30 Ways in 30 Days: Child Care

Advocates for State Child Care Ask Lawmakers to Be Strong for Kids
 
Funding levels for state child care programs proposed in a Senate-passed budget bill would prevent the state from enrolling 3,400 children whose parents have left welfare for work, as well as an additional 2,000 low-income children.
 
HARRISBURG (June 25, 2009) - At the Aardvark Day Care & Learning Center in Upper Darby, toddlers who benefit from state-funded early-childhood programs presented aides to local lawmakers with cans of spinach labeled "Be Strong for Pennsylvania Kids," according to a report earlier this month in the Delaware County Daily Times.

The message was clear: don't balance the state budget on the backs of children.

Parents and advocates are concerned about several aspects of early-childhood program funding in Senate Bill 850, including a $24 million reduction for child care programs from what Governor Ed Rendell included in his proposed 2009-10 budget. While SB 850 was rejected by the House Appropriations Committee on June 8, several of the cuts included in it are still under consideration in the Legislature.

The lower funding level in SB 850 would prevent the families of 3,400 children whose parents have left welfare for work, as well as another 2,000 low-income children, from receiving help paying for child care.

In the Delaware County Daily Times story, Shelley Yanoff, executive director of the Public Citizens for Children and Youth, said: "We want [lawmakers] to be strong for kids to recognize the importance of fully funding such programs."

Lauren Lynch, a widowed mother of three sons ages 5 to 18, told the newspaper that the child care program is "very important to me as far as the benefits for the children."

Read the Delaware County Daily Times story here.

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