Malloy Budget Cuts undermine quality early child care programs in Connecticut - Wait What?:
Malloy Budget Cuts undermine quality early child care programs in Connecticut
Connecticut Voices for Children, a non-partisan research group, has produced a new report on the devastating impact that Governor Dannel Malloy’s budget is having on Connecticut’s Care 4 Kids program.
CT Voices reports;
The Care 4 Kids child care subsidy has played a key role in providing quality child care to low-income working families in Connecticut, enrolling an average of about 21,000 children per month in 2016.
Last summer, however, increased program costs driven by federally mandated quality improvements resulted in a $33 million budget shortfall.
To address that budget gap, the Office of Early Childhood (OEC) closed enrollment for the program, leading to a current waitlist of about 3,000 families. The waitlist is projected to increase to 5,000 families by July 2017.
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We find that 30% of children age under five in the state live in low-income families that qualify for Care 4 Kids – but instead of receiving subsidies, these children and their families are placed on a waitlist with no definitive end date. Moreover, in 49% of Connecticut towns, Care 4 Kids is the only form of state support for child care. Under the Governor’s proposed budget, the subsidy program may not reopen until 2019, leaving thousands of parents with untenable choices. The legislature must adopt a budget that fully funds Care 4 Kids this year –our report presents policy solutions to make that happen.
Since the Closure of Care 4 Kids, enrollment has dropped significantly. The current waitlist contains about 3,000 families. The waitlist is projected to increase to about 5,000 families by July 2017.
Connecticut may see a decline in the number of child care centers and home day care providers. Loss of child care
Malloy Budget Cuts undermine quality early child care programs in Connecticut - Wait What?:
