Personally and professionally, I am very proud of the proposed plan. As a graduate student at Stanford University in 1986, I wrote my master's thesis on San Jose's first efforts to respond to the demand for more child care. Later I would earn my Ph.D. in education, focusing on local child care policies.

When I was elected to the city council in 2000, I was pleased that Mayor Ron Gonzales appointed me as the council liaison to the child care commission. As the council's lead person, I was going full circle on my involvement in child care.

It is clear that the need for quality, affordable care is as high now as it was in 1986. One big difference between 1986 and 2002 is that many school districts in the past were reluctant to take on the added responsibility for before- or after-school day care. Schools saw their primary role as educating school-age youngsters during the traditional school hours. What occurred before or after those hours was the responsibility of parents. Thankfully that is no longer the attitude. For a variety of reasons—particularly the need to improve the overall quality of education—schools have been willing to develop partnerships to lengthen the school day.

Now one of these partners is the city of San Jose. Mayor Gonzales and former Mayor Susan Hammer deserve credit for this change that has occurred over the last 12 years.

The city has invested in schools, an area traditionally not viewed as a city responsibility. One of the city's most successful and popular after-school programs is the homework centers, which are located on school campuses. Virtually all schools that requested a homework center received one, for a total of 234 centers. The way it works is that the city pays for the teachers who staff the centers. In turn, the schools recruit the teachers and provide the space. Some centers double as technology centers where computer learning also takes place. Last year, 28,000 students took advantage of the program.

Equally innovative are the Smart Start Centers. The unique feature of these is that preschool programs receive city funding if they meet high-quality education standards. The city's goal is to eventually have all children be ready for kindergarten. Almost 2,000 child care spaces have been created. This level of involvement would have been unforeseen in 1986.

Building upon these successes, Mayor Gonzales, council members Pat Dando and Cindy Chavez, and I believed it was time to reenergize the city's office of child care and the child care commission. Our work has paid off in the form of new strategies coordinated with the child care commission and the office on child care.

Five action goals have been identified for the strategic plan.

The first one is to increase the number of accessible, affordable, quality child care spaces to meet the demand by developing an affordable child care and preschool development fund. Ten million dollars will be allocated from the redevelopment agency over the next four years to create this fund.

The second goal is to provide quality education and training to 1,000 early care and education professionals.

The third goal is to create a public education and awareness campaign so that families are knowledgeable about quality child care and programs that assist families with child care expenses.

The fourth goal is to create a coalition to work with county, state and federal partners to make universal access to child care a reality for all San Jose families.

The fifth goal is to integrate the city of San Jose's Child Care Strategic Plan with local, state and national initiatives in order to leverage and increase resources and ensure a comprehensive child care service delivery system.

Sixteen years later as I look back, I believe San Jose made the right decision to begin leveraging its dollars to provide assistance to schools and child care providers. As a graduate student in 1986, I was impressed by San Jose's investment in its children. As a councilmember in 2002, I'm honored to have the opportunity to expand the programs that my predecessors started.

Ken Yeager serves on the San Jose City Council, representing District 6. He can be reached at ken.yeager@ci.sj.ca.us or 408.277.5166.