South Philly Review: Fiedler hoping to bring funding to childcare centers
June 3, 2020 by Mark Zimmaro
Local legislators are hoping to free up federal money to help endangered Pennsylvania childcare centers reopen after the pandemic.
State Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, whose district covers parts of South Philadelphia, is introducing a bill with state Rep. Mary Jo Daley, a Montgomery County Democrat, to help workers and childcare centers weather the financial crisis. Fiedler is hoping to secure part of the $106 million in funding that the state received as part of the CARES Act.
“It’s imminent and it’s really important,” Fiedler said. “Right now, we’re seeing Philadelphia moving into somewhat of a reopening phase and we need to make sure childcare centers that are really at the heart of our economy and our families are able to open and have the support that they need. And quite frankly, they do not have that right now.”
There are 605 childcare providers who serve more than 44,000 children in Pennsylvania. The Start Strong PA and Pre-K for PA campaigns point to recent surveys that found nearly one-third of those childcare centers would not be able to reopen without funding.
“Pennsylvania has received $106 million in funding to support childcare providers through the Federal CARES Act,” Fiedler said. “And $51 million of that has been allocated, so there is money and we need to work very hard to get it out the doors to the folks who are in our communities and need it right now. Our hope is that this will draw bipartisan support. Children and childcare centers should not be a partisan issue. They are part of our lives across South Philly and across the state.”
Last week, Fiedler and Daley took part in a joint virtual policy hearing, which included state Sens. Judy Schwank and Lindsey Williams as well as parents and childcare workers from across the state. It allowed workers in the field to stress the importance of the funding.
The Children’s Playhouse Early Learning Center on Passyunk Avenue is one of those institutions that would be impacted. CEO Demaris Alvarado-Rodriguez said the center had more than 270 students before it closed on March 16. They expect only half to return when the state deems it safe to reopen. The fewer dollars coming in simply don’t stack up against fixed costs for most centers. Additional funding for extensive cleaning could help ease parents’ anxiety about returning their children to a safe environment.
“There is a significant cost to reopening our programs,” Alvarado-Rodriguez said. “In order to be able to successfully transition our students and families back from the pandemic, we need financial support, supplies and support from our legislators to ensure that our students are safe when they return.”
Read the full article here.
PA Stimulus Deal Saves Early Learning as Working Families Prepare to Get Back to Work
Advocates applaud legislature for substantial relief package for
child care / pre-k providers
HARRISBURG (May 28, 2020) — The economic stimulus bill that authorizes the spending of most of the
$3.9 billion in federal CARES Act funding includes $125 million in economic relief for the Commonwealth’s early learning sector, which will be critical in supporting Pennsylvania families returning to work.
The principal partners of the Pre-K for PA and Start Strong PA advocacy campaigns issued the following statement regarding the stimulus agreement:
“All Pennsylvania families will benefit from this agreement. Knowing that our economy depends on working families and working families depend on high-quality child care and early learning, the General Assembly and the Wolf Administration moved in a remarkably bi-partisan fashion toward a deal that will allow Pennsylvania to get back to work when the time is right.
“We applaud the prioritization of substantial federal resources in the stimulus authorization deal to help save the Commonwealth’s early learning sector for working families. This outcome, paired with level funding for early learning programs included in the stopgap state budget passed this week for at least the first five months of FY 2020-2021, will greatly aid in preserving child care and pre-k capacity in the coming months.
“In the wake of COVID-related closures, the Pre-K for PA and Start Strong PA campaigns — representing tens of thousands of Pennsylvania families — have illustrated the urgent need for relief, as Pennsylvania’s child care providers have incurred devastating losses over the past 2+ months. Stabilizing the Commonwealth’s child care and early learning system is a necessary strategy supporting our overall economic recovery.”
Pre-K for PA launched in 2014 with the vision that every 3- and 4-year-old in Pennsylvania will have access to high-quality pre-k. Learn more at www.prekforpa.org.
Start Strong PA launched in 2019 to support healthy child development, working families, and the economy by increasing access to and affordability of high-quality child care programs for young children. Learn more atwww.startstrongpa.org. ###
Passage of Stopgap Budget Demands Immediate, Robust Economic Stimulus to Preserve Capacity of Early Learning Sector
HARRISBURG (May 27, 2020)— The anticipated five-month stopgap state budget will preserve Pennsylvania’s current investment in publicly-funded, early learning programs. Under the proposed agreement, PA Pre-K Counts, Head Start State Supplemental, and state funding for child care and evidence-based home visiting services will remain level funded for at least the first five months of the 2020-2021 fiscal year.
The principal partners of the Pre-K for PA, Start Strong PA, and Childhood Begins At Home advocacy campaigns issued the following statement regarding the proposed budget agreement:
“A level funded, five-month stopgap budget will preserve Pennsylvania’s fiscal commitment to core early learning services in Pennsylvania. During these extraordinary and uncertain times, this agreement shows a bipartisan commitment to our youngest learners and working families of Pennsylvania. However, level funding assumes that pre-COVID-19 child care / pre-k provider capacity will exist in the 2020-2021 fiscal year so that service delivery remains constant. Given the current reality, this may not be a fair assumption. In order for that to happen, stimulus funds must be immediately made available.
“Pennsylvania’s child care providers have incurred devastating losses over the past 2+ months of state mandated closure. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, these impossible to predict financial losses paired with uncertain future demand threaten to collapse the early learning system. Immediate and robust economic stimulus is also needed to ensure our high-quality programs survive to serve children and families in the new fiscal year.
