By:Steph Quinn
Missouri Independent
The Missouri Office of Childhood has received federal funding owed to more than 1,700 child care providers after submitting a “comprehensive breakdown” of expenditures, state officials said Tuesday.
“All subsidy funds requested” were released, and providers can expect to receive delayed payments by Jan. 16, an email from the state office said.
The delay left child care providers uncertain of when they would be reimbursed for services rendered in December through a nationwide subsidy program designed to increase access to child care for low-income and foster families.
The state office, part of Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said in a press release last week that it had responded to a federal request for a detailed explanation of the expenses to be reimbursed through the subsidy program.
Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, advocates and child care providers scrambled for answers as invoices sat unpaid.
Lisa Scheer, director of Baden Christian Child Care in St. Louis, told The Independent Friday that while the federal funds were at that point only a few days late, delays left providers putting off bill payments and questioning how long they would be able to keep their doors open.
Casey Hanson, deputy director of Kids Win Missouri, said many providers have already received payment. Scheer told The Independent that she is still waiting.
U.S. Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said in a Dec. 30 social media post that the federal Administration for Children and Families would begin requiring states to justify their child care expenses before receiving funding.
The state’s education department on Thursday evening received word from federal officials that it would need to meet requirements of the federal “Defend the Spend” initiative, first introduced by the now-dissolved Department of Government Efficiency, the department’s spokesperson told The Independent.
More than 90% of the $286 million approved for Missouri’s child care subsidy program by state lawmakers and Gov. Mike Kehoe this fiscal year comes from the U.S. Administration for Children and Families’ Child Care and Development Block Grant.