Advocates Testify in Support of Child Care Affordability

Last Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Seniors, Families, & Public Health heard testimony in support of increasing the affordability of child care for low-incomes Missouri families. SB 776, sponsored by Senator Justus from Kansas City, would:

• raise eligibility for state child care assistance to 140% of federal poverty ($24,600 a year for a family of 3);
• offer reduced transitional assistance for parents up to 185% FPL ($32,500 a year for a family of 3); and
• raise provider reimbursement rates for subsidized child care to the most current market rate.

 Several witnesses addressed the issue of low provider reimbursement rates causing families to take a larger share of child care costs that can make high quality care unaffordable. In addition, when providers are reimbursed for only half of the market rate for child care, it becomes financially difficult to serve subsidized children and to increase the overall quality of care.

For example, in Jackson County the market rate for child care for two young children is $1,580 a month. Yet the state subsidy program only reimburses providers $941, since reimbursement rates have not been significantly updated in over a decade. Usually a parent would pay a co-pay of about $200 a month to access child care with the state subsidy program; but in order to access child care at the market rate, a parent in Jackson County would have to pay over $800 a month, over 45% of their income. Low provider reimbursement rates unfortunately mean that even families receiving child care assistance often cannot afford the price of high quality care that has the best outcomes for children.

A single mom attending MU told the committee that, even with subsidy assistance, child care for her baby costs 54% of her total income. Other witnesses in support of SB 776 included Operation Breakthrough in Kansas City, Missouri Catholic Conference, Missouri Child Care Resource & Referral Network, Partnership for Children, Citizens for Missouri’s Children, and InterServ in St. Joseph. Jim Stacy with DST Systems in Kansas City and Nancy Giddens representing the GKC Chamber of Commerce testified from the business perspective on the economic and workforce benefits of affordable, quality child care.

Quality Rating System Takes one Step Forward

Last Thursday, the Senate Education committee reported SB 726, establishing a Quality Rating System for early childhood and school-age child care programs, to the Senate Floor where it will now be put on the calendar to await full Senate debate. QRS will help parents identify quality programs for their children and help child care providers improve their quality by offering technical assistance and program improvement grants. The committee substitute for SB 726 includes an amendment relating to child care subsidy eligibility and provider reimbursement rates offered by Senator Days. The amendment is the same language as SB 776 (Justus) which was heard in committee last week.

After years of hard work trying to increase the affordability of quality child care for Missouri’s low-income families, child advocates are excited to see greater support building in the state legislature this year for increasing eligibility for child care assistance. Investing in quality early childhood education by establishing a Quality Rating System and by increasing child care affordability will produce great economic returns for Missouri when our youngest children are more prepared for success in kindergarten through graduation and on into their adult lives.

It is likely that the child care affordability amendment will be removed from SB 726 before it is brought up for debate because of concerns over the fiscal note, however there is sure to be continued discussion linking the issues of quality and affordability of child care as legislative session continues. With concerns rising over the budget outlook for this year, Partnership for Children urges the Senate to consider phasing-in an increase in subsidy eligibility and child care provider reimbursement rates rather than taking no action at all on such an important issue this year.

Coordinating Board for Early Childhood Develops Task Force for Pre-K

The Missouri Coordinating Board for Early Childhood (CBEC) was established in statutee in August 2005. However, all 17 appointments to the board were not completed until May 2007. The CBEC has been meeting monthly since December 2006. Among many other duties, the CBEC is responsible for developing a statewide, long-range strategic plan for a cohesive early childhood system and for making legislative recommendations to improve services for children from birth through age five.

Following the Kansas City school district’s sudden expansion of pre-k last August that caused many repercussions within the private child care community, the coordinating board began discussing a coordinated pre-k system in Missouri that would be focused on quality early education experiences. The CBEC realized that, without state funding or guidelines, many school districts are already developing pre-k programs that may not follow best practices to ensure quality early learning or to be integrated with already established community-based programs.

Key policy issues must be addressed soon to help guide the inevitable expansion of pre-k in local communities and to prevent a patchwork of programs that may not achieve desired outcomes.

