Posted on 07/29/2008 9:13:19 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
The state's looming budget cuts have some legislators eyeing a multibillion-dollar pot of money that for years has built playgrounds, fixed tiny teeth, provided preschool for poor kids, funded craft workshops and doled out books and other freebies in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Supporters of the state's First 5 program say it provides essential health care, education and child care services for infants, toddlers and their parents. But some legislators question the program's spending decisions and oversight. They say First 5 money -- estimated at $580 million a year and $2.4 billion in reserve accounts -- would be better spent on state health care for uninsured children and in helping ease California's fiscal crisis.
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors last week declared its opposition to a state Senate bill that would dismantle California's First 5 program. Riverside and San Bernardino counties both have First 5 commissions, which distribute tens of millions of dollars a year in tobacco-tax revenue to local agencies.
The bill "would have a devastating effect on children and their families," Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley wrote in a letter from the board to state senators.
"While we support the need for a balanced budget, we do not believe it should be accomplished on the backs of young children."
Two state senators, Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, and Tom Harman, R-Huntington Beach, introduced the bill last month. It proposes to move more than $365 million sitting in First 5 reserves into the state's general fund and to give $2 billion-plus more in unspent funds to counties and schools. Future First 5 revenue would go toward the Medi-Cal and Healthy Families programs, which provide free and low-cost health insurance, Cox said.
Voters narrowly approved First 5 through Prop. 10 in 1998, imposing a 50-cent tax on cigarettes to fund programs for children in the first five years of life.
Cox's bill would put any changes passed by the Legislature to the voters in a ballot measure, making it unlikely the bill could help close this fiscal year's estimated $15.2 billion budget shortfall.
The printing deadline for the Nov. 4 ballot already has passed, and the deadline for a costly supplemental ballot is less than a month away.
Earlier measures to redirect First 5 money never made it out of their first committee.
But Cox points to county grand jury reports, state audits and media reports that have criticized some commissions over their contracting practices and criteria in awarding grants. Cox also said he has concerns about oversight of the First 5 programs in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
"There are yoga classes that are being given in Mendocino. There are Italian immersion classes being given in San Francisco. Those are not meat-and-potatoes issues," Cox said.
"In 10 years of existence, First 5 has never had the accountability it should have provided. It has been plagued with problems," he added.
Local Commissions
Harry Freedman, executive director of First 5 Riverside, said opponents have used isolated problems in a few counties to try to smear all First 5 programs.
"This implication that there is money being wasted and it is being spent on frivolous things couldn't be further from the truth," Freedman said.
Each of California's 58 counties has its own First 5 commission. County supervisors appoint the members, and the state allocates money to each commission based on the birth rate. That gives Riverside and San Bernardino counties some of the state's largest allocations.
Riverside County's commission says it took in almost $31 million in revenue and distributed more than $27 million during fiscal 2006-07. It ended the year with almost $56 million in its coffers, money that it says will go to future programs.
For the same period, San Bernardino County's commission says it received more than $28 million and spent more than $27 million. It had about $93 million in its accounts.
The Nuview Union School District in Nuevo, an unincorporated area east of Perris, relies on First 5 to fund child care, preschool and parenting education programs for low- and middle-income residents, said Jan Stockton-Miller, the district coordinator.
On a recent day, toddlers climbed on a playground built with First 5 money, one of the few parks in the rural school district's attendance area.
They played under the watch of Diane DeMarco, a preschool teacher with a degree in child development whose salary is paid with First 5 funds.
"I probably wouldn't be able to be here," DeMarco said of Cox's proposal.
"A lot of these children wouldn't be able to be here," the Nuevo native added. "This is a rural community so a lot of them have nowhere else to go."
Scrutiny of Programs
Cox said First 5 does many good things but is not the most effective use of taxpayer money.
He mentioned an April article in the San Francisco Chronicle about a First 5 grant program there that funded neighborhood parties, an Italian-immersion preschool, a multifamily camping trip and other activities for many upper- and middle-income families. First 5 San Francisco told the Chronicle that the grants help teach parents to advocate for their children.
Cox also questioned a program evaluation method, which cost San Bernardino County's commission about $12,000 in fiscal 2006-07. The commission gave five groups of parents digital cameras as gifts and trained them to document their lives and positive experiences with First 5, according to the commission's annual report.
The commission then had the photos made into a community storybook and collages, which the commission distributed and exhibited at the statewide First 5 conference in Orange County.
Karen Scott, the commission's executive director, said the project was an effective part of a multifaceted evaluation of the commission's programs. It also helped inform the public about available services and the importance of early-childhood development, she said.
Cox did not criticize specific Riverside County First 5 programs, but he said he was concerned about the poor attendance record of one commission member, Ashley, the county supervisor. Cox said as the commission's only elected county official, Ashley should serve as a watchdog, participating and holding the commission accountable for how it decides to spend money.
The commission's records show that Ashley has attended eight of the 32 meetings held since he joined Riverside County's First 5 panel in early 2006.
Ashley said he has several other regular meetings held at the same time, but he always sends a staff member to take notes for him and to keep him informed when he cannot attend the First 5 meetings.
Ashley called Cox's questions about his attendance a "cheap shot" to deflect attention from the lawmaker's attempts to misdirect crucial funding for children.
"We are fighting hard to keep those funds here in Riverside County and use them here in Riverside County for what they are intended to be used for," Ashley said.
It's fur the chil'run.
15 Billion is a lot of money folks,, especially after all the "easy cuts" have been made... and Big Fed ain't got any spare money right now.
When Imploding State Budgets meet Immovable Trojan Gift Horses
Film at 11
Stay tuned to your local batnews on your local batchannel for batty updates.
IOW, the finest socialism that money can buy!
You don’t get good mangement (decision making) until the money gets tight. This is a good thing but it will be painful.
Sounds like a wonderful program. Too bad it's a gov't program and not a charity program. If it is a worthwhile program, I'm sure Californians will step up and fund it.
This is Rob Reiner’s honeypot. Loot it all you want.
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