From Dan Ritchey - House Appropriations and Finance Committee hears pleas for more early childhood funding

[LaWanda Albright]

Hello everyone,

The House Appropriations and Finance Committee saw the faces of some
of the mothers helped by child care assistance, the NM PreK Program
and home visiting at its meeting Monday and heard pleas from them to
remember how important the programs are to families and children.

Faith Arvizu, the NM PreK Program coordinator at Children's Garden,
which has several early childhood centers in Las Cruces, said, "We are
a 5-star, accredited program. We have (child care) subsidy clients
who are going to be feeling these losses (in funding)." She said
that as an undergraduate at New Mexico State University, she was one
of the mothers using child care subsidy to go to school. She was able
to get her Bachelor's in Early Childhood Education. "If I didn't
have that subsidy, I wouldn't be where I am today...," she said, her
voice choked with emotion. "I want you to know how much I appreciate
the help that you gave me and I just want to see that continue for
other mothers." If funding isn't provided at higher levels (than the
current 100% of the Federal Poverty Level), help won't be available
for many mothers like herself.

After a long hearing, the House committee adopted the Legislative
Finance Committee (LFC) recommendation for the CYFD budget for Fiscal
Year 2012, starting July 1, but referred the whole budget to a
subcommittee chaired by Rep. Rhonda King to work out differences with
the Gov. Susana Martinez's proposed CYFD budget. One main difference
was that the governor's budget provides $3 million more for child care
assistance and would continue to serve people currently in the program
up to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). The LFC budget would
disenroll about 850 children whose families earn between 150% and 200%
of the FPL. Both budgets call for providing assistance to new
applicants only if they earn 100% of the FPL or less. For a family of
two, 100% of FPL is $14,570 a year in income. For a family of four,
it is $22,050.

The governor's budget also cuts about $1 million from the current CYFD
PreK budget, while the LFC proposes keeping the CYFD PreK budget about
the same. The governor's budget also provides somewhat less for
home visiting than the LFC budget.

Arvizu said her son had been in the NM PreK Program at Children's
Garden. The state contracts with private centers and community
programs to serve about half of the NM PreK Program's children.
Public schools contract to do the other half. "I have seen a
correlation between my son's performance in school and the NM PreK
Program," she said. The PreK program makes a difference, she said.

Since the House committee will continue to look at the CYFD budget,
please let members know about your concerns. In particular, contact
the members of the Health/CYFD Subcommittee. The subcommittee
members are Rhonda King, chair; Antonio Lujan, Ray Begaye, Don Tripp,
James Smith and Larry Larrañaga. A full list of committee members
and their contact information is at the end of this email.

Alejandra Wernicke of Socorro, carrying her infant son Trey in a sling
in front of her, testified about how much a home visitor had meant to
her. "I don't have any family in Socorro. The home visitor was the
only person who came to visit me and the baby in the hospital. It was
really, really important." Trey lost weight in the hospital and
after they were at home, she had trouble with breast feeding. The
home visitor came almost every day to provide advice, and even cooked
a couple of meals for the family. "I was just exhausted. These are
little things that make a big difference in a family's life." She
talked about how people would suggest she do one thing or another with
her baby. "Not everybody has the right information," she said, and
the home visitor was well-educated and referred her to studies that
showed what was best.

Chelsea Sanchez, who has three children, works as a paralegal and
studies psychology in college, said that prior to qualifying for child
care assistance, she was earning 160% of the Federal Poverty Level --
enough, she said, to "live in a decent neighborhood where drugs
weren't sold in front of my house." Before she got child care
assistance, she had her children in a family home child care. Every
day when she picked them up, the children had Kool-Aid and Cheetos
dust all over their faces. She knew that kind of food wasn't good
for children, but "I didn't have a choice" about care. Now, with
child care assistance, her children go to a Southwest Child Care and
Education Center in Albuquerque. Southwest has several centers, and
is a contractor with NM PreK. "My 3-year-old has the vocabulary of a
5-year-old. My 4-year-old can read. My 6-year-old in
kindergarten ... is reading at a third-grade level. It's the direct
result of the child care they are able to get now."

Chelsea also said that she pays about $500 in taxes per month because
she is working and in school, which child care assistance makes
possible. If she stopped working and just stayed home with her
children -- which she would have to do without child care assistance
-- she would probably cost the state or federal government $900 a
month in cash aid. The state is much better off financially by
providing the child care assistance to mothers like herself.

