The Terminator Returns

05/25/2010

Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or a duty. It should be offered as a gift.
Kate DiCamillo, author

California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, best known for his movie role as the Terminator, is terminating most state funding for child care. This was the stark news revealed at the 2010 Spring Institute of the Child Development Policy Institute (CDPI), an event for which Exchange Magazine was one of the sponsors. At the Institute a number of experts including Jean Ross of the California Budget Project and Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny, Chair of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, laid out the stark facts:

The state budget for 2010-2011 shows a projected deficit of nearly $20 billion.
If the state were to close all prisons and all 2- and 4-year colleges, these drastic actions would only cut the deficit in half.
The Governor's proposed elimination of child care funding includes programs such as General Child Care, Migrant Centers, Resource and Referral, Allowance for the Handicapped, and Local Planning Councils.
The child care cuts are scheduled to take place on July 1, 2010. If no solutions are found, on that day services for 142,000 children would end, and hundreds of agencies across the state would be forced to lay off most of their employees or close altogether.

To follow this issue, go to the CDPI website.

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