AUSTIN, Texas — Later this week, child care providers nationwide could face a loss in funding from the government. The pandemic-era emergency child care funding set by the government is expected to expire on Saturday, Sept. 30.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the $24 billion Child Care Stabilization Program, which was passed through the American Rescue Plan in 2021, allowed funding to more than 220,000 child care programs and covered over 9 million children.
USA Today reports the American Rescue Plan also provided $15 billion to expand the Child Care and Development Block Grant, which helps low-income families pay for child care. That funding is set to expire at the end of September of 2024.
In July, the U.S. Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau released the National Database of Childcare Prices (NDCP). The data showed Travis County is the most expensive county in Texas to raise a child.
The Century Foundation reports that the federal funding cutoff on Saturday could lead to a loss of 70,000 programs and over 3 million child care spots.
Magdalena Macleod, director and owner of Happy Bunnies Child Care in southwest Austin, said during the pandemic, the funding was a lifeline to her business and allowed it to reduce the number of children in the classrooms by hiring more staff.
"Schools started competing for good teachers because we had to hire more people. We had to hire good quality people because we were looking after other people's children. For that, we had to start offering more money. So we went from $10 to $12 an hour to $18 to $20 an hour," Macleod said.
Macleod said at her business, staffing and employment is the biggest cost. If the government were to extend the funding, it would allow her child care center to continue training staff rather than hiring less-qualified employees because it's cheaper.
Meanwhile, the lack of funding could lead smaller schools to close down.
Officials with Bright Horizons, the largest provider of employer-sponsored child care in the U.S., said in a statement that to help combat this crisis, they believe employers need to become – and continue to be – a source of financial support for working parents’ child care requirements.
Happy Bunnies is apart of the Texas Rising Star program, which is a quality rating and improvement system for Texas early childhood programs. Being part of the program helps the child care center with resources and new furniture every year.
But Macleod said it doesn't help with labor costs.
"If the government values the service that we provide and if they want us to continue to provide really good quality care, they will start with looking after our staff and paying them a wage that they can live on," Macleod said.
She said her rent has doubled this year and expenses are going up for child care centers like hers. She said she would hate to make difficult decisions, but it may come down to it, if proper funding isn't an option.
"I would absolutely hate to have to make those kind of decisions where I am faced with, 'Am I going to get less qualified people? Or is child care going to suffer? Or am I going to have to make cuts?'" Macleod said.
According to TIME, a group of Democratic lawmakers is seeking $16 billion in funding to be passed for child care centers before the end of this month. Thirty senators have also sent a letter to President Joe Biden, asking for $16 billion in investment each year.