A judge has blocked a freeze on $10 billion federal funding to five Democrat-run states ordered by President Trump following claims of alleged fraud in publicly funded childcare programs in Minnesota. Ohio isn’t one of those states, but advocates for affordable childcare in Ohio are worried.
Ohio gets $443.5 million in federal funding for childcare subsidies. The Trump administration wants all states to meet new verification requirements, and ordered a freeze on payments to California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York. The actions came after allegations of widespread benefits fraud, with conservative social media influencers posting videos leveling accusations against people of Somali-Americans and immigrants operating child cares in Minnesota and Ohio and in some cases trying to gain access to those facilities. Around 60 people in Minnesota, most of Somali descent, were convicted of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from publicly funded programs going back to the pandemic. Minnesota has the largest Somali population among U.S. states; Ohio has the second.
A federal judge blocked that freeze this week. But advocates said that even though Ohio isn't one of the states in the freeze, they're concerned the extra steps will cause delays in payments to support the 100,000 kids in Ohio in publicly-supported child care.
“Any delay in payment impacts providers' ability and programs' ability to meet payroll. It impacts their staffing, it impacts their services, and their ability to stay open," said Lynanne Gutierrez from the early childhood advocacy group Groundwork Ohio. "We certainly don't want to see any disruption in services that would disrupt both the program and the ability for those children and families who are working, and that child that needs that steady, consistent care to not be able to access that care when they need it."
Ohio Department of Children and Youth director Kara Wente said her agency had been contacted by federal officials on Dec. 31. There are over 5200 publicly funded daycares in Ohio, and payments are made based on attendance, not enrollment, daycares are subject to unannounced inspections and some policies related to payments have been changed.
"We shared that with our partners at the administration for Children and Families, told them that we were doing our due diligence and constantly evolving and looking for new ways to expand and improve," Wente said last week.
"Assuming no additional funds would come in, if we don't have if we do not receive funds over the next eight to ten weeks, that would be problematic for our system," Wente said.
Groundwork Ohio is one of 42 national organizations that signed onto a statement urging that the federal funding to the Child Care and Development Fund continues.
The statement from First Five Years Fund reads in part: "Fraud at any level is unacceptable and takes valuable child care away from eligible families. Every dollar of CCDF funding must be used wisely and as intended, to support programs and hard-working educators in providing critical child care for eligible families and children. Simultaneously, it is essential that the strong oversight and internal controls already in place to govern these resources are ensuring the funding is being used properly, and that it continues to reach hard-working, eligible families. We urge leaders to act with urgency to ensure that the Administration for Children and Families disburses CCDF funding without further disruption, while working in partnership with states as they deliver CCDF funding efficiently and responsibly."
