Idaho child care providers protest after grant comes to sudden end

IDAHO FALLS — Over a dozen child care providers braved the cold in front of the Bonneville County courthouse Wednesday morning to protest the loss of $36 million in grant money in Idaho’s budget. They were joined by children and parents who shared their concerns.

Although the providers knew the funds would dry up this year, they weren’t expecting to be cut off this soon. Nor were they expecting the funds to disappear so abruptly.

Lisa Disney, who helped organize the protest, hopes that by bringing awareness to the situation, they can sway lawmakers to reinstate the funds at least to the original ending date of June. Disney owns and operates Kids Korner Preschool & Daycare in Idaho Falls.

The $36 million Child Care Stabilization Grant is part of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act. It was put in place to help supplement the rising costs of providing child care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those costs, the providers say, haven’t gone back down. To stay in business, daycare centers and preschools will have to pass these costs on to families, many of whom cannot afford such an increase.

“I don’t know that any of us, myself included, have that much left to cut,” Dana Russell told EastIdahoNews.com. Russell owns Sunny Days Child Care and Preschool in Ammon.

“With inflation, food prices, gas, electricity, transportation, insurance prices — all those things have sky-rocketed for all of the centers,” Russell added.

“We were getting $300 per month per person for staffing,” Disney told EastIdahoNews.com. When news of the budget cuts hit the rumor mill, she says employees started quitting “immediately.”

Like Disney, many providers have used wage enhancements to stay competitive during the labor shortage. Others use the grant money for day-to-day costs. Tassi Mortimer, of Salmon, uses the funds to help pay rent on her building and offset rising insurance costs at Moosey Meadow Academy, which she owns and operates.

Child care providers across Idaho were surprised and dismayed when they learned of the new budget. Some are even uncertain if they can continue to provide care for Idaho’s children.

Monique Stanislao told EastIdahoNews.com that she has had to permanently close the doors to Club House Early Childhood Center in Idaho Falls. The building has been sold, and she no longer has the funds to move locations and pay higher rent.

“I’m 63 and unemployed,” she said tearfully.

And it’s not just the owners’ livelihoods on the line. For those using the wage enhancements, their employees’ well-being is of great concern.

“My staff uses those wages for groceries, gas and just to keep the lights on,” Russell said.

The state Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee voted this week to pass a budget that excludes the grant. The money would have been distributed to child are providers through June. Now, funding will not continue past Fridayh.

“These funds are being used to provide $300 per month wage enhancement grants to individual child care teachers and monthly facility grants to child care programs to support operations,” Richard Mussler-Wright wrote in an email addressing the issue.

Mussler-Wright is the membership outreach coordinator of The Idaho Association for The Education of Young Children, an advocacy group out of Boise.

Committee co-chair Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, told the Idaho Statesman that lawmakers had “unresolved issues” with the funding source and passed on the grant. Horman said the Idaho attorney general’s office was investigating possible misuses of funds, according to the Statesman.

Child care providers that EastIdahoNews.com spoke to said they have been vigilant in complying with state audits and accounting for the funds they’ve received. They say it was the commitment they made when they accepted the funds.

“Now, where’s the state’s commitment to us?” Disney asked.

Many daycare centers and preschools around Idaho completely shut down today in protest. However, Disney said the providers at the protest in Idaho Falls stayed open for the day.

“Our parents are having a hard enough time,” she stated. “We couldn’t add this to their load.”