The children who attend her home daycare in El Centro, in Imperial County near the Mexico border, are as young as 3 months old. Some are the children of farmworkers who drop them off at Guerrero’s house before their shifts in the pre-dawn hours. Nearly all are from families poor enough to qualify for state subsidies.

Many of the families can’t afford basic needs, Guerrero said, so the 57-year-old makes sure to provide their children with milk, diapers and sometimes clothes.

“I want the families to go to work knowing that (their children are) well taken care of, and they’re being loved and fed correctly,” she said.

Guerrero’s labor of love barely earns her a living. After paying two assistants and other costs, she figures she takes home about $3 or $4 an hour. She takes on credit card debt to keep her business going.

For years family child care providers — the vast majority of them women of color — have said they don’t get paid enough by the state of California to cover the costs of their businesses. Their fight for better pay and benefits, a two-decades-old effort, is reaching a fever pitch in California’s capital this year.

They’re pressing Gov. Gavin Newsom to raise their pay, and they have the Legislature on their side. Lawmakers put $1 billion for raises in their version of a state budget that they passed last week. That funding remains one of the key differences between Newsom and the Legislature as they hammer out a budget deal before July 1 that accounts for an estimated $32 billion deficit.

The full cost of California child care

Newsom deemed the child care industry critical to getting parents back to work and recovering the state’s economy from the pandemic. He signed legislation in 2019 allowing home child care providers like Guerrero to unionize and bargain with the state over subsidized child care reimbursement rates. And the state has issued multiple rounds of temporary stipends to providers who lost revenue during the pandemic.

But the 40,000-member union representing the home-based providers says Newsom’s administration isn’t offering providers enough to keep them in business long term. The union’s current contract expires in less than two weeks, at the end of June.

Bargaining for a new one this year, the union has called for a 25% bump in reimbursement rates the state pays to providers who care for low-income families’ kids — and state funding for the union to set up a trust to issue retirement benefits.

Providers staged a rally with about 2,000 members and supporters at the Capitol last week and plan to set up camp outside the Governor’s Mansion this week.

“As a direct result of their action, providers are gaining ground in negotiations towards pay increases and basic benefits — but we have yet to see a fair and just contract offer from the state,” said Max Arias, chairperson of the Child Care Providers’ Union, in a statement. “There appears to be no interest in committing to ongoing rate increases or covering the full cost of care.”

Family or home-based providers care for 28% of children who attend licensed facilities in California. Parents also send children to daycare centers or state-funded preschools, or pay a family member or friend.

A stopgap measure

To some advocates and members of the Legislative Women’s Caucus, even winning the raises would be only a stopgap measure to keep providers in business. The child care industry has experienced a slow recovery the past three year and still employs 5% fewer people than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent study by the UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Child Care Employment.

They’re pushing the state to move faster to fundamentally overhaul the way it calculates reimbursement rates. Sen. Monique Limón, a Democrat from Santa Barbara, authored a bill this year directing the state to overhaul the rates and provide the $1 billion raise in the meantime.

The $1 billion in the Legislature’s budget “solves an immediate problem,” she said. “It doesn’t solve the full, 10-year problem.”

The state’s reimbursement rates are generally tied to how much providers charge in the private market — but because many child care providers lower their prices to meet what parents can afford, the rates have ended up artificially low, in a system that a state-commissioned report last year described as a “market failure.” That in turn results in chronic shortages of child care for parents.

That report, on child care funding in California, was commissioned by a working group the state convened as part of its current contract with the child care union. In the report the national firm Prenatal to Five Fiscal Strategies, found California pays some daycare owners as little as a quarter of what the service costs.

A new model

In the southern region of the state, where Guerrero lives, the firm estimated it costs a home-based provider like hers more than $39,000 a year to provide quality care for one infant or toddler. The state reimburses about $12,000.

The same report recommended the state adopt a new method for calculating reimbursement rates that is based on real costs like the ones the firm calculated, rather than surveys of daycare rates. It has drawn support from both business and labor: a letter by the advocacy group Children Now urging the state to implement the recommendations was signed this year by the Service Employees International Union and the California Chamber of Commerce.

