Missouri is behind at paying subsidies to some childcare providers, leading to some daycare centers reportedly closing.
The setbacks are due to a new subsidy payment system launched last December. The Missouri Office of Childhood has been dealing with kinks in the system that is designed to pay the childcare costs for very low-income families, foster kids, and children with special needs.
During Tuesday’s Missouri Board of Education meeting, board member Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge, of St. Louis County, said the struggles surround a data flow issue with multiple handoffs.
“Something didn’t make it from this system to that system,” she said.
Westbrooks-Hodge said she’s heard from some providers.
“As board members, these members of the community are coming to us saying, ‘Help. We can’t stay open and this isn’t sustainable. We’ve got some providers that are really hanging on a thread out there and they don’t have the margins to tolerate our issues,” she said.
Board Member Kim Bailey, of Raymore, said transitions and technology are frustrating.
“Those have merged in this to make it just a cluster, right? So, I want to highlight transitions are hard. Whenever we’re having a huge transition like that, we really need to beef it up. It’s not just standard. We’ve really got to beef it up. And when there’s a technology overlay, we’ve really got to beef that up,” said Bailey.
Pam Thomas, assistant commissioner for the Office of Childhood, said progress has been made over the past two months with the challenges, but the system is not fully operational yet. Two vendors are clearing the backlog of applications to pay providers.
“I think it’s safe to say everyone involved in this project is frustrated, is exhausted, is at the end of their rope, myself included. And I think that the only thing that you can say is, ‘We recognize it, we sincerely apologize. We are working around the clock with as many resources as we have. We understand this program is vital, not only to the providers and the families, but to the employers, to those that are going to school. We understand that part of it, and we are doing the best we can to get this cleaned up within the next month and get back on track,’” said Thomas.
Once the kinks are worked out, Thomas wants to go a step further.
“I don’t have a lot of history of the childcare subsidy program, so I don’t know what it was before. But my understanding is that there’s always been a challenge processing applications. There’s always been a challenge on getting timely payments. Our charge is to break that narrative and create a new one,” said Thomas.
State Education Commissioner Karla Eslinger said fixing the problems are the top priority for the entire Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
“Whenever there is a person that is, what I would consider to be on fire, you know, where I’m about to shut my door, I know that the team has pulled that aside, made it high priority, addressed it right there. I have no patience when it comes to this. We will get these folks paid. We will take care of these children,” said Eslinger.
Missouri has about 23,000 children receiving subsidized care, with roughly 1,800 childcare providers taking kids on subsidy.
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