Budget crisis hurting Ventura County's parents

As of Sept. 9, it will be 72 days and counting since the governor and officials in Sacramento have failed to approve a budget for California, the longest known delay in state history. With an already devitalized economy in place, services reliant on state funding have had to tighten their belts in order to get by; some institutions, like the healthcare industry, have reported they are in danger of closing down if a budget, estimated at $117 billion, isn’t passed soon.

In Ventura County, effects of this financial stalemate couldn’t be worse than for those in childcare services. Many providers at preschools, daycares and afterschool programs who receive state funding have been paid little, if any, money since the last fiscal year ended on July 1.

“If the budget isn’t approved within the next week, childcare payment for the month of

August will have to be significantly reduced and prorated,” stated Jack Hinojosa, associate executive director of Child Development Resources (CDR).

CDR is but one nonprofit that provides subsidized childcare, dependent on an allotment of federal and state monies that are renewed annually. After budgets are passed, those funds come through, going toward keeping preschools, daycares and after-school providers contracted with CDR open and in business.

Providers who fall under what is called Cal Works Stage 1 are federally funded (for this fiscal year, more than $9.7 million); those in Stages 2 and 3 receive state money. These stages are determined largely by the income level of parents with children in the system, as how much they earn qualifyies them for a certain amount of subsidized aid.

That’s where the problems start. According to Hinojosa, CDR’s Stage 2 and 3 contracts are good for more than $7 million each; but without getting paid by state officials, some providers may not survive much longer. Lately, it’s been like living hand to mouth.

“It’s a very stressful time for the providers,” said Ida Hatfield, a program coordinator for the Ventura division of the Children’s Home Society of California (CHS), another private nonprofit. “The agency (CHS) has pulled from other sources so we’re able to cover, but we can only do that for so long. It can affect services, certainly.”

Hinojosa said that last month the state issued CDR one quarter of its 2008-2009 allowance to keep the group going until a budget is passed — $1.7 million, to be exact.

“That’s what allowed us to sustain our operations and make payments for the month of July,” Hinojosa said. “We were able to pay them (childcare providers) 100 percent.”

But the quick fix can only last so long. CDR, noted Hinojosa, this week has resorted to dipping into its line of equity to compensate. That money must be paid back; considering interest rates, the amount owed back to CDR’s creditors will total more than was borrowed, compounding the problem even further.

“If we don’t get something in terms of an approval, we know we won’t have enough funds to make payment through the end of September,” Hinojosa said.

Anticipating this, CDR and CHS both mailed letters last week to the homes of families in their network, warning them that because of the budget delay, certain programs may not be funded.

It’s hit home, figuratively and literally, for parents like Corrina Varguez, an Oxnard single mother of three, with two children attending afterschool care within the CDR system.

Prior to the budget crisis, Varguez was working as a waitress and on a welfare-to-work program funded partially through the state department of education, which allowed her to keep her children in a childcare program. Varguez then advanced her career into the medical field and qualified for Stage 2 status with CDR, providing for better childcare at no cost to her family. But with problems in Sacramento ongoing, and no state funds to back up Stage 2 recipients, Varguez is at an impasse of her own.

“I’ll end up back on the welfare system because I can’t pay my bills or put a roof over my head,” she said. “This program is very efficient for people who don’t have anyone to watch their kids, or the income to do it. Childcare is not cheap.”

According to Julie Foster of Ventura, also a mother of three who are in childcare, it costs about $1,000 to $1,200 per child — too much to afford if that service is revoked.

“I’m concerned. I’m very concerned,” she said. “I don’t know how I’ll be able to work. It would definitely force me to not be able to work. If my provider’s not being paid, there’s no way I’d be able to come up with that portion.”

What makes it worse for parents like Foster and Varguez is that both women are on the threshold of making too #much# money to qualify for programs like welfare-to-work, yet don’t earn enough to shoulder the financial responsibility themselves without the aid of the state.

The rock-and-a-hard-place conundrum is daunting for both providers and parents, according to Greg Hudson of the state education department.

“What happens when they run out of money is, they can’t afford the care for Stage 3 or the families not connected to the welfare system. Then the family says, ‘I have to pay for that myself. If I don’t work, I can’t pay my rent, but I can’t take my child to work, and I certainly don’t want to lose my home,’ ” Hudson said.

According to Jack O’Connell, the state superintendent of schools, there are 792 childcare centers across the state, serving more than 500,000 children. The department of education, he noted, is legally disallowed from paying those agencies to cover the costs they aren’t able to afford as a result of the budget crisis.

“If these centers are forced to close, parents will have to stay home,” he said. “We’ll lose productivity from the employment sector.”

Hatfield, of CHS, hopes that won’t be the case.

“I think if we can keep everyone abreast of what’s happening, the better we’ll be,” she stated. “We’re in survival mode right now and just trying to keep things going as best we can.”