Asked to comment on the overhaul plan, both the state Department of Finance and the Department of Social Services said the issue is being negotiated with the child care union.

“Providers are gaining ground in negotiations towards pay increases and basic benefits — but we have yet to see a fair and just contract offer from the state.”
— Max Arias, chairperson of the Child Care Providers’ Union

No new payment method has been developed yet, though the state this year restarted the working group to advise on overhauling rates. Because the current rates are so low, a new model could be dramatically more expensive for the state. In some cases, providers may have to be paid three or four times what the state currently covers.

Advocates say it’s possible the state could come up with a new payment method that gradually, over several years, gets the pay closer to providers’ real costs.

Eric Peterson, director of client services and policy at Bananas, an Oakland agency that helps families find child care and subsidies to pay for it, sat on the working group that commissioned the cost report.

In nearly three decades in the field, Peterson said, pay for providers “has never been adequate.”

“Everybody knows… we can’t pay the true cost of care in a year,” he said. “The intent is to acknowledge the true cost and find a schedule to get there.”

###

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

###

The Eureka City Council voted Tuesday to rescind and replace its “Councilmember Handbook” to address mounting concerns from some members of the public who allege that members of the council have violated the city’s code of conduct.

The policy contained in the new “Handbook” reinforces existing rules from state and federal entities that guide ethics and conduct standards for public officials.

The issue came about earlier this year when Eureka business owner Roy Gomez filed a claim for damages against the City of Eureka. The claim, in part, accused the city council of violating the city’s “Code of Ethics and Conduct for Elected and Appointed Officials.” Gomez had claimed that Councilmember Leslie Castellano, specifically, had violated the ethics policy in various ways after she, in her capacity as the executive director of the Ink People Center for the Arts, declined to assign a special event permit to sell alcohol at a function at Gomez’s former event venue, Forever Found. 

Gomez has openly discussed his claims against the city during the non-agenda public comment portion of several recent city council meetings, going so far as to accuse several members of the council of being “undemocratic anarchists” seeking to dismantle capitalism. 

During Tuesday’s meeting, Assistant City Manager Pam Powell detailed the history of the city’s existing code of conduct, which was adopted in a narrow 3-2 vote by a previous council in May of 2017. The two dissenting council members questioned some of the provisions included in the code, and one of the council members refused to sign the document entirely. Former Eureka Mayor Frank Jager signed the document but rescinded his signature in 2018. “Once the mayor rescinded his signature, staff was kind of in a predicament over how we could enforce this document,” she said.

“The main issue with the document were First Amendment concerns,” Powell continued. “The document did not allow for the mayor, councilmembers, or board and commission members to use their title when endorsing a political candidate. Staff’s concerns centered on the enforceability of the document.”

Powell added that the document included provisions that gave the mayor “more power than the charter actually allows.” In fact, staff reported, the policies in the Handbook were never adopted into the city charter or its ordinances — they merely served as a voluntary set of guidelines that previous councilmembers could follow or not.

The code of conduct was not provided to new council members following the November 2018 election. However, staff worked with the former city attorney and city manager to ensure that the mayor and council followed rules outlined by California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) and Assembly Bill 1234, which required elected officials to take an ethics course every two years.

Powell noted that “many elements” of the 2017 code of conduct document are included in the new handbook, including concepts of respect, staff relationships, rules, conflict of interest and ethics. “The new handbook does not contain any provisions regarding council members and their use of titles should they support a political candidate,” she said. “Staff believes that the council handbook confirms the city’s commitment to strong ethics and transparency.”

Councilmember Kati Moulton asked what is covered in the city’s handbook that isn’t already required by the FPPC or other existing laws surrounding ethics and conflict of interest. 

“I would agree with [Powell] that the things that are in the old code that aren’t in this new handbook are what we would consider somewhat problematic portions around whether or not city council members can use their title in supporting other candidates,” City Attorney Autumn Luna responded. “We didn’t think it was appropriate for the new code.”

Even so, Councilmember Renee Contreras-DeLoach asked if the city had an obligation to enforce the rules outlined in the document. Luna said she would not feel comfortable enforcing “questionable regulations against the council,” adding that the document “doesn’t have the force of law.”

