Rockland escapes child care funding cut
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- June
- 21
It seems that New York state is putting the squeeze on those who can least afford it. Last week 41 counties in the state found out that the state Office of Children and Family Services has reduced their state allocation for child care subsidies for low income families. That’s pretty tough because the Child Care Block Grants are the major source of funding for eligible working families who need child care subsidies.
The counties that got hit were those who saved money from their budget, perhaps anticipating hard times in the current economic downturn. But the state, seeing that they had some unspent money, reduced their funding to help pay for a $33.3 million market rate increase.
According to the New York State Association of Counties, a bipartisan municipal association, Hamilton and Essex counties were the hardest hit, losing almost all their funding. Some lost half and some lost more than a quarter of their annual allocations.
Rockland County, which has a shortage of childcare spots, thankfully did not lose any funding, rather gaining a miserly 1 %. I’m sure Child Care Resourcess of Rockland County is heaving a sigh of relief.