The coordinating board is currently developing a Pre-K Task Force comprised of legislators, members of the child care, education, and business communities to further research this issue and to develop policy recommendations for the state.

As House Appropriations for Health, Mental Health and Social Services continues to meet this week to review the Governor’s budget recommendations, advocates remain concerned about information circulating the halls that the House and Senate budget committees will have to cut between $250-$500 million dollars from the state budget due to a number of factors including expectations of slower revenue growth in the coming years.  This could have severe implications for many of increased spending proposals for children’s services.  Partnership for Children will continue to monitor this situation and will report on any changes to the state budget that negatively impact Missouri’s children and families.

Upcoming Hearings of Interest:

--Child Protection--

Child Support (HB 1360):  HB 1360 will be heard on Tuesday, February 12th at 12 pm in Hearing Room1. Sponsored by Rep. Tim Flook, HB1360 would amend the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) which was first established in 2001. However the state now needs to pass the amendments so that prosecuting attorneys and the Division of Child Support Enforcement can work more easily with other states when attempting to enforce family support orders.

Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act (HB 1358):  HB 1358 will be heard on Tuesday, February 12th at 12 pm in hearing Room 1. Sponsored by Rep. Tim Flook, HB 1358 adds language which helps courts determine which state should assert jurisdiction over a custody proceeding; provides for the communications between the courts to be recorded, which further assists the appellate courts by providing a record as to the basis for the trial court’s decision; and provides for enforcement of custody orders which currently does not exist.

Age of Jurisdiction (SB1054):  SB1054, sponsored by Senator Tom Dempsey, will be heard on Monday, February 11th at 6:00 pm by the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Senate Lounge. This act expands the jurisdiction of juvenile courts to include individuals who are over seventeen years of age but not yet eighteen years of age, for the sole purpose of status offenses, by modifying the definitions of "child," "adult," and "status offense." 

Sexual Predator Resolutions (SJR 30 &34):  SJR 30, sponsored by Senator Maida Coleman and SJR 34, sponsored by Senator Jason Crowell, were not taken up in Senate Judiciary last week.  They will be heard in committee this Monday, February 11th at 6:00 pm in the Senate Lounge.  As reported last week, these resolutions would require sexual offenders who were convicted prior to the establishment of the Sexual Offender Registry to register.

--Early Care and Education--

Pre-k (SB779): SB 779, sponsored by Senator Smith, will be heard on Wednesday, February 13^th at 2pm in the Senate Education Committee. SB 779 requires the state to provide fully subsidized preschool for children residing in unaccredited school districts. Partnership for Children is working with Senator Smith on a revision to the bill that would base eligibility on free & reduced priced lunch instead of accreditation.

--Health --

Youth Smoking (SB 843): SB 843, sponsored by Senator Wilson, will be heard this Tuesday, February 12^th, at 8:15 AM in the Senate Seniors, Families, & Public Health Committee.  SB 843 would create a trust fund and commission for youth smoking prevention. Almost 90% of adult smokers began smoking before they were 19. It is estimated that around 30% of Missouri high school students smoke—the third highest smoking rate in the nation. For the first time ever in Missouri, Governor Blunt’s FY ‘09 budget creates a new smoking cessation initiative within MOHealthNet and allocates $2 million specifically for youth smoking prevention programs.

KANSAS LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Wichita Businessman Testifies on Early Education

On Feb. 6, Wichita businessman Barry Downing testified before the Senate Ways and Means Committee on behalf of the Wichita and Kansas City Business Coalitions for Early Education. He also joined Kansas Action for Children and the Coalition for School Readiness in several meetings with Senate and House leadership about the importance of high-quality early learning, and the importance of supporting the new early childhood funding proposed this session. Downing is one of the business co-chairs of the Kansas Coalition for School Readiness. His personal involvement in early education continues to gain the attention and respect of legislators. Click here to read Downing's testimony:  

Committee Hears Health Budget Issues

On Feb. 5, the Social Services Budget Committee heard public comment on the health budget within KDHE. Our statewide partner, Kansas Action for Children, testified in support of funding for newborn screening and Coordinated School Health. The committee will report its recommendations on the KDHE budget to the Appropriations Committee at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 13, in 514-S. The subcommittee did approve the governor's budget recommendations, including an enhancement for newborn screening. Not included in the committee's recommendation is the FY08 supplement newborn screening funding request of $114,518. 