“Let’s just remember that, hierarchically, we have really important and complex laws coming from the state and coming from the FPPC,” Luna continued. “I don’t mean to drive this home too many times, but you are not setting conflict of interest rules for yourself and then rescinding them. Those rules are set elsewhere in the law, and you follow them because of that. Not because of a resolution [that was] passed by a different counsel at a different time.”

During the public comment portion of the discussion, Gomez criticized the city’s decision to ignore its own code of ethics. He asserted that the proposed handbook has “no actual teeth to it” and urged the council to amend the existing document.

Gomez | Screenshot

“The one being rescinded … there’s accountability within it,” he said. “It’s important that we realize that the violations have been occurring because there’s been no code of ethics. You can’t just say, ‘Oh, I submitted a Form 700 and we’re good.’ Like, there are ongoing conflicts of interest on a daily basis. … To be honest with you, I actually agree that the council members should be okay with endorsing [candidates]. Why not just rescind that piece out of it and then leave it as it is? It’s a good document as it is.”

(Note: Form 700 is a document used by public officials to disclose financial interests to ensure the public is aware of a public official’s financial interests and remind the public official of potential conflicts, according to the FPPC.)

Eureka resident Ash Teeter questioned the timing of the code of conduct update accused the city council of “changing the rules of the game that [it] might already be cheating in” and echoed Gomez’s previous claims that the council is a group of anarchists. 

“Multiple city council members … support dismantling capitalism, anarchy and are affiliated with extremist groups like Antifa on their Twitter pages, as I found,” Teeter said. “It’s like they’re playing both sides of the game … sitting on the council chambers by day, plotting the downfall of the system by night.”

Arcata resident Jessica Frint said she did not intend to speak during public comment but felt compelled to after she heard Moulton swear under her breath during Teeter’s comments.

“When [he] asked her a question, she replied, ‘You asshole,’” Frint said. “If we have a code of conduct, I would assume that’s a violation. I would like to see you do something about it. … Or whoever is responsible for doing something about it, do something about it. That’s bad behavior.”

Following public comment, Moulton began to apologize for her “outburst” but was met with shouting from Gomez in the audience. Mayor Bergel interjected and requested that the council take a five-minute break.

Upon the council’s return, Contreras-DeLoach said she watched the May 2, 2017 city council meeting to better understand the history of the city’s code of conduct policy before voting on the matter. “And I feel very comfortable saying that I think the document is a redundant document,” she said.

“These are laws that already exist,” she continued. “These are things that we’re already held to, trainings we’ve already done, they’re things that we’ve already signed or stuff that we have to declare. … I don’t have any concerns moving forward with this.”

Contreras-DeLoach also acknowledged the public’s concerns surrounding the timing of the item. 

“I acknowledge that doesn’t look great … [but] I think this is one of those things where, unfortunately, sometimes the veneer of something just gives you the wrong impression,” she said. “If someone doesn’t take the time to listen to what we’re saying or to look at these documents or to watch that council meeting, they may walk away from this thinking … we want to disband or abolish some code of ethics when in reality we’re held by much bigger laws.”

Contreras-DeLoach made a motion to approve staff’s recommendation to replace the ethics handbook with the new proposed document. Moulton offered a second to the action, as well as an apology.

Moulton | Screenshot

“Thank you, Councilmember Contreras DeLoach for articulating what I was too heated to say,” Moulton said. “I want to apologize again to the mayor, Mr. Teeter and to the public for losing my cool and lowering the discourse when we should be elevating the discourse with information and with perspective.”

Before taking a vote, Councilmember Leslie Castellano noted that it isn’t out of the ordinary for the city council to repeal and replace documents. 

“This is a fairly normal and natural part of city government,” she said. “You know, as we learn and grow as a populace we repeal and replace things and that’s healthy democracy. … I personally think that there are many reasons that problematic documents are changed … Often those are brought to our attention by citizens in various ways. This is also one of those instances where a citizen brought forward something that was problematic and we have an opportunity to change it.”

