Early childhood education funding was one of Gavin Newsom’s major campaign promises, and he’s delivering.
Newsom, who’s being sworn in as California’s 40th governor on Monday, is proposing nearly $2 billion in spending on a variety of early education and childcare programs in his first state budget proposal.
An overview of the plan shared with The Chronicle shows that Newsom’s administration’s biggest early education investment proposal will be $750 million in kindergarten funding, so that more schools can implement full-day programs. (When school districts offer only partial-day kindergarten, many lower-income families don’t enroll their children because they can’t pick them up in the middle of the workday.)
Other substantial requests include $747 million to subsidize childcare facilities and to help train childcare workers. There’s also a proposal, which would cost more than $200 million, for programs that provide home visits to low-income expectant parents and health screenings for young children.