Crystal Sandoval, president of the NM Child Care and Education
Association, told the committee that the 100% of the FPL (and below)
that the state now funds for new applicants for child care assistance
means that if the wage-earner of a family of two earns $7.50 and hour
or more, the family doesn't qualify for assistance. "Many families
can't survive on that," she said. The budgets proposed by the
governor and LFC both call for continuing the 4% provider rate cuts
implemented in Fall 2010. She said, "We are seeing programs that
don't know how to meet payroll." One program in Albuquerque had to
take out a loan to cover payroll. "We bare our hearts. Please be
there to support us." Both the governor's and the LFC's budgets call
for continuing the 4% cuts in provider rates through Fiscal Year 2012.

Barbara Luna Tedrow, owner of Gold Star Academy in Farmington, said,
"Being a business owner, we have always strived for quality. We have
worked diligently to educate legislators about quality (in early
childhood education)." She referred to the "starvation" that CYFD
Secretary designate Yolanda Deines had said the agency was facing.
"I'm afraid starvation means we will lose quality. That's what
happens when you don't have choices." She reminded legislators that
investments in high quality early childhood education pay off tenfold
later on.

Baji Rankin, Executive Director of the NM Association for the
Education of Young Children, told the committee that the stories the
committee was hearing were very moving and powerful. "I hope they
move you." She added one other point, "Not only is child care and
early childhood education very beneficial for children and families;
it is critical for economic growth in New Mexico."

It was Secretary-designate Deines's first appearance before the House
committee, and she did tell the committee that budget cuts over the
past few years have put CYFD in a tough situation. "We are really at
the point of starvation. If we are truly committed to the children of
this state, we need to take a hard look at this." She reported that
the vacancy rate in CYFD positions is running at 15% since the
previous administration's blanket hiring freeze in the Fall of
2010. She will be looking at filling critical positions soon.
She said CYFD can put any money it gets to good use, but said in these
hard economic times, the department is committed to making responsible
choices so that each dollar is spent at the "best and highest
efficiency."

Deines said she has been meeting with staff in programs of the most
concern, and referred to early childhood. "I am a believer that we
have to address these (behavioral and developmental) issues at the
earliest age possible so the children don't end up in the juvenile
justice system." At the same time, she said, "we do have children in
these (juvenile justice) systems and we have to serve them." (A total
of 250 youths were in all of the state's juvenile facilities as of
Monday.)

Rep. Rhonda King asked the secretary-designate about how many children
are on the waiting list for child care assistance. Deines said that
4,438 children are on the waiting list. (A total of 24,000 are being
served by the program.) The families on the waiting list have
incomes between 100% and 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. King
asked how many were from families at different incomes. The LFC
budget would disenroll those over 150% of FPL.

Deines said the breakdown was 100-125% -- 1,833 children; 125-149% --
1,369 children; 150-175% -- 687 children; and 176-200% -- 549
children. King noted that 70% of the children on the waiting list
are from families earning below 150% of the FPL.

Rep. Danice Picraux said the state was doing women a disservice by
making child care unavailable and forcing them back on cash assistance
and being at home. "What we are doing is pennywise and pound
foolish."

A couple of representatives of domestic violence shelters spoke and
said the programs are facing 40% cuts since Fiscal Year 2009, and that
it will lead to as many as one-third of the shelters in the state
closing. The governor and the LFC recommended the same amount --
$9.6 million -- in domestic violence program funding for FY 2012.

"It is my hope that the domestic violence community will come together
and the urban agencies will help to provide services in rural
communities. . . . I would hope closures would not be as high as one-
third," Deines said.

Picraux said of the cuts to domestic violence shelters, "That is a
tremendous cut in funding, and I don't think there has been a
tremendous cut in demand." Rep. Ray Begaye asked Deines if
statistics were kept on whether domestic violence incidence rises with
bad economic times. Deines said she would try to get the statistics
from shelters and other programs. Begaye noted that women in
Shiprock often have to go to Durango, CO, to get help. "It shouldn't
be," he said. "They are New Mexico citizens."

Begaye also asked Deines to look into calculating family income
differently for child care assistance. He referred to someone coming
to work temporarily at the Roundhouse and bringinig their children to
Santa Fe. They had basically been unemployed for the past year, with
almost no income. Yet CYFD looked only at the $10 an hour the family
would earn during the legislative session. He suggested that the
CYFD should look at income for the past year, not simply what a person
is making this week in determining eligibility. Deines said she will
ask staff to look into the issue.

Rep. Jimmie Hall asked about possible "double dipping" in which
families are using child care assistance and also the NM PreK Program
at the same early childhood center.

Diana Gonzales, acting director of Early Childhood Services of CYFD,
said that out of the 2,067 children served by CYFD PreK, 127 also
received child care assistance with full-time contracts. A child is
considered "full-time" if he or she gets 30 hours or more a week of
center care. The cost to the state in child care assistance was
$75,600 for the 127 last year.

"It's not really a double dipping situation," Deines said. "It is two
programs under the same roof." She said what the state pays for in
child care is the time spent in child care. "The time in NM PreK is
outside the child care time."

