Kentucky
Kentucky Senate budget short of what child care advocates say they need • Kentucky Lantern
FRANKFORT — Child care advocates applauded elements of the Kentucky Senate’s budget, unveiled Wednesday, but said lawmakers have not gone far enough to save the struggling industry.
The proposed child care spending is a “monumental investment,” said Sarah Vanover, a policy and research director for Kentucky Youth Advocates.
“We appreciate the fact that this is more than what the House had delegated, that we’re moving in the right direction,” she told the Lantern. “We can build off of what is in this budget, but it’s not there yet.”
The Senate’s budget bills cleared the Appropriations and Revenue Committee Wednesday morning and were approved 37-1 by the full Senate later in the day.
Kentucky’s child care industry — which some are working to rebrand under an “early childhood education” umbrella — is counting on a boost from the 2024 legislative session as federal COVID-19 dollars that helped stabilize the industry during the last few years are running out. This leaves many centers to cut pay for their workers, raise tuition for parents, cut services and even close.
Without help from the General Assembly, Kentucky could lose more than a fifth of its child care providers, the Lantern has reported.
The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy previously estimated that $300 million is needed to replace the federal aid that’s ending. The state Department for Community Based Services says the need at closer to $100 million.
With the state help that is proposed in the House budget — a $52 million a year increase — experts estimated 16,000 kids could lose access to child care in 2024.
With the Senate’s proposal, according to Vanover, that number is 14,000.
In his December budget proposal, Gov. Andy Beshear pitched spending $141 million over the next two years to stabilize the child care industry, as well as $172 million to begin funding universal preschool for Kentucky 4-year-olds.
What is the Senate proposing?
Charles Aull, executive director of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Center for Policy and Research, said “there’s some really good progress in the Senate budget proposal.”
“From my perspective, it looks like the Senate has worked really hard to identify … how much General Fund dollars from the state actually need to be kicked in in order to continue some of the important changes that were made to CCAP (Child Care Assistance Program) over the past couple of years,” Aull told the Lantern.
The Senate has outlined these budget lines for child care:
- $28 million annually – $21 million from the General Fund and $7 million in federal funds – in 2025 and 2026 for reimbursements to child care providers through the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). This is a decrease from what the House proposed: $40 million, and what Sen. Danny Carroll requested in his Horizons Act: $66 million, though he voted in favor of the proposal on the floor. Despite the decrease, “that piece is still much more than we’ve ever gotten,” Vanover said.
- $14.8 million annually to provide child care for child care providers. This is “one of the great things that the Senate had that the House did not,” Vanover said. Sen. Chris McDaniel, chair of the Appropriations and Revenue Committee, said this was included because “the most effective program that we had seen and that we had heard about is the idea that if you’re a child care worker, we’re willing to pay for your child care.”
- $10.6 million for CCAP assistance for families at 160% of the federal poverty level. This is the same as what the House proposed.
- $2 million annually to award Innovations in Early Childhood Education Delivery Fund grants.
- $2 million annually for the Employee Child Care Assistance Partnership (ECCAP). This passed into law in 2022 and incentivizes employers to help employees pay for child care.
- $1.5 million annually to add a six-month adjustment period for families who are no longer eligible for CCAP. During that time period, those families would receive decreased benefits. This portion, McDaniel said, is to “eliminate the benefits cliff” for families.
- $1.3 million annually to cover the cost of background checks for new child care staff. This is a point Carroll requested in his Horizons Act. These required background checks can cost around $90 per person, Vanover said. After that expense, they may reveal the person isn’t eligible for employment.
“(The) reimbursement rate for CCAP is probably our top priority and that’s a large amount that is still dedicated to that,” Vanover said. “So that’s a win there as far as maintaining funding.”
It’s “hard to say” if the steps are enough to stabilize the industry this year, according to Aull.
“CCAP is one of those things that literally allows (families) to participate in the workforce and without it … they’re going to have to choose between … ‘can I find somewhere for my child to be while I’m working?’” Aull said. “Or they (are) just going to say ‘it’s just going to make more sense for me to sit out of the workforce until maybe the kid is … five, six years old, maybe in grade school.’”
Brigitte Blom, the president and CEO of the Prichard Committee, said many points in the budget are “steps in the right direction.” But, she said, there is “unfinished business” for lawmakers to address.
“We seek decisive action to transform access to quality, affordable child care with at least a $150 million per year above FY 2024 levels,” Blom said in a statement. This is “essential if we are to provide a strong start for our children and support for Kentucky’s workforce.”
“We also call for the necessary funding to support high-quality teaching and broaden access to higher education, crucial elements for measurable, long-term impact,” Blom said.
What is missing in the Senate budget for child care?
The Senate and House will come together to agree on a final version of the state budget. Vanover would like to see them maintain CCAP eligibility for families at 85% of the state median income.
Without that step, Vanover said, “we could potentially lose a lot of working families that need child care assistance.”
She would also like to see more dollars dedicated to CCAP based on enrollment instead of attendance.
“CCAP, in the past, has paid only when children are there,” she said. “Which is not how schools work. You still have to pay teachers, you still have building expenses, those kinds of things.”
The budget could still change, and the numbers could continue to fluctuate until it’s finalized.
“As (the budget) currently exists on the Senate side, it’s a good step forward,” Aull said. “This is arguably probably the largest investment in child care that we’ve seen in terms of general fund dollars. And I think that’s something that’s worth celebrating and worth noting.”
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Kentucky played Texas competitively during stretches of Saturday’s game in Austin but an ugly stretch in the second quarter gave the Horns a lead they would never relinquish.
