IDAHO, USA — After weeks of debate and controversy, the Joint Fiscal Appropriations Committee voted on: Tuesday Approves $28 million in federal funding for the child care industry in Idaho.
The federal government first allocated funds for the American Relief Plan Act early in the COVID-19 pandemic when daycares were struggling to keep their doors open.
To date, Idaho has received over $100 million. About 700 child care businesses receive up to $20,000 monthly and 3,600 individual child care providers receive $300 monthly.
That funding is set to expire in June, but those in the childcare industry fear the JFAC will end sooner. TOTS director TLC Krystal McFarlane said he’s been meticulously planning that money through early summer.
“We didn’t know what we were going to do,” she said.
Initially, there was $43 million on the table. After weeks of uncertainty, the committee approved her $28 million, which still has to pass the House and Senate.
Senator Scott Grow said, “In the meantime, the Department of Health and Human Services continued to distribute its child care distributions in the same proportion or pattern as before.” rice field.”
Many people were not satisfied with the JFAC’s delay in decision. But Grow said committee members are concerned about other federal funds for child care that may not have been properly distributed by the Idaho Department of Health and Human Services.
He said $14 million was approved by Congress last year.
“Some of these grants that were distributed were for children under the age of 5 to 0 for federal purposes, and that was fine.” The law clearly stated that it was only between the ages of 5 and 13.
Grow said JFAC members want to wait until they can “legally determine the appropriate way to distribute the funds.” increase.
Of course, that is if the House and Senate agree. Grow said he hopes Congress will make a decision quickly, possibly as early as this week.
“We didn’t want legislators to worry that we were giving money back to health and welfare to the same people who had ineligible distributions,” he said. .
Even if the funds were fully approved, the $28 million would be exhausted in June. McFarlane says federal funds are helping to keep the lights on as they have to meet rising wages and other facility costs.
She said TLC for Tots has already increased tuition fees for families in preparation for reduced funding. Over the past two years, infant fees have increased by $200.
According to McFarlane, this is the biggest increase since the child care business started 15 years ago.
“We increased the tuition in increments to make sure we got where we needed to go,” she said. [when the funding ran out]Thanks to this, I was able to continue the business without burdening my family all at once. ”
McFarlane said the childcare industry shouldn’t be dependent on this federal funding long-term, but believes “there’s still a lot that hasn’t been addressed.”
The JFAC previously denied $36 million in childcare funding earlier this year.
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