Wait List: Families on hold for childcare help as Florida fixes funding formula

Last fall, parents and childcare advocates across the county breathed a sigh of relief when the outgoing Sarasota County Commission reversed itself on funding early learning tuition assistance.

After months of controversy ahead of the elections, it voted to restore $300,000 to the School Readiness Program – allowing hundreds of working-class families to continue receiving childcare tuition assistance. Many anticipated that even more qualifying households would soon get help, too.

“I was hopeful that some would come off the waitlist,” said Laurie McCracken, a prominent childcare advocate as well as owner and executive director of Baby Fox Academy

Instead, a shortage in state School Readiness funds emerged through the fall and winter that caused the waitlist for aid in Sarasota County to balloon from a handful of names to nearly 240.

Area families are not alone. Throughout Florida, early learning coalitions, parents and providers are again feeling the impact of a flawed state method of distributing nearly a billion dollars in School Readiness funds each year. The funding formula's shortcomings have been blunted in recent years due to an influx of federal pandemic relief money at the county level. But last summer, those dollars expired, re-exposing the formula’s problems.

However, experts say real reform is here. Last year the Florida Legislature made a significant change to the formula as part of a continuing overhaul of the School Readiness funding system that advocates say could rectify decades-long inequities that left counties like Sarasota short-changed. What's more, proposed bills in this current legislative session could expand eligibility for thousands of working parents.

If approved, all of these modifications are expected to come to fruition at the start of this coming fiscal year, which begins July 1.

In the meantime, though, many parents are left to wait for help in a crisis touching all sides, from center owners facing stiff regulations and capital costs to families unable to afford or find care to businesses losing employees due to the shortages.

For advocates like McCracken, it’s hard to watch. While optimistic about reform based on a recent trip to Tallahassee to speak with lawmakers, she worries about parents and children in the interim.

“As a provider, it’s really frustrating to not be able to take every family that wants to come in because of lack of funding,” McCracken said.

Recently, that included Amber Teed, 41, of Sarasota.

Returning to work this fall as a Costco pharmacy tech following the birth of her son, she called eight or nine centers. None had openings for babies. Nor could she afford their fees of roughly $1,500 a month. Then she found Baby Fox, which had a spot and also told her about School Readiness help through the Early Learning Coalition of Sarasota County. But when she called, she was put on the waitlist.

“I was devastated. It was so upsetting,” Teed said.

In December, her search grew more urgent when she was diagnosed with stage-four colon cancer – forced to juggle care for her son with doctor’s appointments and chemotherapy treatments that left her bedridden for days.

Finally, in February – surviving on disability and donations through GoFundMe – she got her son in at Children First’s Head Start. After treatments end later this summer, Teed is counting on going back to work – and help from School Readiness funds for extended childcare hours, especially since her rent just shot up by $500 a month.

“We will definitely need the funding,” she said.

By the new school year, that funding should be available, says Molly Grant, executive director of the Florida Association of Early Learning Coalitions.

For years, the association has been active in working to improve Florida's early learning system, of which School Readiness funds play a big part.

However, since the inception of School Readiness funding in the early 2000s, no one at the state level could explain the methodology behind how hundreds of millions of dollars were doled out each year to the 30 Early Learning Coalitions across Florida.

In 2011, an auditor called the funding formula and distribution method used by the Office of Early Learning “outdated and unexplained.” It was also found to be failing to comply with state law, which called for equity between the counties.

Repeated requests to speak with officials within the current Division of Early Learning at the Florida Department of Education have gone unanswered.

Meanwhile, reports showed that while counties like Miami-Dade were substantially overfunded, smaller but fast-growing ones like Sarasota, Manatee, and Osceola were shorted millions – getting the same share each year despite booming populations.

Back in 2019, then-State Rep. Erin Grall (R-Vero Beach) – now a state senator – proposed a needs-based equation.

More recently, Grant says the Legislature has been actively making positive changes to School Readiness.

For one, she notes that overall state investment in School Readiness childcare tuition assistance has been soaring – from more than $600,000 in 2018-19 to about $1.2 billion this current school year.

That helped bring wait lists down from the worst years when it hovered at 60,000 children statewide to more recent levels of between 10,000 and 12,000, she said.

