Early Edge California warns May Revise falls short on child care

By AI, Created 4:37 PM UTC, May 18, 2026, /AGP/ – Early Edge California says Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May Revise preserves key early learning funding but misses chances to expand child care slots, protect cost-of-living adjustments and support providers. The group says the final budget should do more for families, young children and the early learning workforce before approval.

Why it matters: - California families are still dealing with high housing, gas and food costs, making affordable child care a core economic issue, not just an education issue. - Early Edge California says the state budget must support enough child care slots and provider wages to keep programs stable. - The group argues that stronger child care funding would help families, support the workforce and improve business conditions across the state.

What happened: - Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May Revise preserves some early learning investments while addressing a potential state deficit. - Early Edge California praised continued support for Transitional Kindergarten and noted the administration’s efforts to stabilize the state budget. - The group also flagged major gaps in the proposal, including no plan to fund an additional 44,000 child care slots and no dedicated funding for an alternative payment methodology that reflects the true cost of care. - The May Revise also rolls back child care cost-of-living adjustments.

The details: - The proposal includes $15 million for the 21st Century California School Leadership Academy to train school leaders on student outcomes and universal transitional kindergarten. - The May Revise sets a $5 billion one-time Proposition 98 Discretionary Block Grant, up $2.8 billion from January. - The block grant includes literacy support for English learners and developmentally appropriate instruction for TK. - The California State Preschool Program COLA drops from 2.41% in January to 2.01%. - Child care and development programs administered by the Department of Social Services also move to a 2.01% COLA after a 30% reduction in the revised 2026-27 proposal. - The proposal keeps a one-time $11.8 million investment for child care infrastructure in wildfire-affected communities, up $308,000 from January. - Beginning in 2026-27, TK-12 local educational agencies and community colleges must provide up to 14 weeks of paid pregnancy disability leave to employees. - That leave requirement applies to TK and school-based state preschool programs, but not community-based state preschool programs.

Between the lines: - Early Edge California sees the budget as a mixed signal: strong on Universal TK, weaker on the child care system that supports working families and providers. - The biggest tension is between maintaining headline early learning investments and fully funding the underlying cost of care. - The group’s criticism suggests the budget may preserve access in some areas while leaving providers under pressure. - Early Edge California is also pushing for equity across the entire early learning and care workforce, not just school-based settings.

What’s next: - Early Edge California says the Governor and Legislature still can restore COLA and fund additional child care slots before the budget is finalized. - The group is urging adoption of the alternative methodology through Assembly Bill 1981 (Aguiar-Curry) to advance true cost of care reform. - Early Edge California also wants paid pregnancy leave extended to the full early learning and care workforce. - The organization says it will keep working with the administration and Legislature on the final budget deal.

The bottom line: - The May Revise keeps early learning moving forward, but advocates say California still has time to do more for child care access, provider pay and family stability.