States Losing Ground on Child Care

Yesterday we reported on Pre-K Now’s annual report card on state legislative action on pre-k. Overall, the picture that report offered was cautiously positive–states are increasing investment in pre-k, though not as impressively in previous years, even as economic problems tighten state budgets.

A report from the National Women’s Leadership Center, released today, paints a much uglier picture of state progress on child care. Most states, NWLC reports, have made no progress on improving child care access, affordability, or quality since 2001, or have in fact fallen behind. Half of states have lowered income elibility limits for childcare subsidies (as a percentage of federal poverty) since 2001. For families that do quality, about half of states require child care copayments that are greater, as a share of families incomes, than what they required in 2001. In at least one-third of states, the copay that parents receiving childcare subsidies must pay is greater, as a percentage of family income, than what the average family in the state pays for childcare. And states are also lowballing reimbursement rates for childcare providers–only 10 states reimbursed providers at federally recommended levels in 2008, less than half the number that did so in 2001.

Much of this stagnation and decline can be attributed to stagnation in federal funding for child care programs. Federal funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant has barely budged since 2002 (and even budged downwards in 2005, before a modest increase in 2006), and has actually fallen after accounting for inflation. States are also using fewer TANF dollars for childcare. As a result, some 200,000 children may lose childcare assistance by 2009.

This picture is particularly bleak when we consider the current economic climate, which is likely to increase the number of families eligible for childcare assistance, while rising food and fuel costs make it harder for families to afford childcare, even as state governments have fewer resources available to support quality childcare. The consequences of eight years of federal neglect for child care programs are catching up with us.