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After months of turmoil, child care aid to rise and eligibility expand

The Advocate - 1/27/2022

Jan. 28—Louisiana's reeling child care industry, and the parents who rely on it, got some good news from Gov. John Bel Edwards and the state's top school board.

Edwards 2022 legislative budget proposal would triple state aid for families who qualify for child care subsidies, boost state support for Louisiana's primary pre-K program and add $50 million for a fund that offers matching state dollars for local child care efforts.

Meanwhile, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education last week voted to expand eligibility for child care assistance and increase the daily payments.

"We commend the governor for this down payment on investing in our young children in the state of Louisiana," Libby Sonnier, executive director of the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, said Thursday.

"It is a commitment from two different bodies of government that young children in Louisiana are a priority," Sonnier said.

The child care industry here and nationally has been in turmoil for nearly two years because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Lots of centers closed when parents found themselves working from home because of the virus, or kept their children at home because of concerns about putting them in public settings.

The Child Care Assistance Program, or CCAP, helps subsidize child care for parents while they work, get job training or attend school. About 20,000 children are enrolled today, up from around 14,000 in 2019 but well under the high-water mark of about 40,000 children in the past.

Up to 173,000 children need assistance, officials said.

Edwards proposed boosting state aid for CCAP $11 million to $36.2 million, which officials said would open 1,670 slots for children from birth to age 3 and help pay for the higher subsidies that BESE approved.

The subsidies help offset some of the tuition charged by learning centers.

Under the current arrangement, families using a typical learning center get $31.05 per day for regular care for toddlers.

It will go up to $42 daily.

They get $35.65 for toddlers, which will rise to $65.

Alan Young, former president of the Child Care Association of Louisiana, said the new rates will encourage centers to again offer care for infants and toddlers because doing so had become cost prohibitive.

"So many centers got out of infant and toddler care because they could not afford the losses," he said.

Young operates Southland Park Learning Center in Shreveport.

He said the last infant cared for at his facility was his daughter, who is 28 years old.

Jena Chiasson, assistant state superintendent for teaching and learning, said the higher rates recommended by the state Department of Education will make child care aid more accessible to families.

Chiasson said the change is also good for providers, will stabilize the field and allow operators to pay their staff more.

The new aid is being financed with federal grants and coronavirus aid and state dollars.

BESE also expanded eligibility for CCAP from a maximum income of $51,000 for a family of four to $67,000.

Sonnier's group did a survey that shows 85% of families use formal child care outside of the home, including child care centers, pre-schools or Head Start.

The group said parents pay $358 per month per child with subsidies and $655 without subsidies.

"Louisiana families still struggle to afford child care," she said.

Edwards is also recommending a $17 million increase for LA 4, the state's pre-kindergarten program for at-risk children.

Doing so would allow a boost in payments to providers, which officials said have not changed in more than a decade.

The governor's proposals will be reviewed by Legislature during the 2022 regular session, which begins March 14.

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