SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Every weekday, Patricia Moran has up to a dozen children at her home day care center in San Jose, mostly from low-income families — and sometimes children as young as 2 weeks old because their parents can don’t let yourself rest at work anymore.

In between helping the children make bubbles, serving them food at a large table with small chairs and teaching them “Twinkle Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” in English and Spanish, Moran said she takes phone calls from other parents — sometimes as many as four a day — who are desperate to find custody of their young children.

That’s why Moran was surprised when Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is just starting out his second term in officeproposed delaying funding for 20,000 additional subsidized childcare places for low-income families to to help balance the state budget.

Even more perplexing were Newsom’s arguments about the delay: the children’s places, which had already been funded, had not yet been used.

“They need (those vouchers) immediately,” Moran said. “Parents, they have to go to work.”

It’s true that there’s a huge demand for subsidized child care, and it’s also true that much of the funding California has already allocated has not been used — a paradox that reflects the state’s roller-coaster revenue and the strange funding decisions that ensue.

Over the past four years, the state had so much money that it could not spend it quickly. With record surpluses fueled by billions of dollars in federal pandemic aid, Newsom and state lawmakers paid for 146,000 new child care spaces for low-income families. That’s so many new seats — more than double the number before — that state officials couldn’t fill them fast enough.

Publicly funded child care workers must be licensed by the state. This process requires checks and inspections to ensure that child care centers — some of which are located in homes — are safe. The entire process can take up to a year.

If the administrative hurdles are cleared, it may take longer for families to register. Farooq Azhar, executive director of BJ Jordan Child Care Programs in Sacramento, said it has 4,700 families on its waiting list. When it comes time to register, some families don’t respond, some don’t follow through, and others just “take a long time to fill out the necessary paperwork,” he said.

Now, with state revenues falling as the stock market slows, California’s deficit is about $22.5 billion. Deciding not to dip into reserves, Newsom scoured the state’s vast bureaucracy for savings. Delaying funding for 20,000 new childcare places will save $134 million.

Although this is a relatively small amount, it can have big consequences. The delay puts Newsom at odds with the state’s newly unionized child care workforce just months before their first contract expires. And it upset the Legislature Women’s Party, which after winning the November election now makes up almost half of the legislature. Their support will be key to advancing Newsom’s agenda during his second term.

“We want to make sure that child care (continues to) remain a priority,” said Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguilar-Curry, D-Winters, who is vice chair of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus. “Women want to get back into the workforce. We need them to help strengthen the economy.”

The California Department of Finance, the agency responsible for developing Newsom’s budget, said the administration “remains committed to expanding access to child care consistent with budget agreements,” according to agency spokesman HD Palmer.

The Office of Legislative Analysts, a nonpartisan agency that advises the Legislature on budget decisions, said Newsom’s plan “seems reasonable.”

“Overall, we do not expect a significant impact on access to childcare given the number of unfilled places,” the LAO said.

Childcare providers say the bigger problem is that there aren’t enough workers to fill the slots. California lost one-third of its childcare jobs in the first two months of the pandemic, compared to a statewide job loss of 15%, according to California Public Policy Institute. Although many of these jobs have returned, the childcare industry remains below pre-pandemic levels.

The subsidized slots pay only about 75% of what child workers should earn on the open market, making it difficult to recruit new workers, advocates say. Almost all child workers in California are womenand most of them are women of color, said Lea Austin, executive director of the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley.

Many child care workers said they were often paid less than minimum wage, excluding expenses.

“People have other options,” Austin told lawmakers during a public hearing earlier this month. “If we look at wages … the pandemic was really just a tipping point for a lot of people.”

Moran said she sometimes takes home $3,000 each month after expenses — which include paying for supplies, two aides, insurance and utility bills. She has to keep the heater and air conditioner running more than a normal house to keep the kids comfortable. Her gas bill in January was $600, she said.

Moran thought about closing the daycare many times, but could never do it. She has a bachelor’s degree in child development and sees her job as preparing children for life, including teaching them to interact with others with empathy, something she says requires “all of your heart and mind.” .

But her parents’ calls changed her mind.

“I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, what’s going to happen if I close mine too?’ she asked.