Advocating for Children

The Bad News and the Good News of Ohio’s Budget

July 13, 2011 at 7:11 pm 4cforchildren Leave a comment

So what do you want first – the good news or the bad news of the State of Ohio’s new biennium budget – which started July 1, 2011 – as it relates to early childhood education and child care? OK then. We’ll start with the bad. Working families with incomes up to nearly $28,000 a year (for a family of three) used to be able to get some help paying for child care. Now, a family is ineligible to receive help if the income exceeds about $23,000 for a family of three.

The good news is that once a parent starts getting help, she can get raises along the way and continue getting some level of assistance until her income reaches $37,000 a year. That’s not great, because it is hard to make it financially with two young children whose child care might cost as much as $16,000 a year. But it sure beats losing all assistance at $23,000 – which was an early budget proposal. Ohio expects to serve 103,000 children every month, the same as last year despite the lower eligibility levels.

For child care centers and family child care providers  the bad news is that the reimbursement rate will be set at the 26th percentile of the 2008 Market Rate Survey – a 7 percent across-the-board cut. This represents a $40 million savings for the state. The rate started at a painfully low level and is now lower. Child care teachers and aides make very low wages to start with. This can only make it worse, since salaries are the biggest budget item in a center.

The good news on rates is that centers and Type A family child care homes that get quality rated through Ohio’s Step Up To Quality can get from a 7 to 19 percent higher reimbursement than the market rate. This is up from 5 to 15 percent last year.  With the base rate dropping to the 26^th percentile there will still be a cut to all programs but the rated programs will be impacted less.

As to quality improvement and school readiness, the bad news is that there are significant cuts to quality initiatives. T.E.A.C.H., the source for college scholarships for early childhood teachers received a significant funding cut. Training and technical assistance to support providers as they work to achieve the quality rating has been cut by 20 percent.

The good news is that the administration has a strong commitment to continuing and strengthening Step Up To Quality. Quality Achievement Awards for rated programs are maintained at a high level. Plans are underway to add an additional star level and to further improve the benchmarks and licensing process.

So what’s the bottom line of the new Ohio budget on early childhood care and education? It could have been worse. Ohio HAD to cut $8 billion from the budget, and the expectation was that some services would be decimated. Fortunately, the Ohio legislature and governor seem to understand the role of child care in economic stability and the role of early learning to prepare children for school.

Entry filed under: Advocacy. Tags: .