Councilmember G. Mario Fernandez echoed Castellano’s comments and said he felt comfortable moving ahead with the new document.

Councilmember Scott Bauer took a moment to dispute previous accusations that members of the council have anarchist affiliations, noting that the council had passed a budget earlier in the evening “that fully funds our police force and our firefighters.”

The motion passed in a unanimous 5-0 vote.

###

Other notable bits from Tuesday’s meeting:

• The city council unanimously approved the proposed budget for fiscal year 2023-24. Eureka’s Finance Director Lane Millar pointed out a few minor modifications to the proposed budget during a presentation to the council, including a request to transfer $9,000 in non-departmental funds to the mayor and council’s division for future town halls. Millar also discussed several potential investment opportunities through the state and federal governments which will be further discussed at a date uncertain.
• The city council approved a 10.44 percent rate increase for trash collection in Eureka in a 4-1 vote, with Fernandez dissenting.
• The council gave Public Works Director Brian Gerving the green light to accept a $5 million grant on behalf of the City of Eureka for a restoration project to enhance fish passage in a stream between Myrtle Avenue and Fourteenth Street. The item passed in a unanimous 4-0, with Bauer recusing himself.

Whoohoo! It’s officially the first day of summer, which means that it’s not only the longest day of the year, but also the start of fair season! And the event that always kicks it off – Redwood Acres Fair – was in full swing on its opening day, upholding the annual fair’s 2023 theme: “Summer Starts Here.” 

All of the things that you would usually expect were there – greasy funnel cakes, cotton candy and other standard fair fare, lots of livestock and other animals, toy trains, somewhat unsafe-looking rides and, of course, carnival games that are usually almost impossible to win. 

Though the fair seemed noticeably less packed on opening day than it was in 2022 (likely because the fair offered free admission on opening day last year), there were still plenty of people out enjoying the splendidly sunny Humboldt day at Redwood Acres. And, hey, less people means shorter lines for the food, tickets and rides!  

Of course, things will probably pick up quite a bit over the weekend, especially on Friday evening when stock car racing takes place on the Redwood Acres Raceway (4 to 11 p.m.) The fair also added another special event to this year’s racing, turning Saturday into Motorsports Night. It’ll feature sports car drag racing from the Redwood Sports Car Club and “slideways exhibition” put on by Grassroots Drifting.

Image from a previous ‘Hillbilly Boat Race’ | Submitted by Redwood Acres 

The main event of motorsports night will be the Down & Dirty Hillbilly Boat Race – where the race cars drag speed boats behind them and attempt to dislodge the boats of their competitors.  According to a press release sent out by Redwood Acres, this will be the first boat race at Redwood Acres since 2016. The races are free with admission to the fair.

“The twist to bringing boat races back will be that the event will be run on the infield of the 3/8-mile track,” the release states. “The main reason boat races have been off the schedule for so long was because of the damage the events did to the racing surface. Boat racing in the dirt should add an all new and exciting challenge to the action that fans will not want to miss out on.” 

You can find more information, rules for the boat race and footage of past boat races on the Redwood Acres Raceway Facebook Page. Redwood Acres Fair runs from June 21-25, from noon to midnight. You can find more info on Redwood Acres’ website. 

Scroll down for more photos of the fun on opening day!

PREVIOUSLY: SCANNER TRAFFIC INDICATES: Car Over the Side Off Scenic Drive

###

Press release from the California Highway Patrol:

On June 21, 2023, at approximately [10:20 a.m.], CHP Humboldt Communications Center received a report of a vehicle off the roadway, and down a steep embankment, on Scenic Dr., north of Baker Ranch Rd. in Trinidad.

Emergency personnel responded to the scene and located a 2023 2003 Toyota Camry approximately 200 feet down a steep embankment.

Two unidentified males were located inside the vehicle. One party was determined by medical personnel on scene to be deceased. The second party was extricated and transported to the hospital with major injuries.

At this time, it is unknown exactly when this crash may have occurred.

The CHP Humboldt Area office is continuing its investigation and asks anyone who may have additional information to contact the California Highway Patrol at 707-822-5981.