Here are some of the key numbers that tell the story of what happened in the game.
209 … More yards for Texas than Kentucky. That’s not surprising but speaks to the challenge. The Horns had 441 yards of offense with a lot of balance (250 on the ground, 191 through the air) while the Cats mustered only 211 yards of offense, almost all of which was passing.
160 … The total passing yards for Cutter Boley. The freshman was 10/18 for 160 yards and an interception. Boley entered the game because Brock Vandagriff was struggling and he did a lot to impress. He saw the field well, made some confident reads and delivered catchable balls down the field.
158 … Rushing yards for Texas’ Quintrevion Wisner. The Longhorns rushed for 250 yards on the game.
25:30 … Time of possession for Kentucky in the game. Any upset bid would have been aided by Kentucky controlling the ball more than Texas. That did not happen.
20 … Carries for Kentucky running backs Jamarion Wilcox (50 yards) and Demie Sumo-Karngbaye (30 yards). Wilcox had a long of 18 while DSK’s long was just six yards. The backs had decent success considering the opponent but Boley was charged with -57 rushing yards.
17 … Second quarter points for the Longhorns. That’s when the game appeared to be decided. First, the Horns went 65 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown. Then after a Vandagriff pick they scored again quickly before adding a field goal as the half ran out.
11 … Fumbles in the game. It was almost comical how often the ball was bouncing at times. Kentucky fumbled five times but didn’t lose one of them, while Texas fumbled six times and lost two.
10 … Tackles for sophomore Texas linebacker Anthony Hill, who we said coming into the game was playing at an All-American level. He had two sacks and three tackles for loss as the most active, productive Texas defender in the game. He was a problem Kentucky couldn’t account for.
6 … Sacks by the Texas defense. That led to UK only being credited with 21 rushing yards on the game, but more important was the impact on UK’s offensive results. The protection issues have been persistent all season.
2/12 ... Kentucky on third down. That’s not going to get it done in a game like this. That’s a big reason why Texas ran 23 more plays than Kentucky, and had the ball for 10 minutes longer. The big problem was that Kentucky averaged 11.1 yards to go on third down today.
0 … The turnover margin in the game. That gave Kentucky a chance to play somewhat competitively. Both teams had seven points off turnovers with UK’s being Jamon Dumas-Johnson’s return.
AUSTIN — Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers went into the medical tent in the second quarter of Saturday’s home finale against the Kentucky Wildcats after the conclusion of a touchdown drive. Ewers appeared to have his ankle rolled up on earlier in the possession but never went off to the sidelines despite having a small limp.
Fortunately for the Longhorns, he was right back on the field for Texas’ next drive after an acrobatic interception from Jelani McDonald. A few plays later, he connected with Gunnar Helm for his second touchdown catch of the day on a 17-yard score.
Ewers has, of course, been no stranger to injuries during his time at Texas. He’s in his third year with Texas but has missed a total of seven games as a Longhorn due to injury, with at least two absences in each season. This included two missed games this season due to an oblique injury he suffered against UTSA.
Naturally, the conversation of him earning the “injury-prone” label is a real one to have, but head coach Steve Sarkisian sees things differently.
“I don’t necessarily think so,” Sarkisian said. “Sometimes injuries happen because they happen, you know? … I mean, when a guy gets pile-drived on his shoulder, there’s a pretty good chance — it doesn’t matter who you are — your shoulder is probably going to be sore to some capacity. Or when you get pile-drived and your clavicle gets, gets popped. I mean, I don’t know many guys that would have withstood that hit from Dallas Turner a couple years ago. That was an odd hit. And I’ve seen that injury, that same injury Quinn had that year, Jalen Hurts had as well. Oddly enough, he has the oblique strain there a few weeks ago, and I’m watching the game the other night. Derek Carr is out of the game, oblique strain.”
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This Kentucky basketball team is now 5-0 after a blowout win against Jackson State. A big part of the Wildcats’ success this season has undoubtedly been their unslefishness and the ability to make that extra pass. Their assist numbers prove it. Through five games, Kentucky has an assist rate of 61.6% of all of their made baskets through those games combined.
After the game, Mark Pope talked about how well this team shares the ball, and he describes it as a type of built-in DNA that each player on this Kentucky roster has. It has showed so far this season.
“I thought our guys did an unbelievable job making plays for each other. You know, 29
assists is a good number for us and I would take that any night, especially in a game
like this where it is so easy to think, awe man, in this game I’m just going to get one for myself. We just have a DNA, these guys have built a DNA on this team where they are actually excited to make plays for each other and I’m telling you that bodes well and it’s rare and it is important for the way we play and how this game is made up and our guys are going to continue to believe more and more that the more they give the more they get back, it’s the way this game works when it’s right and certainly they got to feel that tonight. I was really proud of them. …One of the special stories for us tonight is that we had 11 players score, 11 of our 12 guys scored. The only player that didn’t score led us in assists. That’s exactly how a Kentucky basketball team is supposed to function. We had one guy that didn’t score and he led us in assists with seven. And every other guy on the court scored and shared the ball, I think we had four guys with five or more assists in the game.”– Pope on Kentucky’s unselfishness.
Kentucky has been sharing the ball all season, and that is a huge identity for this team. On Friday night, their assist numbers were impressive. The Wildcats had 29 assists on their 41 made shots, which is an outstanding percentage of baskets being off of assists. It’s also worth noting that Kerr Kriisa didn’t score, but he dished out 7 assists in just 12 minutes of action.
The way this Kentucky team passes the ball adds to the excitement when watching them. A fun brand of basketball, especially when the ball moves around as much as they make it happen.
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