It’s official – “Baby” Prop. C is safe!

We want to extend a huge thank you to all the members of our community who joined Parent Voices and other child care champions at the rally on July 3. Your presence sent a message of solidarity and support that truly resonated with the Court as they weighed the civic impetus for this measure.

“This is a real victory for our families and early educators,” said Children’s Council CEO Gina M. Fromer. “The longer we wait to get these dollars into the hands of families that need them, the longer children wait for the opportunity to learn and grow in the nurturing environments that early educators offer across this great city. Their brains develop so fast in their first five years of life… SF kids can’t wait!” 

For those who are new to this developing story: “Baby” Prop. C was a tax measure that was passed in June of 2018. It was expected to raise more than $125M annually for the field of child care and early education.

As a proposition that was placed on the ballot by voters, it only needed a majority vote (50%+one) to pass. Four out-of-town business groups, led by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, then filed a joint appeal, which stated that “Baby” Prop C ought to have been treated as a special tax, which requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass. 

On July 3, a court hearing was held for “Baby” Prop. C and another Prop. C passed in November 2018 that would raise tax dollars for housing and homelessness. 

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman took statements from both sides before ruling against the appeal and upholding the legality of both propositions. Our sister organization, the Child Care Law Center, has written an excellent, detailed summary of the ruling, which you can access here.

Read more about the court hearing and the judge’s ruling in this San Francisco Examiner article.

This decision takes us one step closer to accessing much needed funds – funds that will bolster our network of child care providers and empower them to make living wages. 

The fight is not over yet– the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association have promised to pursue different avenues to appeal this decision. For now though, San Francisco’s community should be proud to be home to individuals whocare so deeply about our families and underserved populations. 

>> To get involved and be a part of future actions to fight for the rights of families to have access to high quality early care and education, please read here about our chapter of Parent Voices.

>> To join our mailing list for advocacy and policy issues, email us at pmayard@childrenscouncil.org.