Will Newsom mend gaps in state’s plan for early learning?
The Newsom administration unveiled its Master Plan for Early Learning and Care last week, smartly timed should a Biden-Harris administration secure funding for their comprehensive caregiving initiative.
Notably, the master plan is the state’s first early care plan to be championed by a governor.
The plan is a “starting point,” according to the advocates I interviewed — but many pointed to serious gaps that need mending.
Signaling readiness for implementation, the Master Plan for Early Learning and Care concludes with action plans; and on Tuesday, state legislators announced a related package of bills.
“Can we slow this train down?” asked many advocates, who raise questions about fuzzy financing (how do those numbers add up?) and phasing (what happens first?).
And how can we ensure expensive oversight efforts won’t diminish dollars for family services and providers?
Before policymakers act to implement, these four gaps need mending:
1. The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the child care industry, with 2,030 family childcare homes and 390 centers permanently closing doors by late October.
The master plan claims to provide “a roadmap to guide our journey of recovery” but offers no specific recommendations to rebuild from this depleted capacity.
2. With its strong focus on quality care, child outcomes and transitional kindergarten, the master plan risks reading like a masters’ thesis in child development. Not a master plan to guide policy for working parents and their kids.
Missing from the plan is highlevel acknowledgement that early care can lift families out of poverty. In today’s economy, parents with young kids depend on child care to seek employment and keep their jobs.
Recommendations from the Speaker’s Blue Ribbon Commission offer a model for fully embracing this dual purpose for California’s system of early care and learning.
3. Practitioners and policymakers are actively assessing the impacts of systemic racism on early care’s workforce, compensation, training and culture.
While the master plan establishes “equity” as a thematic principle and makes some constructive recommendations, the plan still falls short.
“Wage and rate increases, and benefits for workers who are mostly women of color should be the starting point, especially given their contributions during the pandemic,” said Tonia McMillian, who chairs the workforce subcommittee for the Early Childhood Policy Council.
4. The master plan doesn’t address the outdated infrastructure at the local level where families seek care. Decades- old legislation continues to authorize three overlapping bureaucracies — Child Care Planning Councils, Resource & Referral Agencies, and local First Fives.
What’s next?
My hope is that the governor — whose commitment to a “California for All Kids” appears both deep and genuine — will convene an off-the-record listening session with advocates to hear directly about their concerns and priorities.
That’s a path forward that could mend the plan’s gaps — and ready California to partner with the Biden-Harris administration.
Kate Karpilow writes on issues affecting women and families, and authored “Understanding Child Care: A Primer for Policymakers,” Kate.Karpilow@ comcast.net. She previously directed the California Center for Research on Women and Families at the Public Health Institute.