Day care subsidy cuts pose tough choice

By David McGrath Schwartz (contact)

Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008 | 2 a.m.

More families will face the tough choice between work and child care as a result of the latest state budget cuts.

On Monday, the state sent letters informing parents and day care centers that hundreds of children will lose subsidized day care early next year.

Experts said, in this tough economy, loss of the subsidy could force parents to place their children in poorly supervised situations.

The cuts will save about $225,000 from Feb. 1 to June 30 and balance the child care subsidy’s books, said Romaine Gilliland, administrator of the Welfare and Supportive Services Division.

The poorest families will still receive assistance, which, according to the state, averages about $400 a month.

Families that are better off will no longer get the subsidy, which covers 20 percent to 30 percent of their day care costs. That means households of four with incomes from $42,564 to $49,572 a year will no longer qualify for the money.

Those with incomes of less than that are safe for now, Gilliland said.

As Gov. Jim Gibbons prepares his executive budget for the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years more families could lose this benefit.

“It’s inevitable,” said Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno. “As budget cuts go deeper, whole groups of people will be cut off from services.”

The state provided a subsidy for nearly 4,000 families and 6,712 children as of October. About 89 percent of the families were headed by a single parent.

Christine Frakes, director of the Fellowship Christian Child Development Center in Las Vegas, said about a quarter of the 87 children at the day care center qualify for the state subsidy. Without it, she said, the families would have to look for other child care options, she said.

The cuts are the result of two factors.

One is the increasing number of Nevadans seeking help with child care costs.

The other is budget cuts made during June’s special legislative session, which didn’t save as much money as officials thought they would.

Now, agencies have been asked to come up with 34 percent cuts for the upcoming biennium.

Although Gilliland declined to say what 34 percent cuts would look like for the child care subsidy, it’s clear more working families will be cut off from services under the budget Gibbons is required to submit next month to the Legislature.

“It doesn’t make any economic sense,” Leslie said. “Parents have two choices: Quit working and go back on public assistance, or the children go unsupervised.”

Indeed, child advocates worried that decreasing access to child care would lead to more cases of poorly supervised children.

Tom Morton, director of Clark County’s Family Services Department, said neglect is the most common form of abuse the agency investigates. The reason is usually the result of a lack of supervision, he said.

“It’s a hard place and a rock. Child care subsidies are a way for a parent to work and afford child care,” Morton said. “The reason to get the subsidy is they’re not making enough to pay the going rates at day care.”

David McGrath Schwartz can be reached at (775) 687-4597 or at david.schwartz@lasvegassun.com.