Fearing Legal Threats, Alameda County Supervisors Delay Spending Child Care Funds

Alameda County supervisors agreed Tuesday to delay spending some of the $500 million collected from a sales tax measure to support child care providers in order to avoid a potential lawsuit.

Providers who are still recovering financially from the pandemic thought they were close to getting some financial relief last month when the supervisors approved spending the first batch of Measure C funds to support them. However, a lawyer for the Alameda County Taxpayers’ Association threatened to sue the board if it released the funds before vetting a longer-term spending plan for Measure C.

Kristin Spanos, the CEO of First 5 Alameda County, which is administering the funds, urged the supervisors to hold onto the money until the agency can present a 5-year plan and budget for Measure C in June.

“Such a delay would be minimal compared to the potential delay that could arise from the litigation,” Spanos told the board.

She said once the plan is approved, First 5 “will do everything within our powers to disperse the funds as soon as possible.”

About a dozen early educators who called into the meeting noted that voters had approved the tax five years ago to improve access to child care and kids’ health care and that a court ruling from a year ago should have settled the legal fight over the validity of Measure C.

“It really is a disgrace to hold this money up when we have worked so hard to fight for it,” said Nancy Harvey, a family child care provider in West Oakland who helped organize the campaign for the measure. “We’re doing a disservice to all the families and all the children here in our county.”

Carolyn Carpenter, who also cares for young kids at her home in Oakland, called for immediate relief funds to keep providers in business.

“Waiting ’til June is going to close more doors of more [early education] programs,” she said.

Supervisor Nate Miley said he recognized the providers’ desperate need for cash (small family child care providers who serve lower-income families can each qualify for $40,000 in relief grants), but he didn’t want to risk sparking a lawsuit that could tie up county resources.

“We want to move forward; we’re just finding ourselves between a rock and a hard spot at this point,” he said.