TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Normally it's the government that subsidizes child care at Toddler Tech Preschool in downtown Bakersfield.

But this summer, like last summer, Toddler Tech owner Caroline Clausen is footing the bill -- to the tune of about $10,000 a month -- out of her retirement savings.

Clausen will probably be reimbursed soon, assuming lawmakers in Sacramento can come to an agreement on how to close the state's $19 billion budget gap.

However, even if the state continues to fund child care for low-income families -- and some people fear it won't -- troubles facing local preschools and day care centers are far from over. Unemployment and the slow economy have forced many families to consider other, perhaps cheaper alternatives. such as leaving the kids at home with grandma, a situation people in the industry say is not always ideal.

The economic impacts could spread well beyond child care centers. Parents who cannot find someone to watch their children during the day sometimes end up quitting their job or switching to a lower-paid position with more flexible hours.

Steve Sanders, head of a local agency that administers state child care money and offers preschool referrals, used terms like "double whammy" and "domino effect" to describe the dilemma facing parents as well as Bakersfield's 800 or so licensed child care providers.

Delayed payments and uncertainty regarding state funding "directly impacts parents' ability to make sure their kid's in a nurturing place and lets them work in the work force," said Sanders, administrator at Community Connection for Child Care.

The situation is loaded with irony. In recent years civic leaders have called for increasing the number of child care centers in Kern County. They pointed to a shortage of centers as compared with the growing number of families expected to need of such services in coming years.

Hard-hit

And yet, over the last two years, local child care centers and preschools accustomed to putting newcomers on waiting lists have instead reported openings for new children. Some have even closed.

Business is down more than 20 percent from three years ago at ABC Preschool Academy on Rosedale Highway and Angels Preschool on Niles Street, owner Ronetta Krauter said. She blames the economy, noting that parents who get laid off tend to stay home with their kids.

Krauter, who offers some government-subsidized child care but not as much as some centers around town, said she hasn't raised tuition costs for three years despite ever-increasing overhead and other costs. When parents pull out their kids, she said, many say they'll re-enroll as soon as they can afford it again.

The director of Mercy Child Car Center on Ashe Road, Sharon Brown, said some of her customers are only just able to keep up with payments. They only send their children to the center because they have to work during the day to hold onto health and dental insurance benefits, she said.

"We have several people who struggle with that right now, who struggle with, 'I need to have my children here,'" Brown said.

Cut off by the state

Many preschools and child care centers in town provide both private-pay and government-subsidized care, which helps keep revenues steady. But now one of those sources is all but dry.

Two major local conduits of state child care funding have sharply cut back or suspended payments for subsidized preschool and day care programs pending resolution of the state budget impasse.

Last week the nonprofit Community Action Partnership of Kern announced that, come Tuesday, preschoolers at its 48 Head Start centers across the county will be able to attend its Head Start programs for no more than three and a half hours a day instead of the usual nine hours.

For infants and toddlers enrolled in a similar program run by the Partnership, day-care hours are expected to be cut to six hours a day instead of nine. A third program for children of migrant workers is being suspended entirely starting Sept. 10.

The nonprofit said these cuts could mean layoffs or reduced work hours for as many as 275 of its employees.

Community Connection for Child Care sent a letter July 30 warning local centers it pays for certain preschool and day care that they would no longer receive reimbursements starting this month. The one-page notice expressed worry that payments might not resume.

"Although we have been told that child care funding will will most likely remain in the final budget, we simply will not know until the final budget deal is approved," Sanders, the organization's administrator, wrote in the letter.

Contacted last week by telephone, Sanders called the situation "awful." He said that although payments were suspended temporarily last year because of budget problems in Sacramento, the organization has never before had to raise the possibility that reimbursements would stop altogether.

Although Sanders said he feels sorry for centers already facing tough times, he expressed hope that they could somehow borrow money to keep operating.

"Obviously we hope that they don't (shut down) because the parents and the kids need those services," he said.

If nothing else, the pressures facing child care centers have made it easier for parents to find a child care slot.

Parents looking for traditional, hourly child care "are going to have a much easier time finding it now than they would a few years ago" as a result of the economy and the budget stalemate, said Lisa Duncan-Purcell, program manager at Community Connection for Child Care.

But she added that parents should stay vigilant because there's not necessarily a direct relationship between the price and the quality of child care.