Rep. Conrad James asked how many years the average family on child
care assistance remains in the program and whether there was a time
limit (such as the five-year limit to getting TANF benefits).

Deines said that a child is eligible for child care assistance up
until the child's 13th birthday, and she did not think there was any
limit on the number of years a family could get the assistance. She
said she could look into the current participants in the program and
find out how long they have been in the program.

The total CYFD budget under the governor's plan calls for spending
$83.2 million in FY 2012, and under the LFC plan $79.7 million.


House Appropriations and Finance Committee

Chair, Rep. Henry “Kiki” Saavedra, Democrat, District 10, businessman,
2838 2nd St. SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, (Capitol) 986-4316, (wk)
505-350-0486, (h) 505-242-9582, (email) none.

Deputy chair, Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela, Democrat, District 48,
retired, 1709 Callejon Zenaida, Santa Fe, NM 87501, (Capitol)
986-4318, (h) 505-982-1292, (email) none.

Vice chair, Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, Democrat, District 9, director of
N.M. Council of Governments, 3406 Bluehill Avenue, Gallup, NM 87301,
(Capitol) 986-4435, (wk) 505-722-4327, (email)
patricia....@nmlegis.gov

Rep. Ray Begaye, Democrat, District 4, businessman, Box 609, Shiprock,
NM 87420, (Capitol) 986-4436, (email) ray.b...@nmlegis.gov

Rep. William Gray, Republican, District 54, retired, 1503 W. Dallas
Ave., Artesia, NM 88210, (Capitol) 986-4226, (h) 575-746-2849, (email)
wjg...@pvtnetworks.net

Rep. Joni Marie Gutierrez, Democrat, District 33, landscape architect,
Box 842, Mesilla, NM 88046, (Capitol) 986-4234, (wk) 575-647-5577, (h)
575-526-5079, (email) jo...@zianet.com

Rep. Jimmie Hall, Republican, District 28, foundation director, 13008
Gray Hills Road NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111, (Capitol) 986-4215, (h)
505-294-6178, ljimmi...@nmlegis.gov

Rep. Conrad James, Republican, District 24, research engineering,
12020 Baja Drive NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111, (Capitol) 986-4211, (wk)
505-284-9546, (h) 505-323-4482, conradjam...@gmail.com

Rep. Rhonda S. King, Democrat, District 50, small business owner, Box
6, Stanley, NM 87056, (Capitol) 986-4438, (wk) 505-832-5050, (h)
505-832-4603, (email) none

Rep. Larry Larrañaga, Republican, District 27, consulting engineer,
7716 Lamplighter NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109, (Capitol) 986-4215, (h)
505-821-4948, (email) la...@larranaga.com

Rep. Antonio Lujan, Democrat, District 35, consultant, 429 1/2 San
Pedro, Las Cruces, NM 88001, (Capitol) 986-4436, (h) 575-524-9519,
(email) alu...@q.com

Rep. Danice Picraux, Democrat, District 25, educator, 4308 Avenida La
Resolana NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110, (Capitol) 986-4438, (h)
505-232-2977, (email) danice....@nmlegis.gov

Rep. Nick L. Salazar, Democrat, District 40, government relations, Box
1076, Ohkay Owingeh, NM 87566, (Capitol) 986-4433, (wk) 505-667-0362,
(h) 505-852-4178, (email) none.

Rep. James E. Smith, Republican, District 22, teacher, Box 1783,
Sandia Park, NM 87047, (Capitol) 986-4467, (wk) 505-934-1075, (h)
505-934-1075, j...@jimsmithnm.com

Rep. Don. L. Tripp, Republican, District 49, jeweler, Box 1369,
Socorro, NM 87801, (Capitol) 986-4220, (wk) 575-835-2456, (h)
575-835-0766, (email)
trip...@netscape.net

Rep. Richard D. Vigil, Democrat, District 70, Box 456, Ribera, NM
87560, (Capitol) 986-4242, (wk) 505-425-9793, (h) 575-421-1104,
rrrv...@plateautel.net

Rep. Jeannette O. Wallace, Republican, District 43, retired, 1913
Spruce St., Los Alamos, NM 87544, (Capitol) 986-4452, (h) 661-2575,
(email) Wal...@losalamos.com

Rep. James P. White, Republican, District 20, occupation not listed,
1554 Catron Ave. SE, Albuquerque, NM 87123, (Capitol) 986-4452, (h)
505-271-4746, james...@nmlegis.gov

To write to a representative in Santa Fe, address the letter to Rep.
------- ------ , New Mexico House of Representatives, State Capitol
Building, Santa Fe, NM 87501.

Dan Ritchey
Early Childhood Educator
(505) 243-5437