California’s gubernatorial candidates will spend much time talking about affordability from now until November—especially now that the state’s long-term funding problems will fall to them to solve. But to win over Californians, child care must be part of that conversation.
After representing working families in the California Legislature, advocating for grocery workers as a labor leader, and now leading a public media station, I’ve seen firsthand that child care is the infrastructure holding our state together. As we saw in the New York mayoral race when Zohran Mamdani won on an affordability platform centered on child care, it has become an indicator of whether leaders understand how Americans live.
For millions of California families, child care is their biggest challenge. Without affordable, reliable care, parents cannot work. If they cannot work, they cannot stay afloat in one of the country’s most expensive states. Parents are making impossible choices to stay employed, like leaving their young children home alone to work a night shift. Many working parents’ entire paycheck goes towards child care.
Elected officials from both parties have long spoken about the importance of families to our state’s future. Child care is one of the few bipartisan issues. But priorities are measured by budgets, policy decisions, and sustained leadership, not political speeches.
That’s why this governor’s race matters so much. Raising a family is becoming a rare luxury. Many young people are opting not to have children at all. This is especially true in the Inland Empire. 44% of children live below 200% of the poverty line, around $55,000 for a family of three. Our child care providers—educators helping raise the next generation—are struggling to stay afloat.
We know how to bring child care within reach for all families—but no governor has had the will to do so.
Every governor champions an agenda that influences the state’s priorities for the next 4 to 8 years. By wielding the executive power, administrative influence, and convening authority that comes with governorship, California’s next governor can prove that child care is central to the state’s future.
The governor has direct power over ensuring sustainable, dedicated sources of funding for child care—one of the four fundamental factors that create a strong child care system. Not just by including items in the state budget that reduce costs for families or ensure child care is included in disaster recovery funding, but by leveraging diverse funding streams.
He can also influence flexible care options for families, the provider workforce pipeline, and efforts to simplify our current patchwork system through political pressure and administrative directives. Just as Governor Newsom’s focus on homelessness led to accountability measures, cutting housing development red tape, and amplification of existing, successful housing models, Becerra or Hilton can use their station to make child care everyone’s priority.
System change doesn’t happen in a silo. The governor must use his authority to convene local leaders and lawmakers and set the expectation that their jurisdictions will work together to achieve an affordable, accessible child care system statewide. They have the power to incentivize business development in the child care sector, lower qualification requirements for subsidies, or align local child care systems to be more efficient.
When parents have access to reliable care, they build careers and create stability for their children. And when children have access to stable early learning environments, they benefit developmentally long before entering kindergarten.
At the end of the day, Californians aren’t looking for a silver bullet solution. We want state leaders who’ll take steps towards transforming our child care system so families and providers no longer carry this burden alone.
Connie Leyva is the executive director at KVCR Public Radio and Television and previously represented the Inland Empire’s 20th Senate District in the California State Senate from 2014-2022.