Press release from the Humboldt County Drug Task Force:

On June 20, 2023, Humboldt County Drug Task Force Agents and Officers with the Fortuna Police Department served a multi-location search warrant at a residence located in the 500 block of Francesco Place in Fortuna, a storage unit in the 1000 block of Airport Rd. in Fortuna and on the person of Heriberto Posos Cantu (age 37). After a multi-week investigation, the HCDTF believed Posos Cantu was in possession of large quantities of methamphetamine for the purpose of sales.

HCDTF Agents and FPD Officers responded to Heriberto’s storage unit on Airport Road. Upon their arrival Fortuna Police Officer [Dennis] Stevens and his K9 Partner Cain conducted an open-air sniff inside of the storage unit. K9 Cain alerted on several locations inside of the storage unit indicating that narcotics or firearms were hidden inside. Agents searched the storage unit and located approximately five pounds of methamphetamine, packaging materials and indicia for Posos Cantu.

After Agents were finished searching the storage unit, they responded to Posos Cantu’s residence in the 500 block of Francesco Place. As Agents were approaching Posos Cantu’s residence, a vehicle was seen backing out of the driveway. Agents conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle and three subjects were detained.

Fortuna PD Officer Stevens and his K9 partner Cain conducted an open-air sniff around the vehicle. K9 Cain alerted on the vehicle, indicating that narcotics or firearms were hidden inside. Agents searched the vehicle and located approximately seven pounds of methamphetamine.

It was later determined that Posos Cantu learned that law enforcement was serving a search warrant on his properties. Upon receiving that information, Posos Cantu called a family member and requested that they remove the methamphetamine from the residence prior to law enforcement’s arrival.

Agents searched Posos Cantu’s residence where they located more packaging material, a digital scale and approximately $10,000 in US Currency. As Agents were conducting their investigation at the residence, Posos Cantu arrived on scene. Posos Cantu was placed under arrest without incident.

Posos Cantu was transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility where he was booked for the following charge:

• 11378 HS Possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of sales
• Anyone with information related to this investigation or other narcotics related crimes are encouraged to call the Humboldt County Drug Task Force at 707-267-9976.

Grizzled farmworkers are the hot new commodity as community colleges try to reverse a years-long enrollment decline.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the “golden age” of higher education — where more and more adults were attending college every year — came to a halt, and California’s community college enrollment plummeted to a 30-year low.

The state community college system lost hundreds of thousands of students, but it was those 50 years and older who left at the highest rates compared to other age groups.

From Siskiyou County, on the border with Oregon, to the Inland Empire, college leaders told CalMatters how older, low-income adults often had to work “essential” jobs or to step back into the workforce to support their families. Because of their age, they faced an increased risk of COVID-19. Many were less comfortable using Zoom or they lacked an adequate internet connection for online classes. As a result, these older students left their college ambitions to the wayside during the pandemic.

Now they are also trying to reel older students back in with new programs and concerted outreach efforts. While some colleges have managed to buck the downward trends, others have found themselves competing for the same students.

Enrolling farmworkers

During the pandemic, the College of the Sisikyous saw one of the biggest enrollment declines across all age groups.

With roughly 2,500 fewer students total in 2021-22 compared to the 2018-19 academic year, the College of the Siskiyous could lose about $2.3 million dollars — just over 10% of its total funding.

Compared to other age groups, students over 50 years old left at the highest rates. And it’s a problem that’s been happening for years, even before the pandemic: COVID-19 was just “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Samantha Worthington, who oversees adult education at the college.

Instead, the college’s enrollment issues began as a result of competition from other schools.

Similar to many California community colleges, which have looked to out-of-state residents and even international students, administrators at the College of the Siskiyous started to look beyond the county line about seven years ago, especially for older students.

The college partnered with an organization called the Farmworker Institute on Education and Leadership Development to offer classes to farmworkers who live hundreds of miles south in places such as Monterey and Kern counties. Often, these students study to improve their English, to learn new career skills, or work towards a degree.

In the 2017-18 academic year, the College of the Siskiyous enrolled 827 farmworkers over the age of 50 in the program.

This year, the College of the Siskiyous has 11 such students over 50 years old.

