Opposing Disinvestment in Our Future

Last fall, the Davis Social Services Commission, of which I am a member, received a rather bleak report about the county-wide child care subsidy program for families with limited resources.  Beset by cuts in state funding, there are over 1500 children, including over 330 in Davis, on a waiting list for such subsidies.  I think it’s fair to say that the “child care crisis” that many report in this nation is alive and well in our community.

Unfortunately, child care is only one one area where we are seeing children and young adults in our community, and communities throughout the state, being directly impacted by the state’s fiscal problems.  The Davis school district has faced – and is once again facing – dire budget cuts.  Tuition at UC Davis and other universities is slated to increase 32 percent.  The Healthy Families program, which assists some of the hundreds of thousands of children without health insurance, is facing cutbacks and outright elimination.  The list goes on and on.

Enough is enough.  Such policies amount to nothing less than what our Commission has termed a “disinvestment in our future.”  As the adage goes, “children are our future.”   And under-investing in our youth directly harms that very future, imperiling California’s ability to produce a new generation of healthy and well-educated adults.  Moreover, such disinvestment is further compounded by the state’s overreliance on borrowing, further robbing opportunities from our next generation to build a healthy, well-educated society.

To counter this disinvestment, the Davis Social Services Commission unanimously recommended to the Davis City Council that it approve a resolution “Opposing the State’s Budget Policies that Amount to a Disinvestment in our Future.”  [Download the .pdf file by clicking HERE]  The Council will be considering this resolution at its Tuesday meeting.  The resolution implores our State Legislature and Governor to prioritize the healthy development and education of children and young adults by reversing such disinvestment as they make their budget decisions this year and beyond.

Granted, I have become acutely aware of this issue since becoming a new dad – not to mention after facing dramatic fee hikes while in law school.  But you don’t have to be a new parent (or, let’s hope not, a lawyer) to see this fundamental argument.  No matter your station in life or your ideological perspective, I think you will agree that such disinvestment needs to cease.

I hope you will join me in urging the City Council to approve this resolution.  Call me overly-idealistic, but I see this idea as a foundation upon which we can build a better state government.  Let’s get to work: email our Council members and come to the meeting on Tuesday.