California child care care budget: the bad, the worse, and the ugly.

Oh. My. God. The governator proposes to eliminate CalWORKS and "the remainder of state funding for need‑based, subsidized child care." All but state preschool.

Actually it's a little ambiguous. It says cut all the programs, but then it proposes changes to how the programs are administered, such as requiring programs to recover all overpayments and changing the RMR percentile. It says it's cutting 141,000 slots (I think this is just center-based), but then it says there is enough federal money for 78,000 slots, with an income limit of 60% of the state median income. I presume they put the administrative changes in so they will have some budget cuts left when the Democrats refuse to allow the elimination of CalWORKS and all need-based subsidized child care programs.

Come on, guys*. It's time to put on your big-girl panties and raise taxes. I'm not the most affluent person in the state, but I could live with, say, a 10% increase in my state taxes in order not to cut these programs. I wonder how much effect a 10% increase in state income tax revenue would have.

I will repeat myself. Voting Republican is a character fault. Voting Republican enthusiastically is a personality disorder.

*I almost called legislators a word I try not to use except literally; it is a colloquial name for a body part and means a weak-willed person. I can think of several other body-part names that would also be appropriate, though rude.