schools Supt. Delaine Eastin initiated legislation to establish a commission to develop a master plan for universal preschool. Her goal is to devise publicly financed programs for all 3- and 4-year-olds whose parents want the service, with full implementation by 2009.

In addition to being a costly proposition--a projected $5 billion annually for a half-day program during the school year--the idea poses other complications. Among those would be how to attract and train teachers. In the current strong economy, child-care centers have found it tough to recruit employees who often can make more as parking lot attendants or burger flippers.

The measure, sponsored by state Sen. Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento), has cleared the Senate Education Committee and is expected to be heard in the Appropriations Committee next month before going to the Senate floor.

“You’re talking about adding two grades to the K-12 system,” said Michael Jett, assistant director of the child development division at the state Department of Education. “While that’s a worthwhile goal, it’s not an easy thing to do.”

“Ready to Learn,” a 1998 report by an Eastin-appointed universal preschool task force, indicates that society would derive immense benefits from supporting preschool with tax dollars.

Studies show that every dollar invested in quality preschool programs saves $7 in costs for social and rehabilitative services later on. Graduates of quality preschools develop higher IQs and are less likely to drop out of school, get pregnant as teenagers, commit crimes or end up on welfare. More go to college and become productive citizens.

And a poll of 1,300 Californians last fall by the state Department of Education showed that a substantial majority believe that quality child care is important, although most people in general consider it unaffordable and hard to find.

Broadly available preschool programs have found favor elsewhere, said Eloise Bradrick-Talk, a supervisor of child development specialists with the state Department of Education. In France, 99% of 3- and 4-year-olds attend government-sponsored preschool. New York and Georgia have state-funded programs for 4-year-olds.

Los Angeles County, Fuller said, has 2,447 licensed preschools and child-care centers. To bring the county up to the average ratio of slots to children for the state’s counties would require 562 new facilities. To make it comparable to other urban counties would require a whopping 1,517 more facilities.

Red Tape Snarls Center’s Efforts

Efforts are underway to expand the child-care supply. But obstacles abound.

For several months, Sandra Gutierrez, child-care resource administrator for Los Angeles County, has been reaching out to faith-based organizations to recruit new child-care providers. Although interest is strong, many do not have enough space to qualify. Funding is also a problem.

“We need money for facilities,” Gutierrez said. “That’s something we can’t get around.” To help with that, she is working with Wells Fargo, Bank of America and other financial institutions to develop a loan pool.

Dolores Mission Women’s Cooperative, bedeviled by a year-round waiting list of 50 to 75 children for its child-care services, thought it had solved the problem of funding an additional $1-million facility near its existing preschool in Boyle Heights. The Los Angeles Community Development Department, the mayor’s office, the federal government and a foundation had provided grants. Plans were put out to bid, and a minority contractor was hired.

Now, said Pat Navarrete-Davids, the cooperative’s administrator, the city has ordered the group to start the process again, to satisfy minority-contractor bidding rules. The city is also demanding that the group pay a prevailing wage for the project, a change that would raise the cost as much as $300,000.

“It’s a nightmare,” Navarrete-Davids said.

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Day Care by County

The number of slots available in preschool and child care centers for children 5 and under varies widely from county to county in California. Among urban counties, Los Angeles fares poorly. Northern California counties tend to have a bigger supply than Southern California. Data are county averages for 1998. A sampling:

(In slots per 100 children, 5 and under)

San Francisco: 26.9

San Mateo: 21.1

Sacramento: 19.2

Santa Clara: 18.8

Alameda: 18.6

San Diego: 17.3

Orange: 14.6

Fresno: 13.5

Los Angeles: 13.3

San Bernardino: 11.6

Sources: Policy Analysis for California Education, U.S. Census Bureau