Financial aid for struggling West Virginia daycare centers is off the table for now as state lawmakers grapple with a potential $465 million Budget deficit tied to possible Underfunding of education programs while the state received federal pandemic funding for education.
Childcare was expected be a bipartisan priority in the House of Representatives this year, but efforts stalled due to lack of money, as 26,000 children in danger the daycare centers and day care centers are fighting to maintain their opening.
Republican politicians also cited West Virginia’s low labor force participation rate – the lowest in the country – as a reason to lend a hand child care centers survive.
On Tuesday, as MPs attempted to Draft budgetDemocrat Kayla Young of Kanawha asked lawmakers to consider an amendment that would provide $44 million in additional funding to the Department of Human Services to lend a hand pay for daycare centers reimbursed by the state.
“Our child care centers desperately need this money,” she said. “Many of us have said child care is our priority this session, and we have done absolutely nothing so far.”
Young told members that their request came just days after the instructed that states reimburse the costs of child care centers based on the number of children from low-income families enrolled there rather than on the number of participants in order to stabilize their funding.
House Finance Committee Chairman Del. John Hardy (R-Berkeley) urged rejection of Young’s amendment, arguing that there are too many issues surrounding the multimillion-dollar budget gap to make child care funding a priority at this time.
“We are still at the very beginning of the process,” he said.
The House of Representatives rejected the amendment by 20 votes to 71. pollSome members of the House Child Care Working Group voted against the proposal.
Although the House of Representatives postponed budget deliberations on Tuesday, it later passed an amended version of the Senate budget proposal that includes salary increases for teachers and school staff and further cuts to state Social Security taxes.
MEPs have already indicated that they will return for a special session in May to deal with the remaining budget issues. It is possible that they will look at approving money for daycare centers once the financial situation is clearer.
“We have to do this. Maybe we’ll be back here in May and we can make arrangements … We’ve done a lot of things this session that, frankly, I’m not proud of, but this is the only thing we can do right now to answer the call of the top priority,” Del. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, told lawmakers. “There’s no reason not to do it. It’s in excess.”
Given the budget uncertainty, the House also rejected other amendments aimed at funding a planned agricultural laboratory at West Virginia State University, a nursing home for veterans and required salary increases for direct care staff.
Further draft legislation to close the state childcare gap remain parked in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
