Pandemic relief funds will expire at the end of September, putting child care providers and parents who relied on the extra funding in a tight spot.
Rachel Proper, owner of seven child care centers and secretary of the Oklahoma Child Care Association, said the Oklahoma Department of Human Services has worked to prepare care providers and parents for the upcoming changes in funding.
American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, funds were used in the child care industry to help with affordability and for staffing facilities. The funds expire Sept. 30.
“They’ve always communicated from the beginning that these ARPA supports were a temporary COVID benefit,” Proper said. “And as those things started winding down, they stair-stepped it in a way so that we didn’t get hit with everything all at once.”
According to a statement from DHS, parents were notified of the changes multiple times, as recently as 30 days prior to the initiative’s end.
“Through the COVID initiatives, parents had a copay of $0. In 2023, the agency increased parents’ co-pays to 50% to prepare them for the eventual return to pre-pandemic co-payment levels. Effective Oct. 1, parents will return to pre-pandemic co-pays at 100%,” said Nazarene Harris, a spokesperson for the agency, in a statement.
While Proper said the agency did a good job at preparing for the end of ARPA funding, she said she’s now concerned by the agency’s recently proposed rule changes to the eligibility standards for child care subsidies.
The proposed revisions that would change the threshold to become eligible from 85% of the state median income to 70%, meaning a smaller portion of the population would be eligible.
Proper said if these changes were made official, providers and families would struggle to adjust.
“We’re working right now trying to gather as much public comment as we can to try to ask DHS to reconsider doing that,” she said. “To take a step back and reduce those eligibility levels again. It’s going to hurt a lot of providers. It’s going to hurt a lot of families.”
These rules have been posted by the agency, but are not in effect. The rules are first subject to a public comment period and are supposed to be approved by the Legislature and governor, Proper said.
In a statement, a DHS spokesperson said the agency “understands the critical importance of childcare programs to ensure families have access to a safe and nurturing environment for their children while they work or go to school. Families’ access to reliable childcare also supports Oklahoma’s businesses through a productive workforce. The agency is committed to stewarding taxpayer resources and providing Oklahoma families with access to safe, quality childcare programs.”
Rep. Suzanne Schreiber, D-Tulsa, said she is also concerned about the proposed rules changes.
“I have serious concerns that that is going to compound the loss of ARPA dollars. Families no longer qualifying for subsidies will force less people to use childcare because they will step out of the workforce because they cannot make the economics make sense for their family,” she said.
Schreiber is concerned that families who used to be eligible for the subsidies will suddenly be left out and not be able to adjust to their new financial realities.
Since the rules must be approved by the Legislature and governor, Schreiber said she thinks it is possible to reject the rule change and maintain the current threshold for eligibility.
She said that child care centers will close because of the loss of ARPA dollars and legislators need to have “robust” conversations on how to help families and businesses.
Schreiber sees two main solutions, the first being the Legislature deciding how much state money will be dedicated to child care in the budget.
“How much are we going to spend on subsidies as a state? How are we going to make sure that these businesses can remain and provide the quality that we need? That is a budget conversation that we have to have as a state…” Schreiber said.
A second solution, one Schreiber has proposed as a bill in the past, would incentivize more people to work as child care providers by offering them free child care.
“As a state, we need to own our piece in this system and understand how we can incentivize, grow and support this model. I think a very simple and affordable way is to incentivize that workforce by being able to offer them free childcare … we incentivize every other industry.”
Schreiber intends to propose her legislation on the topic again and hopes these conversations on how to help child care providers continue.
This story is from nonprofit news outlet Oklahoma Voice.