Missouri child care advocates rally at Capitol, say cuts would worsen shortage
Hundreds of child care providers, parents and child advocates rallied in the Missouri Capitol Wednesday, a day after the House signed off on $51.5 million in cuts to the state’s child care subsidy program.
The proposed budget, which needs another roll call vote in the House before heading to the Senate, would also derail plans for the state to start paying subsidies to child care providers at the beginning of the month based on enrollment, instead of at the end of the month after providers report children’s attendance.
Providers and parents who attended the Child Advocacy Day rally said problems of funding instability and scarcity of affordable, quality child care are not new. They emphasized the importance of the subsidy program, which uses state and federal funds to help bring child care within reach of low-income and foster families.
But as the state faces a looming fiscal cliff, efforts to restore the cuts and clear the way to implement enrollment-based payments face obstacles. Senate leaders have not yet embraced either step, and the House budget would block the payment change from taking effect.
The average annual cost of child care for an infant in Missouri is $13,780, according to Child Care Aware of Missouri. For a 4-year-old, it’s $9,568. And 78 of Missouri’s 114 counties are child care deserts, where there are more than three times as many children ages 5 and under as there are licensed child care slots.
Deidre Anderson-Barbee, assistant commissioner of the Missouri Office of Childhood, told those attending the rally that child care accessibility is integral to the state’s “economic strength” and “workforce stability.”
“These are not separate issues,” she said. “They are deeply connected.”
The House budget plan, laid out by Republican state Rep. Dirk Deaton of Seneca, chair of the House Budget Committee, would close a nearly $2 billion deficit by using most of the surplus in the state’s general revenue fund.
Read the full story at missouriindependent.com