Some child care providers and advocates worry cuts to the Idaho Child Care Program could compound struggles for providers, and reduce low-income families’ access to affordable child care. (Jim Max for the Idaho Capital Sun)
As Brigham Young University-Idaho’s new school year starts up in September, Kearis Ochs was preparing for a round of new parents to enroll kids in her local child care centers.
But after the health department announced budget cuts to a child care subsidy program, she’s expecting “a lot of lost business for us, and a lot of parents scrambling to find childcare that they can afford.”
About four in 10 of the children who come to her centers, called Whole Child Early Education, are on the Idaho Child Care Program , which gives parents subsidies to pay for some child care costs.
She and others worry that new cuts to the program by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare — which officials say they made to avoid a projected budget shortfall — could compound financial struggles for Idaho child care centers and make it harder for low-income families to access affordable child care.