Funding for child care on chopping block; proposal threatens programs serving more than 500 low-income children in Pajaro Valley, By Donna Jones, April 5, 2012, San Jose Mercury News: “A gaggle of small girls took turns peering at pinecones through a magnifying glass Wednesday morning at Freedom Children’s Center. Other children pedaled around the playground, sifted sand and splashed at water tables. Inside the center’s two classrooms, work tacked to the walls and displayed on shelves showed the early academic efforts of 3- and 4-year-olds. The center is part of Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s preschool program, which provides subsidized child care to the low-income parents and educational opportunity to their children. The program is in jeopardy due to changes proposed in Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget that would slash funding and shift oversight from the state education department to county social service agencies…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty