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Low and middle-income families struggling to pay for costly child care may finally get some relief this year, after the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors agreed on a new plan that would raise income eligibility for state-subsidized care. By doing so, the county will be able to use millions in additional child care funds earmarked for the county.
The complex, 10-component plan, which glided through the April 25 board meeting on the consent calendar, is designed to make sure state and federal child care subsidies reach as many Santa Clara County families as possible. Under current income guidelines, many families in the region make too much money to be eligible for free preschool, but still can’t afford preschool tuition, due to the high cost of living.
One of the primary components of the county’s “Child Care Subsidy Plan” would raise eligibility to include families making up to 85 percent of the state’s median income. Terri Wallace, the preschool director for the Mountain View Whisman School District, said the district won’t be sharing its updated eligibility numbers until the plan receives final approval from the state. Based on California’s 2017 median income, the maximum income threshold could increase to around $68,000 for a family of four.
Currently, the Mountain View Whisman School District’s preschool program enrolls families in for free preschool who were making up to to $4,494 a month in gross income, or about $54,000 each year.
The county was able to create an individual, local plan for who qualifies for child care and preschool through new state legislation passed by former Assemblyman Rich Gordon. The bill gives Santa Clara County significant leverage to set eligibility and priorities for enrollment in subsidized early childhood services, and set reimbursement rates for licensed facilities accepting vouchers.
What the plan amounts to is about $9.3 million in extra state-subsidized child care funding that is already allocated to Santa Clara County, but up until now has gone unused and had to be returned to the state, according to a county staff report. The existing low income thresholds for child care mean that more than two-thirds of families in the region with children under age 18 do not qualify for financial support. County estimates find that the loss of potential child care funds translates to about 1,100 children who could have been served.
“Unfortunately, the fiscal reality of living in a high-cost county means that many families are deemed ineligible for subsidized child care,” the report states. “As a result, child care subsidy funds allocated to Santa Clara County are not fully utilized or expended.”
There are several reasons why child care is out of reach or excessively burdensome for families in the region. The high cost of living means more families are spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing, and the cost of preschool itself is between 22 and 35 percent higher in Santa Clara County than it is in the rest of the state. Most child care and preschool services cost over $10,000 each year, meaning families who don’t qualify for subsidized care spend as much as 25 percent of their income to send just one child to a child care facility.
Child care centers are also struggling with reimbursement rates that don’t keep up with their own increased costs, fueled in part by new minimum wage laws taking effect throughout the county.
“The large share of families above the income threshold, coupled with low reimbursement rates and other regulations, have resulted in child care contractors not drawing down all the funding available in contracts in the county,” according to a summary from the Child Care Subsidy Plan.
Although half-day preschool, like the program offered at the Mountain View Whisman School District, will be free for all newly eligible families, the same won’t be true for full-day preschool, Wallace said. Families with annual incomes between the existing state income threshold and the new cut-off at 85 percent of the state’s median income fall under what’s called the “pilot income range,” and will be charged fees based on about 10 percent of family income for full-day preschool.
Other components of the plan include giving priority enrollment to special needs students and allowing sibling preference, and allowing children ages 2.9 to 5 to be included in the state preschool program.
Earlier this month, the Mountain View Whisman School District board agreed to expand preschool to include 48 children from families making too much to be eligible for state-subsidized child care services. Those families would have paid monthly fees ranging from $425 to $575, based on income, but the fee schedule could change when the Child Care Subsidy Plan goes into effect.
“We have not discussed any specifics of the effects of the pilot on the fee schedule as of yet,” Wallace told the Voice in an email. “Once the pilot has final approval and we are allowed to implement the stipulated changes, we will be able to address whether or not our fee schedule needs to be modified.”
