Making Quality Early Care Affordable and Available for All Families
Today, most parents work. Despite this fact, 85,000 children in Connecticut live in poverty. Investments in quality early care and education make today’s workforce more dependable and tomorrow’s workforce more capable. Connecticut's future calls for a system of childcare where all children have access to affordable and high quality childcare experiences.
Our children deserve to be cared for by people who nurture their minds as well as their bodies. Quality early care and education programs cost between $12,000 and $16,000 per year to operate, depending on the services they offer and the salary they pay teachers. Many parents would like their three and four year olds to participate in programs that could prepare them for school, but these are often too expensive.
Low-income parents can get help to pay for childcare and preschool based on income. In Connecticut, a combination of state funds is used to make these services affordable. They include Care 4 Kids, Head Start, State-Funded Centers, and School Readiness. Each of these funding sources pays a different rate per child and operates with different rules and regulations. None of the payments from these programs pays for the full cost of offering a quality preschool program.
- Head Start Programs are funded by the federal government as well as the State Department of Education. The amount of funding per child varies from program to program. Parents do not pay any fee.
- State-funded Centers receive $5700 per child by the State Department of Social Services. When parents enroll a child in one of these Centers, the provider charges an additional fee to the family based on income.
- School Readiness is administered through local councils that choose which programs will receive funding. Some communities allocate the money to one provider and others allow many providers to enroll eligible children. The State pays $7500 per child for services.
- Care 4 Kids is a childcare certificate program of the Department of Social Services. This program pays for childcare for children ages six weeks through school age, in a home or a center. Eligible families receive differing amounts per child based on household income and the type of care chosen. The average payment to providers through this program is $4200.
Addressing the Funding Gap in Care4Kids
In 2002, the state budgeted $121.5 million to Care 4 Kids. That year, Care 4 Kids provided services to almost 40,000 children. The 2005 budget allocated $72 million and benefited only 15,000 children. There is great demand for these subsidies, as evidenced by the recent waiting list of 11,000 children. State-funded Centers have not seen an increase in the per child rate paid by the State in six years.
Importantly, Care 4 Kids can be used to supplement other funding sources. In the past, this has made it possible for quality programs to piece together enough money to extend services to families that cannot pay the full cost. Years of budget cuts and level funding have led many early care and education programs to close their doors to low-income families. Unequal payment rates per child across state agencies have driven other centers into deficit, requiring them to borrow money just to make payroll. Some 4000 children could lose access to preschool services.
