Child care assistance for thousands of West Virginia kids still is in limbo as the Department of Human Services needs anywhere from $23-30 million dollars for a funding shortfall. Lawmakers are unlikely to step in and give the department funds, saying the embattled agency already has the money to cover it.

DoHS has been using federal emergency funds to subsidize child care centers to avoid a Sept. 1 funding cliff, which could have removed 2,000 kids from the program by next month. Gov. Jim Justice said on Thursday that the money could sustain the program through the end of the year.

“We’ve found enough federal funds to cover the cost of our centers with entirety ‘til the end of the year,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure that we improve child care, because that’s what drives young people to this great state and we’ve got to have workers.”

But how DoHS will pay for it beyond that — as well as the state’s plan for sufficient, long-term child care funding — remains a question that DoHS hasn’t yet clarified for lawmakers, child care providers, families or this news outlet. 

“We are just business owners fighting to get funding for families right now,” said Jennifer Trippett, owner of Cubby’s Child Care Center in Bridgeport. “It is impossible to run a business that you don’t know what your funding stream is going to be in six months.”

The center serves 450 families; around 50% of those children use the state’s child care assistance program, which pays the center per child.

“We’re told there is funding, but there’s no one who can say where it will come from,” she said.

The federal government recently mandated without funding that states subsidize child care centers based on the total enrollment rather than attendance. About 15,000 West Virginia families used the child care assistance program in 2023. 

DoHS has been using money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to cover the costs of child care subsidies. 

“The plan is to use TANF dollars as long as they can,” said Del. Amy Summers, R-Taylor.

“My goal is that families feel less nervous,” she continued. “What I wish is that we had a clear answer. I worry about these families and children and their planning. I’d like to have accurate information.”

TANF dollars aren’t permanent, and DoHS leaders said they’ll give families and providers a 60-day notice when the funding changes.

DoHS did not respond to multiple interview requests or questions about child care from West Virginia Watch. A spokesperson for Justice didn’t respond to this story.

House Minority Leader Sean Horbuckle, D-Cabell, said his caucus had tried with little success to get information from DoHS about the funding issue. 

The lack of communication for child providers and families was “disrespectful to the citizens of West Virginia on such an important matter,” he said. 

DoHS says it’s the legislature’s problem to fix, lawmakers disagree 

DoHS Secretary Cynthia Persily told WV News on Aug. 16 that she needed the Legislature to allocate additional funds for the shortfall and that she couldn’t dip into a recently-created $180 million reserve fund.

Lawmakers, concerned with DoHS spending transparency, required in the bill that DoHS report to them any spending out of the reserve. It doesn’t prohibit the department from using the money for the child care assistance program.

“[Speaker Roger Hanshaw] is confident the Department of Human Services has enough funds for child care assistance to continue … and the speaker also is confident the department’s reserve fund for making up any funding shortfall in the short term is available to the secretary relatively unencumbered for that purpose,” House of Delegates Communications Director Ann Ali said. 

Hornbuckle said that he didn’t want to focus on “who was right or wrong.”

“It’s not time to hide or tell fables or bend the truth. Let’s figure out why we haven’t moved on this and let’s get it moved on,” he said. “Besides the parents and kids, it hurts the economy. It’s a tough thing.”

He also noted that House Democrats, under the leadership of Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, prioritized child care legislation during the session. 

With more than 20,000 child care spots needed in the state, Republican leaders had also said it was a priority as they looked to improve the state’s chronically-low rate of workforce participation.

But a bundle of bi-partisan bills focused on increasing child care access never went up for a vote in the full House or Senate. Then during the May special session, lawmakers voted down a bipartisan amendment that would have required DoHS to spend some of the $180 million reserve on child care and avoid the current funding shortfall. 

The funding cliff won’t likely be addressed in an August special session should Justice decide to call one. He has been pushing a Child and Dependent Care tax credit that would allow 16,300 eligible families to claim up to 50% of the allowable federal tax credit.

“I think what I’m gathering is that the governor hasn’t given that to us to fund. He had opportunities during the session and [May] special session,” Summers said. “He wants his tax credit.”

More issues plaguing child care providers

Lawmakers will be at the State Capitol on Sunday for the start of August interim meetings. Trippett and other child care providers will hold a rally at 2:30 p.m to ask lawmakers to solve the funding issue.

While the state’s enrollment subsidy model will help stabilize child care center’s income, Trippett stressed that DoHS must increase the amount it pays in subsidies for children. 

The state lost 750 child care spots this year because the subsidy amount failed to keep up with rising operational costs. 

“I lose a ton of money on every child who has assistance,” she said. “Since 2019, any child care center that is hiring someone with or without a degree who has training … instead of paying $9-10 an hour, we now have to pay $17 an hour because that’s what fast food is paying. And the cost of food has tripled.”