More than 14,000 kids living in poverty across Colorado will continue waiting for a childcare slot after lawmakers this week sidelined a bill that would have created a state fund to help low-income families afford the rising cost of childcare.
Senate Bill 180 was one solution proposed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers looking for a way to reopen access to a government assistance program that helps many of Colorado’s poorest families secure childcare.
Enrollment for the program, called the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, is currently paused in more than 25 counties, where the families of 14,155 children wonder when they’ll be able to snag a spot in a childcare center. That’s according to data released May 1 by the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which in March estimated the state needs an annual $127 million to end program waitlists and enrollment freezes.
State Sen. Scott Bright, a Platteville Republican and bill sponsor who owns 20 childcare centers that serve kids benefiting from CCAP, said the termination of the bill is “disheartening.” Lawmakers in the Senate Appropriations Committee voted Wednesday to postpone the bill indefinitely, which effectively kills it this year. It’s the latest legislative hit to childcare funding. Another bill approved by lawmakers will delay measures meant to make CCAP more affordable for families for two years, saving the state about $11 million.
Families who need government aid for childcare “have to weigh between two bad options,” Bright told The Colorado Sun. “One is to not work, not be able to put food on the table, and the other option is to go to work and put their child in a potentially not safe place.”
Senate Bill 180, introduced last week, would have set up a state fund by creating an investment performance authority, a government-run nonprofit overseen by a board that would invest funds and allocate part of the earnings to childcare for low-income families.
Investments from a range of state enterprises would have fueled the childcare fund. Those enterprises — businesses formed by the government that charge fees and use them to operate programs and provide services — include higher education institutions, the 988 Crisis Hotline Enterprise, the Air Quality Enterprise, the Capitol Parking Authority, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the State Fair Authority, the State Lottery and the Veterans Community Living Centers.
Investing would have been optional for state enterprises under the legislation. Those who chose to participate would have been able to invest money they didn’t need right away into the investment performance authority. The investment performance authority would have used those dollars to make slightly risky investments that could lead to a higher rate of return. The enterprise would have aimed to receive its original dollar amount back along with part of the interest made on their investment. Any remaining interest would have landed in the state fund for childcare.
Lawmakers behind the bill said their funding plan would keep childcare dollars outside the realm of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which limits the amount of money the state government can spend each year on services.
The legislation also met opposition from some lawmakers and childcare advocates with a range of concerns. Some argued the bill was unconstitutional. Others worried that it posed too high of a financial risk, that it wouldn’t send funding to families in need of childcare immediately and that legislators were rushing a plan at the last minute.
Colorado State Treasurer Dave Young in a statement acknowledged the need to ease childcare costs for families but said that the funding mechanism in the bill “wasn’t viable.”
“The provisions clearly violated the Colorado Constitution and endangered state funds — a risk we can’t afford during an unprecedented budget crisis,” Young wrote in the statement emailed to The Sun. “We will continue to work with legislators to find legal, sensible funding concepts that deliver real relief for Colorado families.”
Bright, whose bill was the only proposal tackling the CCAP funding hole this year, said he is not deterred. He’s already looking ahead to next year’s legislative session with plans to introduce another version of the bill, whether it includes the funding approach he pitched this year or a new idea.
In the meantime, finding a way to resume CCAP enrollment will come down to individual cities and counties taking another look at their financial projections and calculations to see if they can find any “spare change” to help more families, Bright said.
The lurch families are left in without more state funding for childcare nags at other childcare advocates like Mathangi Subramanian, director of early childhood policy for the nonprofit Colorado Children’s Campaign. But Subramanian said she also holds optimism that the legislation is a stepping stone.
“The momentum behind the bill is a reason for hope,” Subramanian wrote in a text to The Sun. “There is clearly a strong political will to support and fund childcare that we believe will eventually turn into positive action.”