Along with consistently low wages, these farmworkers had high rates of COVID-19 infection and few worker protections that ultimately pushed them away from classes, Worthington said.

Community college enrollment decline and competition

The decline in students is also because other colleges — faced with their own declining enrollment numbers — saw an opportunity to target the same students.

In 2021, Bakersfield College launched a partnership with the same nonprofit organization to target local farmworkers and declined to sign the collaborative contract it had previously made with the College of the Siskiyous.

In the course of a few years, Bakersfield College launched a flurry of new initiatives, all aimed at boosting enrollment for older students. Administrators opened new teaching centers in South Bakersfield and in the rural town of Wasco. They created a new program to educate people experiencing homelessness and another one, in partnership with the local school district, to teach parents about child development.

From the 2018-19 academic year to 2021-22, the most recent year with verified enrollment data, Bakersfield saw an increase of more than 41% in students over the age of 50, the largest increase of all the state’s 116 community colleges.

Bakersfield College is also a leader in enrolling high school students. In fact, the new California Community College Chancellor Dr. Sonya Christian — a former Bakersfield College president — has said she wants to enroll every 9th grader in a college course, something she first piloted in Kern County.

Now, College of the Siskiyous has turned its attention from farmworkers to prisoners, joining the many colleges who seek to enroll more incarcerated students. The college is also preparing for budget cuts. For example, Fields said the college is canceling classes with only five or six students.

Popularity of noncredit courses

The key to recruiting and retaining older students lies in the way which classes are taught, but most colleges aren’t making the necessary changes, said Kathy Booth, a project director at the education research group WestEd.

To lure older students to school, community colleges need to offer flexible and engaging courses that have clear and specific career outcomes. “The most frequent award that’s given out is a general studies associate’s degree,” she said. “There are very few employers that are asking for associate’s degrees outside of a few technical fields, so that sort of general education is less valuable to a working adult.”

Instead, adults over the age of 50 often want to take noncredit courses, which do not count toward degrees. Noncredit courses are short, free and typically vocational, covering topics such as HVAC repair.

But across the state, colleges struggled to move many of the most popular noncredit courses, such as those in automotive repair, healthcare, and early childhood development, to an online format.

In the 2021-22 academic year, Mt. San Antonio College had about 34,000 students taking noncredit classes, the largest volume of students in the state. Like most colleges, Mt. San Antonio saw a drop in the number of students over 50 who enrolled since the start of the pandemic.

Madelyn Arballo, the vice president of continuing education, is not worried, though. “The first year of the pandemic was really bad, but the second year, we rebounded,” she said. Arballo expects that the college has already reached pre-pandemic levels once the final numbers are tallied for the recent spring semester.

Moving quickly

Arballo attributed some of Mt. San Antonio’s success to her department putting together new classes and certificates quickly, such as a course on COVID-19 contact tracing that it offered for just a few months. Of the 103 students who enrolled in contact tracing courses in the 2021-22 academic year, 41% were over the age of 46, she wrote to CalMatters.

Instead of telling prospective students why they should go to college, she tries to tell students what they could earn or do after college: Contact tracers, for instance, were making $25 an hour at the time the class was running.

Even though these adult students often start out taking one or two quick, noncredit classes, they may end up working towards an associate’s degree, or even transferring to a four-year university, once they realize the earning potential of a bachelor’s degree, said Arballo.

Marcelo Baca, 62, started taking noncredit courses last year in an effort to get his GED, but he isn’t stopping there. He plans to graduate with an associate’s degree in business and then transfer to California State University Fullerton to ultimately become a financial advisor.

It’s not his first attempt at a degree. He immigrated from Argentina in 1989 to attend community college in Orange County, but he couldn’t afford it and dropped out. He became undocumented and despite living in the state for decades, he was ineligible for financial aid. When he was finally in a position to restart school, he said he was diagnosed with colon cancer, and later, sent to the ICU for complications due to COVID-19.

Now he’s finally pursuing his dream, even if his children beat him to it.

“I may be super old, but I don’t care.”

###

Adam Echelman covers California’s community colleges in partnership with Open Campus, a nonprofit newsroom focused on higher education. CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.