On June 16, Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the California Legislature's approved budget.  The Governor criticized the budget as not being balanced, not dealing with California's debt and containing questionable borrowing and other budget tricks.  He warned that if he fails to get the tax extensions he's seeking, it will mean deeper cuts to vital public services, and Republicans will be to blame.

Brown vetoed SB 69 and AB 98, the March and the June 15th budget bills, respectively.  At this moment, advocates are very concerned about the prospects of an "all cuts" budget, which would likely target education for additional deep cuts.  At this time, early education supporters are encouraged to communicate with their State Legislators and the Governor  and encourage them to maintain the $200 million that the Legislature had restored in Child Care Funds, and to refrain from cutting the Standard Reimbursement Rate to providers.

CHSA's Policy Summit and Manager & Director Institute will be held July 26-28 in San Diego.  The first day will provide state and federal updates on funding, transitional kindergarten, OHS policies and ways that local program are responding.  The next two days will offer a choice of five in-depth training strands.  Keynoter Yvonne Randle, who teaches at the J&J Institute at UCLA, has assisted many Head Start programs struggling with funding cuts and organizational changes.  For a program flyer go to  http://caheadstart.org/2011PolicyMDIFlyer.pdf and for additional details and to register, go to http://caheadstart.org/conference.html.

The Region 7 Head Start Association is working with the Economic Security Corporation (ESC) to assist employees displaced by the tornado that destroyed nearly 1/3 of the city of Joplin, Missouri. To date, ESC reports that 23 of their employees have lost their homes.   ESC has set up a disaster relief fund for ESC employees who have damage to or have lost their homes. Donations can be sent to Economic Security Corporation - Tornado Relief Fund, P.O. Box 207, Joplin, MO 64802. Donations will be received for any specific individual or shared by all those with a loss. For more information, contact r7hsa@comcast.net.

Draft chapters of the California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 3, including the domains for history/social science and science, are available for public review and comment through July 1, 2011:

Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 3: History/Social Science 

Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 3: Science  

During the development of the Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 3, in response to stakeholder input, it was decided to remove the chapters on Family and Culture and on Integrated Learning, and include them in a stand-alone publication as a supplemental guide to the foundations and frameworks. This guide is in development and will be published and released at a later date.

Please submit comments to psframework@cde.ca.gov.

Workshop: 9am- 12;  Facilitator training: 1:00pm - 4:00pm

Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose.

To register, email Bobbie Winn bwinn@dfg.ca.gov or Rosie Vizina rvizina@dfg.ca.gov or phone toll free 888-945-3334.  The registration deadline is July 1, and the event is sponsored by the California Department of Fish and Game.  Participants may attend one or both trainings.  Workshops and materials are free.

Participants will receive the Growing Up WILD Guide and supplementary materials at this interactive, hands-on workshop. They will experience Growing Up WILD activities first hand, discover how to lead young learners on an exploration of the natural world classroom.  The complete 6 hour training will prepare and certify one to offer Growing Up WILD.  The activities address Head Start Domains and NAEYC Standards.

Interested in recruiting local business leaders as program supporters?  Pew Charitable Trusts have released resources to help you engage business leaders for children: http://ow.ly/5c6vD  

Looking for ways to communicate the return on investment for early education?  James Heckman's resources have just been updated and offer great tools for educating boards, policy makers and the media:  http://www.heckmanequation.org