Orange County, L.A. Lag 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 and Orange counties lag most other urban California counties in providing quality child care and are 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 Orange County parents are only slightly better off. 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. In Orange County, the number is only slightly higher--about 15 slots for every 100 eligible children.

“I would say that Orange County is doing moderately but not significantly better than Los Angeles,” said Shelley Waters Boots, research director for the California Resource and Referral Network, a nonprofit advocacy group for child care statewide. “Both, though, are still lagging behind most other metropolitan urban counties.”

One significant difference between the two counties, Boots said, is that Orange has more than enough care-center slots to handle the young children of its families on welfare, while Los Angeles County has enough for only two-thirds of that population. The most likely reason, she said, is that Orange County--which has one of the highest income levels per capita in the state--has far fewer families on welfare.

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 financial institutions to develop a loan pool.

Times staff writer David Haldane contributed to this report.

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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