As part of KQED’s #affordability series, l report on how rising #childcare prices are forcing #bayarea parents to make painful tradeoffs. They’re walking away from careers, but not entirely leaving the workforce. Instead, they’re working gig jobs to afford part-time care. www.kqed.org/news/12075761

A must read on the shattering impact of #ICE enforcement on Minneapolis kids. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/u...

RIP Betty Reid Soskin, oldest National Park Service ranger, and American hero. Here’s an obituary I helped prepare when I worked at the Associated Press:

A new survey from the Stanford Center on Early Childhood found that 3 out of 4 families with young kids can’t cover at least one basic need, whether it’s utilities, food, housing, child care or health care. When parents experience material hardship, it has a ripple effect on kids’ development.

When October rolls around, child care centers in San Francisco’s Tenderloin usually take kids to a pumkin patch mikes away. For the first time, this week on Wednesday, the pumpkin patch came to them. www.kqed.org/news/12062406

#bayarea parents told a KQED survey how much they pay monthly for child care, and the numbers are eye-popping. Across the board they told us high #childcare costs are affecting their career and family-planning choices. Thanks for sharing your compelling stories. www.kqed.org/news/12061802

California has lost almost 30% of licensed in-home daycares since the 2008 housing market collapse. A state law forbidding housing discrimination against family child care providers was meant to increase the child care supply. But an official says there’s no doubt this is still happening.

#bayarea families spend a significant chunk of their income on #childcare, and the financial strain can lead them to make tough choices to make the math work. Tell us: how have #childcarecosts affected your family? Have you found an arrangement that works for you? Any advice for first-time parents?

Child care costs in the Bay Area are among the highest in the US. Alameda is the latest county to use funds from a dedicated tax to increase the availability of child care. Their success has a spillover effect to neighboring counties looking to make child care more affordable.

And here’s San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie reading “Llama Llama Red Pajama.”

San Francisco kids under 5 years old can get a free book mailed to them every month under a new partnership between the city and county, and the @realdollyparton.bsky.social Imagination Library. Sign up at the library or online. #earlychildhood #literacy

Last year, I wrote about an attempt to block the development of a child care center in a Napa neighborhood. Opponents of the plan sued under California’s environmental review law (CEQA), delaying the project for a year.

The Santa Clara County Office of Education cited federal funding uncertainties as the reason for issuing layoff notices. Its Head Start staffers were ready to clean out desks and collect their last paychecks today when news came that funding came through at the 11th hour.

The Trump administration didn’t eliminate Head Start funding as feared, but job cuts are having real impacts on a local program in the California town of Hollister, where parents and teachers are going into summer break not knowing if they’ll have a classroom to return to. www.kqed.org/news/12044082

Congress now has 45 days to pass by a simple majority, or let expire a White House proposal to claw back $1B in already-approved funding for public media. The cuts would hit smaller, rural PBS and NPR member stations the hardest. They rely on federal funding for larger portions of their budgets.

On the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, @kqednews is focusing on the Vietnamese disapora. It’s honor to tell one family’s remarkable story of courage, sacrifice and resilience, and the memorable meal they shared after reuniting at a refugee camp. www.kqed.org/news/12037893

Head Start, an early childhood education program for low income families, is on the chopping block. Growing up, my own mom was an aide with the program; it’s helped countless young mothers, including the one who tells her story here. www.kqed.org/news/1203596...

For 60 years, Head Start has provided care, a preschool education and support to America’s poorest families. The federal program has never been more in danger of being eliminated. My interview with a laid-off worker whose life was changed by Head Start. www.kqed.org/news/12035966

The early education ecosystem is fragile and any additional costs brought on by a disaster like the LA fires can further destabilize it. As child care providers figure out next steps, some of them are looking to Santa Rosa for lessons of recovery from the 2017 Tubbs Fire.

California is contending with a child care shortage, and you’d think the state is doing everything it can to increase options for families. But a bureaucratic entanglement is causing child care centers to turn away or delay enrolling thousands of infants and toddlers. www.kqed.org/news/12017819

In response to Trump’s threats of mass deportations, a California lawmaker wants to make schools and child care centers safe havens from ICE raids. State leaders worry the fear of being deported or separated from a parent may affect students’ ability to learn.

Hello, and thank you for following my account! Local journalism is valuable, and here I’ll tell you what’s happening in early childhood education across the Bay Area and California.