CALDWELL, Idaho — The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) is scaling back a childcare program after it exceeded budget, leaving some daycares worried about the future.
On Tuesday, IDHW sent an email to Tuesday stating it would be pausing applications and delaying higher reimbursements of its Idaho Child Care Program (ICCP), and it went into effect on Thursday. It came as a surprise to Cheyane Turnbough, the owner of Little Peeps Daycare in Caldwell.
She told KTVB it gave they had such little time to comprehend the changes.
"The changes that were coming... it wasn't coming in months, it was coming in two days," Turnbough said.
In 2023, Idaho lawmakers increased the level of funding the Department of Health and Welfare could use to provide working families financial relief for childcare.
The ICCP is federally funded through the Child Care and Development Block Grant. It's for working families that have children under 13-years-old. As well as kids older than 13, if the child has a disability.
Prior to 2023, it funded at the 145% federal poverty line, then increased by law makers in 2023 to start funding at 175% federal poverty line. Ultimately, it allowed for a wider range of families to be eligible to apply and increased co-pay coverage.
But the program is now over budget, according to an Aug. 14 letter that the department director, Alex Adams, sent to the co-chairs of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC), Sen. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, and Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls.
JFAC is in charge of releasing funds to the department.
Sen. Grow told KTVB via a phone interview Friday, "they're over their budget by about 15 million if they continue to do all of the things."
Director Adams was not immediately available for an interview with KTVB on Thursday or Friday.
It followed with the announcement Tuesday to the rest of the public. Application pauses and delays for higher rates to daycare will be in place into at least July 2025, according to the letter.
"The projection of the 25% increase due to market rate and also the number of children or families accessing the program that increased dramatically," Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking told KTVB on Friday, is what contributed to the department being over budget.
Sen. Ward-Engelking sits on JFAC, too.
Even with the immediate changes, it still puts health and welfare at a $3 million shortfall, impacting an estimated 400-600 Idaho families who rely on the help.
"It's hard for them," Turnbough said about the families at her daycare. "They are feeling overwhelmed and afraid that it's not going to cover enough. This may crumble me as well, and not just families out there, but me as a provider."
Turnbough said she wishes there was funding from somewhere else that could help with the shortfall. But, there is, according to Sen. Ward-Engelking.
"We have the ability to fix this problem with a supplemental in January using some of that $50 million that Idaho currently has sitting there that's to be used only for childcare programs in some way or other," she said.
It's called a foregone balance., and if lawmakers pass a supplemental levy the first part of the upcoming legislative session, the one-time payment could cover the $3 million shortfall.
"It could be used to help Idaho families this year, and then we address the program problem and the program when we come back into session in January," Ward-Engelking suggests.
Ward-Engelking added that in her discussions with Director Adams, it appears he does not want to use one-time money for on-going deficiencies the department would still need to address later on.
Director Adams was not immediately available to comment regarding the changes.