Prop. 10 Money Allocated to Boost Child Care

The panel responsible for spending $125 million in cigarette tax revenues throughout Los Angeles County agreed Thursday to allocate $4 million to boost the availability of child care to children under 5 years of age.

The grants can be as much as $300,000 and be used to buy supplies, equipment or hire specialists who can help in-home child care providers win state accreditation.

“We wanted to hit the ground running and earmark funds to an area where we could make a difference,” Commissioner Maria Veloz said.

The allocation is the first made by the county commission, which was formed after the narrow passage of Proposition 10, the 50-cent cigarette tax passed in 1998. The tax revenues are given to a network of nonpartisan commissions to be spent on early childhood development.

Los Angeles’ commission had drawn flak for taking 10 months to decide how to spend its money, and Thursday’s decision marked the panel’s first allocation. A chain of cigarette stores is backing a repeal of the tax on the March 7 ballot.