Legal, Academic Challenges Hover As Calif. Counts Prop. 10 Dollars

By Linda Jacobson

Los Angeles

It's been a year since California voters narrowly approved a measure called the Children and Families Initiative and radically changed the way services for young children are paid for in this state.

A 50-cents-a-pack cigarette tax, projected to bring in $700 million a year, will be used to supplement health care, child care, parent education, and other programs to help newborns to 5-year-olds.

But now, just as the money is starting to reach the hands of those who will decide how to spend it, the new law and its celebrity spokesman, the director and actor Rob Reiner, are facing challenges,...