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Officials, researchers and providers press for sustained funding, rate reform in state preschool expansion
Summary
Researchers and agency officials told lawmakers California has expanded preschool access but faces gaps for 2‑ and 3‑year‑olds, one‑time funding that will sunset and a workforce paid far less than K‑12 peers; community providers urged making 2‑year‑old flexibility permanent and switching to enrollment‑based reimbursement to stabilize programs.
Chair opened the joint Assembly hearing on early childhood funding by summarizing the governor’s January budget, noting a $3 billion proposed investment for state preschool with $2 billion in Proposition 98 for LEA programs and $1 billion for non‑LEA programs.
Hannah Melnick of the Learning Policy Institute said California has substantially expanded access to public preschool: “we went from serving just 42% of our 4 year olds in 2019 to 62% last year across our public programs.” She told the committees that increasing access for 3‑year‑olds, improving application and enrollment systems, funding facility conversions and closing a preschool‑teacher pay gap must be priorities to reach the master‑plan goals.
State Department of Social Services…
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