Child Care Cuts Would Affect Us All
This morning, like millions of other parents across the country, I dropped my daughter off at child care on my way to work. In choosing a licensed child care provider to care for her, I made certain assumptions about the standards that provider would be required to meet. And, probably like many other parents, I take for granted that the government plays a role in helping to ensure my daughter’s health and safety.
In the policy arena, we often refer to the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) as the program that funds state child care assistance programs that help low-income families afford child care while they are working, looking for work, or in training or education programs. However, CCDBG plays a role in the lives of all families using child care, not just those who are low-income. CCDBG includes a requirement that states spend up to 4 percent of funds on initiatives to improve the quality of care. In 2009, the latest year data are available, states set aside more than $661 million for this purpose.
These quality funds reach child care settings that serve children across income levels and are the sole source of federal funding dedicated to improving the quality of child care in this country. States spend at least half of these