In 2022 – after the pandemic heightened awareness of the dramatic economic impact caused by childcare shortages – state officials also made the first tweaks in the funding formula in about 20 years.

Those changes took into account each county’s population growth, particularly poverty rates and new shares of potentially eligible low-income children.

While some counties saw “drastic” increases in dollars for which they did not yet have the capacity to use, others saw a decrease in funds, which threatened existing enrollment, she said. And the process of reallocating funds between the counties took months, causing wait lists to grow.

But Grant says the Legislature's more recent changes should address these lingering challenges and will soon come to fruition.

Following the 2022 tweaks, lawmakers continued to make modifications to the funding formula.

This legislative session, SB1382 and HB859 would codify the changes to the funding formula to address some of the ongoing issues. It would now reflect demographic changes – including each county’s population growth, poverty rates and proportional share of newly eligible children – as well as numbers of children already being assisted.

Importantly, the pending bills would change eligibility for School Readiness assistance to 65% of Florida's median income, rather than 150% of the federal poverty level, to reflect the skyrocketing costs of living faced by Florida's working families. That change will help tens of thousands of additional families qualify for School Readiness help, according to the Florida Chamber Foundation.

"To me, it's really significant," said Madeleine Thakur, president and CEO of The Children's Movement of Florida, noting that many households are unable to qualify for School Readiness funds under the current eligibility requirements, even though they can't afford childcare.

Also, Grant added, the reforms would streamline the reallocation of funds between counties when gaps occur, making the process much faster.

If approved, the changes will begin to be felt at the start of the upcoming fiscal year, which starts July 1, she added.

“We truly feel it is making a positive change,” Grant said of the overhaul process and focus on this issue by legislators. “They are very dedicated to right-sizing the system.”

Another satisfied advocate is Janet Kahn, executive director of the ELC of Sarasota County.

For years she has been one of the staunchest critics of the School Readiness funding formula and a vocal champion for the county's fast-growing but historically underfunded population.

“This is where we wanted to be,” she said. “Finally, we have at least one method that is equitable and fair.”

These changes alone will not solve the childcare crisis, says Rep. Fiona McFarland (R-Sarasota).

“It’s not just about more money,” she said. “I agree we need to put more money in School Readiness, but that is not a silver bullet.”

Instead, even with more funding for tuition assistance, communities continue to wrestle with a lack of childcare seats and classrooms – one of the reasons why School Readiness dollars get sent back to the state each year from some areas, McFarland pointed out.

McFarland was a major proponent of a new law that took effect this year that partly addresses capacity. It grants tax credits to employers that either create an onsite childcare facility for their employees or subsidize care at eligible centers.

The law came about amid mounting awareness of the hardships that childcare shortages impose on the workforce. The Florida Chamber Foundation cites childcare costs as the chief reason why working parents with kids under six quit their jobs. Last year nearly 282,000 Floridians didn't work so they could take care of a child. Meanwhile, it estimates that childcare shortages cost Florida employers $4.47 billion each year.

While McFarland and childcare advocates favor a multi-pronged approach to this crisis, for now, many say School Readiness is helping both parents and the economy.

Sarasota resident Jennifer Pohlman, 38, is a case in point.

Two years ago, after she and her husband, Kevin, decided to put their youngest, Brooklyn, in childcare when she turned 1, they were able to do so thanks to School Readiness. That allowed Jennifer to go back to work full-time as a dental hygienist.

Not only did her salary instantly double. The extra focus helped her quickly rise up through the ranks of her profession. Now Jennifer is director of hygiene for a major dental service organization, overseeing 24 offices. And thanks to her huge salary increase – she and her husband no longer need or qualify for School Readiness help.

“Being able to have those extra days of the week and more hours under my belt allowed me to flourish in my own career,” she said.

Just as important was the impact on Brooklyn. Teachers caught a hearing and speech deficiency caused by fluid buildup in her ears – a problem the parents quickly rectified. What’s more, the stimulation of early learning has led to substantial emotional, mental and social growth for her daughter, Jennifer said.

“It’s allowed my child to thrive, too.”

This story comes from a partnership between the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. Saundra Amrhein covers the Season of Sharing campaign, along with issues surrounding housing, utilities, child care and transportation in the area. She can be reached at samrhein@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Families on hold for childcare help as Florida fixes funding formula