A Petition to California Lawmakers from Families Experiencing the Childcare Crisis

Petition

We, the signers of this petition, are parents, guardians, caretakers, and teachers, and we rely on childcare in California. Our state is in a childcare crisis. Costs are too high to families; teachers and staff are underpaid; and most centers and family childcare homes actually lose money or operate just above break-even. As a result, most counties continue to lose childcare spots (when there already were not enough), and many communities have become “childcare deserts” with no childcare options at all.

The state’s rollout of Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) offers families a welcome solution once their children turn four. However, by funding UTK only in public schools, UTK has decimated enrollment at private centers and family childcare homes, so that by expanding childcare for four-year-olds in public schools, the state has lost hundreds of spots for infants, toddlers, two-year-olds, and three-year-olds.

We understand that worrisome projections regarding California’s budget and changes at the federal level mean that a true “fix” to the childcare crisis–which would be extraordinarily costly–is out of reach. However, we can and must at least get out of our own way.

Below are several examples of reforms that can be made to the regulations and to the licensing agency (Department of Social Services or “DSS”), which would not affect any protections for health and safety, but which would help California keep its childcare providers open and create more childcare spots. Individual signatories may not support every proposal below, but we all agree that some reforms and oversight are badly needed to ensure the childcare industry remains viable.

Example proposals:

Require CCLD to fully implement AB2131 and offer a “single license”. In 2022, the Legislature passed AB2131, which was meant to provide childcare centers with much-needed flexibility in how they operate, specifically in response to the rollout of UTK.  AB2131 attempted reform by requiring the DSS to adopt regulations to create a “single license” regime and eliminate the convoluted structure of separate licenses for infants, preschoolers, school-age kids, and the “toddler option component.” In practice, however, the only change DSS has implemented is to give centers one “facility number” in DSS’s system, instead of two or three. The legislature should compel CCLD to fully implement AB2131, which would allow any center licensed as a “childcare center” to re-organize quickly in response to changes, whether day-to-day (e.g., allowing the remaining few children across age-groups to commingle for the last minutes of the day to reduce staffing costs); seasonal (e.g., convert classrooms used for preschoolers during the school-year into school-age summer camp rooms in summer); or sea-change like the implementation of UTK (e.g., allow a center to convert its empty 4-year-old classroom into a toddler or infant classroom without the need for a months-long full “relicensing” process).

Codify the old “80%” rule for family childcare homes into law. Under Title 22 section 102417(a), the licensee of a family childcare home is required to be on site 80% of the time. In years past, DSS interpreted this to mean 80% of the time across the year, so the facility could still be open when the licensee traveled for a funeral, needed surgery, or went on vacation (with fully-qualified staff running the daycare in the days the licensee was away). Recently, however, DSS has begun interpreting this regulation to require the licensee to be on site 80% of the time every day. As a result, licensees must now close completely if they need to attend a funeral or get surgery (two real-life examples), otherwise they risk receiving a licensing citation. This deprives families of their care, and the staff and licensee of income, for no apparent benefit. Many would-be providers have decided not to open an in-home care after learning of the rule. DSS should be required to revert to the former interpretation of the rule, which allowed for in-home cares to remain open when the licensee had reason to be away for short periods of time.

Eliminate the requirement that DSS inspect every applicant’s bank account. Health and Safety Code section 1596.95(c) allows DSS to require applicants to prove they have “sufficient financial resources” during the initial application for a license. DSS has relied on this provision to impose a requirement during the application process that the applicant give DSS access to the applicant’s bank accounts, which often takes weeks to complete.  The Department’s stated rationale is that it wants to ensure the applicant has enough working capital to stay in business for at least three months.  This makes no sense for two reasons.  First, the amount the Department wants to see in the account far exceeds what would be needed to stay open for three months, even with little or no enrollment.  Second, an applicant can only get to this step after signing a lease or purchasing the space, building out and furnishing the classrooms, and potentially hiring staff.  To deny a license after all that because the Department thinks the business does not have enough money to last three months will only guarantee the business dies before Day 1.

Speed the licensing process by setting a deadline for DSS to process applications. DSS currently takes months or even years to review even basic applications, affecting both the businesses and families. Title 22 section 101178 should be reformed to simply impose a reasonably urgent deadline for DSS to review and process applications.

Allow nearby public parks to serve as the required outdoor activity space. The regulations require every provider to offer outdoor activity space. In urban areas in particular, most commercial spaces that could serve as childcare centers do not have available outdoor space to be converted into a playground. Outdoor play for children is critical for development, but the space need not be connected to a center. Other states (Pennsylvania, for example) allow public parks that are within reasonable walking distance to serve as the outdoor space, and the classes merely walk each day.

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Childcare is a vital part of California’s economic infrastructure, supporting the labor force and helping children develop the social and emotional skills needed to succeed in elementary school and beyond.  We implore our elected representatives to eliminate the arbitrary constraints that are pushing many preschools, childcare centers, and family childcare homes to the verge of collapse.