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 Officials
eye tobacco tax for schools
Associated Press, August 19,
2002
San Francisco Bay Area officials are
looking closely, yet skeptically, at a Los Angeles County
program that provides free preschool using proceeds from state
cigarette taxes.
Los Angeles County residents approved a proposition earlier
this month that allows some of the tobacco-tax money to be
used for early childhood programs. The county plans to phase
in as many as 100,000 children into preschool slots over
several years.
But officials in the Bay Area say a universal preschool
program would not work for every county in the state.
"L.A. has much more money than we have, so that does come with
a certain flexibility," said Brenda Blasingame, executive
director of Contra Costa's Children and Family Commission.
Blasingame said it's better to invest limited resources in the
education and retention of child-care workers than to put the
money on a free preschool system.
In Contra Costa, county cigarette-tax revenue has fallen from
$12.8 million in the first year to $11 million this year.
Los Angeles County agrees it receives more funding than most
counties. Proposition 10, the tobacco-tax measure passed in
1998, generates about $700 million annually for the state and
$165 million for Los Angeles County.
Proposition 10 added a 50-cent tax to a pack of cigarettes and
an additional levy on cigars and pipe tobacco.
California's 58 counties divide the revenue based on local
birthrates and use the money mainly for child-development
programs.
Alpine, California's smallest county, is planning a preschool
program funded by tobacco taxes, but its program would need to
cover only about 20 children.
Since the burden is larger for counties like those in the Bay
Area, most are pursuing other policies in the face of
declining tobacco tax revenues.
San Francisco, which received $8.5 million in the program's
first full year and $7.7 million last fiscal year, considered
a program like Los Angeles County's when its Children and
Families Commission was formed.
Officials decided against it and chose to put much of their
money into programs to supplement the low pay and benefits
earned by child-care providers.
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