“Governor Wolf and the PA General Assembly must enact a robust plan that provides financial stability for Pennsylvania’s child care providers by reimbursing them for lost subsidized child care co-pays and a portion of private tuition payments. Additionally, child care providers must be protected during the emergency period by granting them immunity from tort liability associated with claims related to COVID-19, and funding must be provided to secure necessary cleaning and PPE supplies needed for reopening pre-k and child care programs. We also must ensure that this year’s Pre-K Counts and Head Start students are ready for kindergarten by offering a one-month summer instruction program if it is safe for students and teachers to do so.
“To accomplish this, policymakers must immediately release the remaining $55 million in federal CARES Act child care funds and allocate an additional $142 million in federal stimulus or Commonwealth funds. Such action would better ensure child care / pre-k provider capacity in the 2020-2021 fiscal year and ready the early learning system for parent’s rapid return to work.
“Families also need support now more than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, and voluntary, evidence-based home visiting programs improve maternal health, child well-being and family self-sufficiency. Staying connected to home visiting services can be a lifeline for families sheltering-at-home, and we must continue to help home visitors get the flexibility and resources they need to deliver home visiting services now and in coming months. Additionally, we are calling for $100 million in federal stimulus funds currently being considered in the U.S. Senate as part of the latest version of stimulus legislation.
“Pennsylvania’s economy depends on working families and working families depend on high-quality child care and early learning!”
Pre-K for PA was launched in 2014 with the vision that every 3- and 4-year-old in Pennsylvania will have access to high-quality pre-k. This statewide coalition’s leadership group includes: Fight Crime: Invest in Kids; First Up; Mission: Readiness; Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children; Pennsylvania Head Start Association; Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children; Public Citizens for Children and Youth; Trying Together; and the United Way of Pennsylvania.www.prekforpa.org
Start Strong PA launched in 2019 to support healthy child development, working families, and the economy by increasing access to and affordability of high-quality child care programs for young children. Learn more atwww.startstrongpa.org.
Childhood Begins At Home is a statewide campaign to help policymakers and the public understand the value of evidence-based home visiting and support public investments in the programs.
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Lancaster Online: LTE: Child care center suffering greatly
May 19, 2020
Our Star-4 child care facility closed on March 14. In that moment, I stopped serving our 149 families and their children. I had to lay off 20 employees. The majority of my families do not participate in child care subsidy to help pay for the cost of their care. Instead they pay out of pocket.
That means for the past eight weeks, I have had no income when it comes to private-pay tuition. Because of this, my child care program has taken a substantial hit. The loss of income has placed an enormous amount of stress on not only my family, but the families of my employees, whom I have not been able to pay.
In order to reopen, I have to hope my employees did not find other work and that I can somehow make up for all the business costs. We have encouraged our employees to file for unemployment but, due to the inadequate system to handle the number of unemployment claims struggling Pennsylvanians have filed, most of our staff have not received a penny through traditional unemployment or the special Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.
Like every other small business, financial support is critical during this crisis. Gov. Tom Wolf, state Sen. Ryan Aument and state Rep. Mindy Fee should utilize federal stimulus funds to reimburse child care providers for a portion of private tuition payments that could not be collected from families during the shutdown. This financial support would go far in giving me the means to reopen.
Charlotte Brady
Director
Cocalico Care Center
WHYY: Child care centers in Pa.: bellwether for how tricky it will be to fully reopen economy
May 18, 2020 by Miles Bryan
In some ways, Rachel Johnson is grateful for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s mid-March business shutdown order: it took the agonizing decision over whether to close the child care center she runs with her husband out of their hands.
“It was sad and scary, but in a way, easy, because the choice was made for us,” said Johnson, 36, who runs Step by Step School for Early Learning in Centre County. “It was like, ‘Ok, we have to close.’ There was nothing to think about.”
Before the pandemic, Step by Step had three locations in the State College area, serving 300 children and employing 65 teachers. The business was able to get a waiver to remain open to serve the children of essential workers, but only 14 of them kept coming, forcing the Johnsons to lay off all but five teachers. The business got a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan, but the couple has struggled to pay their most pressing bills without violating its terms.
They’ve mostly gotten by on savings instead.
On May 8, their fortunes shifted: Centre County was one of the first 24 counties that Gov. Wolf moved into the ‘yellow’ phase of reopening. In that phase more businesses are allowed to open, as well as all child care providers. Thirteen more counties entered this phase on Friday and 12 more will on May 22.
The Johnsons reopened their center May 11, but it wasn’t a simple call.
“Our job is to provide [parents] with care so they can go and do their job” said Robert Johnson, Rachel’s husband. “[But] the financial aspect of it, if you would sit there and crunch numbers, it would not be an easy decision.”
The problem is demand: only a few dozen of Step by Step’s kids have returned so far. Most of their parents are still working from home, the Johnsons said, and many are uneasy about sending their kids into any kind of group setting. Meanwhile, the couple is still paying rent, mortgages, and utilities on facilities that can hold many more students. They’ve also rehired twenty of their teachers, allowing for a much smaller a student-to-staff ratio than normal — a costly decision — so the center can maintain small groups and minimize cross-contamination.
All this, Rachel said, has put them in a somewhat uncomfortable position.
“You almost look like the bad guy by trying to convince [parents] to send their kids back,” she said. “Going out there and saying ‘support your local economy’ is going to make you look bad if at the same time you are saying ‘put your kids in danger.’”
As idled businesses begin to restart and more employees return to the job across the state, child care providers in ‘yellow’ counties say they are reopening slowly, if at all. The pace is driven by new safety guidelines, and by nervous parents reluctant to send their kids out of the house. If the industry doesn’t see demand pickup or receive financial aid soon, advocates warn, providers could begin closing for good — possibly slowing the state’s economic recovery.
“Child care is a business, like all of the others that are struggling through this crisis,” said Jen DeBell, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children. “But this business is the one that everyone else relies upon, to make sure families can work.”
Read the full article here.
