Keeping Childcare Costs Down: Daycares in Kansas receive additional federal breaks
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KCTV) - In many parts of Kansas City, the price of daycare is almost, if not just, as expensive as rent or other house payments. On the Kansas side, the state is stepping in to help by continuing to waive certain state fees to make it cheaper to operate and open daycares.
Without the renewal of this aid from the state of Kansas to waive license and background check fees, daycare services could have become even more expensive for parents.
Before finding Our Saviour Lutheran Pre-School, the search for childcare not expensive seemed endless for parents like Jessica Palmerin.
“This was very affordable,” Palmerin said. “Just a blessing in disguise and shocking I found it.”
Without the state covering license and background check fees, director Donna Bottemuller feared the worst.
“Our enrollment went down, and we’ve been lucky to stay open because of the extended funds from the state,” Bottemuller explained.
Jessica was thrilled to hear the state funds won’t expire.
“Honestly, if they had to close, she’d have to stay home, and I’d have to cut back my work hours,” Palmerin worried.
For three years, Kansas has waived state fees for renewal and to open daycares, background checks, and fingerprinting. Additional funding was just allocated to keep this program alive one day before it ended. Likely saving centers and parents money.
“I’m committed to expanding access to affordable, high-quality child care opportunities for Kansas children and families,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “These funds allow for continued for child care providers by removing financial barriers.”
Since 2021, the State of Kansas has been covering the initial and renewal licensing fees for child care providers in the state through federal discretionary Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) assistance through federal pandemic relief legislation. Additional funding to extend this coverage is being provided through reallocated Governor Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funding.
The funding will be istered through an agreement between the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the agency responsible for child care licensing.
“We try to keep our tuition very low because we’re in the neighborhood here,” Bottemuller told KCTV. “And we try to help the community be able to attend here.”
“If some of those funds go away, we would have to raise tuition at some point,” Stephanie Vogel, owner of Happy Hearts Learning Center added. “Our goal is to never raise that if we don’t have to.”
The state hopes waiving start-up fees will encourage more daycares to open. That’s something Vogel said is needed badly.
“We actually just opened our second location up the street and (are) still looking for staff,” Vogel said. “Here we already had a two-page waiting list.”
Our Saviour Lutheran Pre-School also believes with extra money they’ll be able to allocate more resources to the classroom to better the education for students.
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