Cuts coming to child care services provided by City of L.A.

L.A. Times
February 23, 2010

Child-care services provided by the city of Los Angeles will be dramatically scaled back and cut as the city rushes to patch a $212-million shortfall.

The move is one of the harsh realities facing city officials as they move to eliminate as many as 4,000+ city jobs to deal with a budget deficit that could grow to over $1 billion within the next few years.

About 900 children are enrolled in the city’s 26 licensed child-care centers. While those programs cost the city more than $7 million annually, the city collects only $2 million, in part because officials charge an average of $250 per month.

“We are excessively subsidizing our program and we can no longer afford to do that,â€