Day-Care Advocates Push for Vouchers

Advocates for low-income families waiting for state vouchers to help pay for child care in Fairfax County have started an aggressive push to increase funding for the state and federal program.

Several local groups, which are part of a larger statewide coalition to help families across the state, are hoping to persuade Virginia lawmakers during the 2008 legislative session that more money needs to be directed to the program that helps working people who are not on welfare but have difficulty paying the high costs of reliable day care. Activists have appealed directly to the office of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and to members of the General Assembly's committees that develop the state budget.

As part of the push, advocates have organized workshops to inform residents how they can be aware of the shortage in resources for low-income working families not on welfare. They helped organize a statewide rally in Charlottesville this year and have visited with lawmakers to make their case that this is an essential service.

"We've really tried hard to inform people on what the issues are and how important they are to working families," said Mary Supley Foxworth, communications director for Reston Interfaith, a social services agency that has been spearheading the local effort.

Organizers acknowledge this will be a difficult year to get significant help. The state is facing a $600 million budget shortfall. In addition, lawmakers will be pushing mental health system reforms in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre. That leaves very little human services money for the voucher program, which for years has failed to meet the needs of those eligible.

At least one lawmaker said she would make additional funding one of her legislative priorities this General Assembly session. "It is wise public policy to provide child-care subsidies that will help strengthen families," said Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax), who added that she plans to submit a $7 million budget amendment to help expand the program next year.

The state spends $165 million each year for the program. In fiscal 2007, it served more than 56,000 children and nearly 32,000 families statewide. But more than 9,400 children are on a waiting list, and Northern Virginia localities are hard hit because of their high child-care costs.

In Fairfax, a family of four with an annual income up to 275 percent of the poverty level, or $56,784, can qualify; in other jurisdictions, the cutoff is 185 percent, or $37,000.

State officials have said that they are aware of the waiting list and its disproportionate impact on Fairfax families. But they also said that the county has more generous eligibility guidelines than other places, which they said has contributed to the increase in the waiting list.

In his two-year budget proposal Monday, Kaine reallocated some federal welfare money that could be used to help pay for extra child-care vouchers, advocates said. The $12 million in proposed funding could help half the waiting list, although the spending plan has to be approved by the legislature.

"This is a good step forward," said John Morgan, a senior policy analyst for Voices for Virginia's Children, a Richmond group that has helped organize the advocacy efforts.

Vouchers pay for a large portion of the cost of care for children, including all-day centers for infants to school-age kids and late-afternoon care for those in kindergarten through age 11.

Organizers said the average cost of child care in Fairfax ranges from $7,000 to $12,800 a year per family, an amount that can eat up 21 to 25 percent of take-home pay for those with modest incomes.

Federal funding also has an impact on the program. The Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill calls for a $32.5 million increase in child-care assistance funding. But the bill has been vetoed by President Bush, and the House failed by two votes to override that veto.