Bill would increase cigarette tax

HB 2737 would increase the Kansas cigarette tax by 50 cents per pack. Data shows that increases in the cost of cigarettes and tobacco products result in a reduction in the use of these products by young people. This has played out in New Jersey, which is the state with the highest cigarette tax ($2.58 per pack) and the lowest percentage of teen smokers (17.3%).

Upcoming Hearings of Interest

2010 Commission Recommendations: The Senate Education Committee will hold hearings on Monday, Feb. 11, and Tuesday, Feb. 12, regarding SB 407 and SB 408. Based upon recommendations from the 2010 Commission, these bills would move administration of the infant-toddler special education program (Tiny-K), Early Head Start and Pre-Kindergarten pilots to the Department of Education.

Kansas Coordinated School Health:  On Tuesday, Feb. 12, a subcommittee from Ways and Means will hear the KSDE budget appeal at 3 p.m. Our statewide partner, Kansas Action for Children, will be testifying in support of this funding for the Kansas Coordinated School Health Program, which provides resources for Kansas communities to create healthier school environments. The more public comment we can generate for this important program, the better! If you would like to speak in support of the Kansas Coordinated School Health program, please contact Suzanne Wikle at suzanne@kac.org or 785-232-0550.

Statewide Smoking Ban: The Senate Judiciary committee will hear SB 493, a proposal for a statewide smoking ban, on Tuesday, Feb. 12, and Wednesday, Feb. 13.

President’s Final Budget a disappointment for children and families

President Bush released his budget this week, much to the disappointment of the children’s community. The President’s budget, despite being the largest budget in our nation’s history, put children and other vulnerable populations at risk, including the following changes:

Child Care and Head Start:  The Administration itself estimates that 200,000 low-income children and their families will lose child care assistance and 13,000 children will lose Head Start services under the proposed budget.  The budget would freeze funding for child care assistance for low-income families for the seventh consecutive year.  After adjusting for inflation, child care funding has already fallen by almost 17 percent since 2002.  (Between 2002 and 2006, the last year for which data is available, the number of low-income children grew by more than 8 percent.)

In December, the President signed Head Start reauthorization legislation which had broad bipartisan support.  The legislation called for expanding the number of low-income children served in the program and for new investments to raise the quality of the program.  The President’s 2009 budget proposes to fund Head Start at $7 billion — just a hair under what is needed to maintain 2008 funding levels adjusted for inflation and about 12 percent below 2002 funding levels adjusted only for inflation.

Health Care: The President’s budget proposal cuts funding for Medicare and Medicaid. The budget would cut federal Medicaid expenditures by $18.2 billion over five years. These savings would primarily be achieved not by lowering health care costs, but rather by shifting costs to the states.

In addition to the Medicaid cuts, the budget includes $556 billion in Medicare reductions over ten years.  This would jeopardize health care for significant numbers of people who are elderly or have serious disabilities.

In a small ray of light, Bush did propose a nearly $20 billion increase in SCHIP funding over five years, nearly quadruple what he requested last year. However, it is estimated that states will need an SCHIP funding increase of approximately $21.5 billion over the budget baseline for the next five years simply to sustain their current SCHIP programs.  Under the Administration’s funding level, states thus would tread water at best and more likely be required to scale back their SCHIP programs, unless they were able to increase their own SCHIP funding.

Safety Net: The budget cuts supports for vulnerable and low-income people, including victims of domestic violence; energy, housing and nutrition assistance; child support enforcement; and other vital social services.

The Kansas Coalition for School Readiness will host Early Learning Day at the Statehouse on Feb. 26. To register to attend, visit www.kansasschoolreadiness.org.