KPLU Local News
(2010-08-13)
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A child care facility in Olympia, WA (2005).
AP photo.
(KPLU) -
Among the budget cuts announced by Governor Chris Gregoire on Thursday are child care subsidies to families on welfare. Gregoire says September's revenue forecast is likely to be bleak, and the outlook prompted her to make $51 million in reductions to the state's Workfirst program.
The governor's plan means fewer hardship extensions for those who've exhausted their benefits. It also ends child care subsidies for families currently on the higher end of eligibility. The changes begin October 1st. Bette Hyde, who directs the state's Department of Early Learning (DEL), says that will give affected families a little time to plan.
"The (relatively speaking) good news is that none of this happens tomorrow, but it will impact a number of families," Hyde told KPLU News on Thursday morning while appearing at a Seattle early education conference.
About 25-hundred families, or about 6% of all families in the program, will be affected. Gregoire's directive eliminates those making 200% of federal poverty level (about $48,000 annual income) for a family four and moving the eligibility limit to 175% of the poverty level. Currently more than 60-thousand families in the state get some form of Workfirst assistance.
There may pressure to trim more from welfare programs this fall, but Hyde says that would be short-sighted. "Quality child care actually will pay for itself eight years out, in terms of money saved on remedial programs, money saved by families not being on welfare, money saved by people not being in jail. It's a good deal," says the DEL director.
Hyde hopes these cuts will avert even deeper cuts down the line. She advises families who are affected by this round of cuts to talk with their case worker about child-care alternatives. State welfare rolls have gone up 30 percent since the recession began.
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