Why child care could be 'at a standstill' as California plans not to expand subsidized spaces

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Jazmine Locke has filled out the paperwork and checked all the boxes.As a middle-income worker, she qualifies for California-subsidized day care for her 7-month-old daughter.

Yet she holds little hope she will ever make it off the waitlist.Her older son, now 12, never did.“In my mind, I plan to pay for child care until she doesn’t need it anymore,” said Locke, who lives in Antelope Valley.

“That’s not until high school, pretty much.” Locke, like thousands of other families and providers, is confronting the effects of stalled progress to expand in California’s child-care industry after Gov.Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget — with an estimated $3-billion deficit — did not fund his promised expansion of subsidized child care for the second straight year.The proposal is a blow for low- and middle-income working parents who were hoping that affordable child care would be in their future.

But the demand is so high among eligible families that they remain on waitlists for years, and many children age out before they secure a spot.Leaders in the child-care industry are disappointed that Newsom, who has championed early childhood education, has not fulfilled his pledge.

“We are in a difficult budget situation right now, both within California, as well as so much uncertainty federally right now,” said Nina Buthee, executive director of EveryChild California.“But realizing that this is our child-care governor, there was a lot that was promised to the early care and education field, which I feel is half-done.”Engage with our community-funded journalism as we delve into child care, transitional kindergarten, health and other issues affecting children from birth through age 5.The median cost for full-time care for an infant in Los Angeles County is $1,209 a month at a family child-care home and $1,818 a month at a center in 2024, according to data from the Californ...