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State Representative Jim Davnie
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-0173
For more information contact: Ted Modrich 651-296-5809
HOUSE BRIEFS
Child Care Assistance Program
Child care providers, as well as parents who have worked hard to find and keep employment, were put in an extremely difficult position when the state shut down at the end of June. Gov. Dayton requested in early July that child care assistance payments be considered essential and that they continue. The decision came on July 13, when Judge Gearin ruled that the payments would continue and child care providers would be reimbursed for services provided on or after July 1. This came as a huge relief to child care providers and the families they serve.
The broader picture has to do with the permanent harm that would result from some of the harsh cuts that have been sought this year by the new legislative leadership. The first Health and Human Services Bill that was vetoed by Gov. Dayton in May contained a 5% cut to child care assistance, as well as a $750,000 cut to child care resource and referral services. I opposed the HHS bill for this and many other reasons, and the Governor was right to veto it.
The Special Session Health and Human Services Bill that was passed in the early hours of July 20 contains a 2.5% cut to child care assistance, totaling about $6.6 million. In addition, there were other CCAP changes resulting in another $6.8 million of cuts, and a 20% cut ($6.5 million) to the legal non-licensed family child care provider rate. The bill also recaptures Basic Sliding Fee funds to the tune of $5 million, and cuts various other child care grants (including resource and referral grants and child care facility grants) by about $1.4 million. All told, the HHS bill contains more than $26 million in child care cuts. Needless to say, I opposed it.
Increasingly we are understanding the positive impact of high quality early childhood care to the development of the child. Our state and our children cannot thrive if we continue to squeeze the important services that help parents stay in the workforce and help prepare the youngest Minnesotans for success in school. Child care providers were not even getting market rate reimbursement payments before these most recent cuts. Whether providers will be able to accept CCAP kids and still make ends meet themselves is becoming more and more of a concern. Please know that as legislator, I’ll work to fund our state’s child care programs as best we can in challenging economic times.
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