Spending Guide Compiled for Prop. 10 Funds

In a report likely to set off a bidding war among public and private organizations, the commission charged with distributing $11.7 million a year in cigarette taxes to help Ventura County children 5 and younger has put together its guidelines for handing out the funds.

What emerges several months from now could be anything from new subsidies to pay for preschool for more of the county’s 64,000 very young children to innovative software for developmentally disabled toddlers to improved immunizations to the purchase of vans for neighborhood field trips.

Public schools, day-care centers, religious organizations and nonprofit health and social services agencies are expected to begin submitting bids to the commission next month. Most of the grants, funded by the 1998 passage of Proposition 10, which levied a 50-cent tax per pack of cigarettes, would be issued beginning in September.

Recommendations include calling for setting aside:

* 55% of the $11.7 million (or about $6.4 million) to prepare children “emotionally, socially and academically” for school. Such programs could include, but would not be limited to, subsidies for preschool programs;

* 14% (or about $1.6 million) for physical and mental health programs;

* 14% (or about $1.6 million) for family support programs, such as parenting classes;

* And 2% (or $234,000) for community education projects or media campaigns.

The commission also wants to spend 9.4%, or about $1.1 million, to establish a think tank at a local university to brainstorm ideas and monitor the success of projects as they are funded.

The report recommends keeping the commission’s own administrative costs to 5.5% (or $643,500) of the annual operating budget.

Supervisor Kathy Long, who heads the Ventura County Children and Families First Commission, said Friday that individual parents and informal neighborhood groups have as much access to the money as more established organizations.

“The funds are available for all zero-to-5 children, not just those who are at-risk, low income, or have special needs,” she said. “If we get a neighborhood partnership of MOMS clubs who say ‘We want to form a cooperative and make sure our children get the immunizations they need,’ they can.”

Commission member and Ventura County Schools Supt. Chuck Weis said the guidelines are flexible in order to “give direction without giving a one-size-fits-all solution. The needs of a neighborhood in Oxnard might be significantly different than the needs in a neighborhood in Conejo Valley.”

The commission will hold three public hearings, beginning at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, for public input on the commissioners’ suggestions.

In addition, the commission has $17.4 million in one-time funding to spend this year. Of that, $13 million would go toward establishing an endowment, which would earn interest and allow the program to live on even if Californians cut down on smoking, reducing the program’s annual revenue.

Most of the remainder of those one-time funds would be made available for construction, equipment and other infrastructure needs that would mesh with programs for young children.

For example, Long said, a city or large company might submit a bid for a grant to help open an on-site day-care center, so that parents could be close to their children. A neighborhood group might apply for grant money to buy a van to take youngsters on educational field trips. Or a preschool could receive funding to make bathrooms compatible with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

“If you feel there’s something your child needs that isn’t being offered, you should come and speak at one of these forums or write or call or e-mail the commission office,” Long said. “We’ll do the research to see who else has the need and we’ll put it in the mix. There are no strings attached.”

Tuesday’s public hearing is from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the County Government Center, Hall of Administration, 800 S. Victoria Ave., in Ventura. The second public hearing is scheduled for March 22, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the United Way Building, 1317 Del Norte Road, in Camarillo. The third public hearing is scheduled for April 6, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Simi Valley Boys & Girls Club, 2860 Lemon Drive.

FYI

For more information or for a copy of the report, call the commission at 677-5553, visit the Web site at https: //www.vcchildren.org or write to P.O. Box 3130, Ventura, CA 93006-3130.