Head Begin program seems protected from Trump — for now

As nonprofits, applications and advocates throughout the nation brace for deep cuts from President Donald Trump and his administration throughout this 12 months’s price range course of, one widespread early childhood program seems to be protectedwrites CalMatters’ Carolyn Jones.

The 60-year-old Head Begin program gives low-income households early childhood training, meals and parenting help. Final 12 months it served 800,000 kids from beginning via age 5, together with 83,000 children in California.

This system is comparatively cost-efficient: In comparison with a personal preschool in California, which may value greater than $20,000 per pupil a 12 months, Head Begin’s per-pupil annual value is roughly $13,700. However Trump’s preliminary April price range plan had the $12.27 billion program on the chopping block.

The potential elimination of this system kicked off an intense campaign led by Head Begin workers, households and advocates who argued that this system was very important for retaining households out of poverty. Congress obtained greater than 300,000 letters and petitions to save lots of this system amassed greater than 48,000 signatures.

The fierce marketing campaign appears to have been profitable: Trump’s newest price range proposal launched final week doesn’t contact this system. It’s a placing win on condition that the company that oversees Head Begin, the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers, is dealing with dramatic cuts, together with a greater than 20% discount in workforce.

However the uncertainty of different applications intertwined with Head Begin, akin to Medicaid, and the truth that the price range might change imply Head Begin isn’t out of the woods simply but.

• Tommy Sheridandeputy director of the Nationwide Head Begin Affiliation: “Folks are scared. The fact that eliminating Head Start was even under consideration has been scary.”

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The imaginative and prescient? Enable colleges to instantly invoice well being insurers, permitting them to rent extra workers and provide extra companies.

In observe? Greater than a 12 months after some college districts have been presupposed to implement the brand new billing modifications, solely a small portion have begun doing soexperiences CalMatters’ Ana B. Ibarra.

In response to rising charges of despair and nervousness amongst younger college students, California in 2021 launched a five-year, $4.7 billion initiative to increase psychological well being companies and workforce. One piece of the initiative included a brand new billing program for colleges to cost Medi-Cal and personal insurers for psychological well being companies.

The California Division of Well being Care Providers, tasked with overseeing implementation of the brand new billing practices, set July 2024 as a rollout goal. However solely 14 college districts and county workplaces of training have begun billing for behavioral well being companies, out of a complete of 494 which have signed up to take action.

College leaders say that delayed steerage and coaching from the state are contributing to the sluggish rollout. In Santa Clara County, the delays in reimbursement pressured its workplace of training to inform its psychological well being workers about potential layoffs.

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In its nineteenth lawsuit in opposition to the present Trump administration, California Lawyer Common Rob Bonta stated Wednesday that the state is suing the U.S. Federal Freeway Administration for blocking funds geared in the direction of constructing electrical car chargers throughout the nation.

California joins 16 different states in submitting the lawsuit, which accuses the administration of illegally withholding $5 billion that Congress had already appropriated to states. Along with the $300 million California might lose, Bonta stated hundreds of jobs are in danger.

• Bontaat a press convention in Burlingame: “California has already signed nearly $37 million in contracts … to construct EV chargers, with projects along major travel corridors, ready to move into construction. But the Federal Highway Administration’s actions threaten to delay construction and stop local industries from building these chargers.”

Electrical automobiles are essential to California’s formidable objectives to scale back carbon emissions. About 30% of recent zero-emission automobiles bought within the U.S. are bought in Californiain accordance with the California Air Sources Board. However the state lacks a strong community of charging stations — particularly whether it is to help the 7 million electrical vehicles which might be anticipated to be on its highway by 2030.