AT JUST A FEW MINUTES before midnight last night in one of the most critical state budget votes in history, Sen. Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks) just couldn't contain himself. He needed to poke fun at President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's admonition to all senators to sit down before voting on three stopgap measures designed to keep our state from running out of money.

"I'm just checking, Mr. President. I'm not trying to be a pain in the butt," he joked.

And then came the 25-14 party-line vote, with Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria)  abstaining, which turned down three stopgap bills passed by the Assembly last week, which would effectively keep the state from issuing IOUs to contractors, the disabled, elderly and the poor. Passage of these bills, containing $3.3 billion in cuts, mostly to education, needed to happen before the end of the fiscal year that ended Tuesday. As the cuts were allocated to the previous fiscal year, the opportunity to save was lost at midnight. According to the Los Angeles Times, issuing IOUs will cost the state another $3.4 billion in interest.

The moment of levity at a time of fiscal calamity irked Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco)  "We're about to lose $7 billion in 6 minutes. ... Folks are joking and it's really just beyond belief."

Later, Assemblymember Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo), who helped seal the bipartisan deal in the Assembly  told John Myers of KQED-Radio that he was disappointed in the outcome in the Senate. "The Assembly acted responsibly..."

ON A SIDE NOTE: The governor of course vetoed the two budget bills presented to him yesterday. (See below) No surprise.

WOULD YOU SUPPORT a program developed with years of solid research that puts young children and their parents on the right track for a lifetime of success? What if you could find a dedicated source of funding for that program, paid for by taxes on tobacco products, and the programs had local control and strict oversight?

That's exactly what the successful Five 5 programs have done since Prop. 10 was passed in 1998. Yet these programs seem to be a continual target of legislative raids. In 2000, voters overwhelmingly rejected a measure, funded mostly by tobacco interests, to overturn Prop. 10. Voters are being asked to circumvent it again through Prop. 1D on the May 19 special election ballot.

What Prop. 1D would do is take approximately $1.68 billion in dedicated funding away from established, locally controlled learning, health and family programs for preschoolers and their families and give the money instead to the state legislature to appropriate for non-specified state children's programs.

According to information provided by the Community Commission of Ventura County, "in Ventura County this would result in the loss of as much as $24.4 million over the next five years meant for sustaining current local First 5 Programs for our young children."

Yet, that is ISN'T made clear in the ballot proposition at all, as the video I've linked to above shows.

State Sen. Dave Cox has been trying to take down Prop. 10 for years. The Republican senator, who has seen more than his share of contributions from the tobacco industry, was one of the few GOP votes for the budget back in February, and many believe the run at Prop. 10 funding to help balance the state's budget was inserted to get the termed-out senator's vote.

Cox and others point to nearly $2 billion in county commission fund balances that is seemingly ripe for the taking. But, according to Michael M. Ruane, Executive Director of the Children and Families Commission of Orange County, "About half of the total, cited statewide fund balance is in two counties, Los Angeles and Orange counties. Of the Los Angeles total, over 60 percent is encumbered in a single multi-year program to provide preschool in the county's lowest income communities."

Ruane's letter can be downloaded here:

First 5 commissions are also hoping to use reserves to backfill funding as people quit smoking and tobacco tax revenues decline. Revenues are projected to decline about 3-4 percent each year.

FIRST 5 PROGRAMS are based on established research from many sources which indicate early childhood programs and intervention have long-term and profound impacts on keeping children in their important early formative years interested in learning and on a path to success.

The Ventura Neighborhood for Learning (VNfL) is a focus area for the Ventura Education Partnership and I have personally observed the good work they do. I spoke with VNfL Director Cathy Puccetti, who explained that an analysis she had read stated Prop. 1D would divert up to 65 percent of her program's operating revenues over the next five years.

Local First 5 funds are used for services such as childbirth preparation; parent and infant/toddler classes; preschool programs; summer pre-kindergarten; developmental check-ups; early dental care and education; health insurance access; parenting support and education; and resource and referral services.

"If the children don't get these services now they will need more later," Puccetti said. "We are also trying to get the parents to value education and their role in the family." VNfL's programs are neighborhood-based, and housed primarily in schools serving low-income populations. They are highly utilized by poor, hard-working families, Puccetti said. And some of these children have severe behavior issues that need to be addressed. "We provide services before children meet eligibility requirements for other funding streams."

Puccetti bristles at the often-heard charge that First 5 serves a primarily illegal immigrant population. "Some of our most needy families are not immigrant families," she said.

As tempting a target as preschool programs are to help solve the state's budget crisis, I urge the legislature and the voters to look elsewhere. Cutting off these thoughtful, long-term programs as a means of short-term financial gain is unwise.

"It's hard for people to think proactively," Puccetti said.

But we must try.

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