Vermont House Appropriations Committee Takes Bold Step

Governor Douglas did not include any increase for the Child Care Tuition Assistance (subsidy) Program in his budget recommendations to the legislature. Despite this, the House Appropriations Committee voted on Thursday, March 27, to appropriate $852,658 to the Department for Children and Families to increase the eligibility guidelines for the Child Care Tuition Assistance Program. The committee took a stab at trying to prevent Vermont from slipping farther behind on the eligibility guidelines in subsequent years. The final language will be worked out on the Senate side.

This is a very significant decision for several reasons:

• This is the first time the legislature has increased eligibility guidelines since 1999!
• The Appropriations Committee has very limited options this year. They have a fixed amount of money to work that is well below what is needed to meet Vermonters’ pressing and growing needs. In this context, an increase of this size for the subsidy program is a real victory.
• The legislature acknowledged that it must continue to address the ever-increasing funding shortfall in the Child Care Tuition Assistance Program. Rep. Martha Heath, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, was quoted in the Burlington Free Press on Monday, March 31, as saying: “It’s not nearly what we should be doing, but it will help.”
• By including these funds in the FY09 Next Generation Fund (see Act 46 in the link), the Committee acknowledged the link between child development and economic development. This is a clear indication that we are making the economic case for investing in the early years.

Your calls and emails definitely made a difference. (One legislator reported that he received 10 emails just on this issue. Good work!) Please thank the House Appropriations Committee:

mpheath@aol.com
mlarson@leg.state.vt.us
rhelm@leg.state.vt.us
acinapur@together.net
dbostic@leg.state.vt.us
pdhunt@leg.state.vt.us
JHutchinson@leg.state.vt.us
mjohnson@leg.state.vt.us
kkeenan@leg.state.vt.us
amiller@leg.state.vt.us
jmorley@leg.state.vt.us

We still have our work cut out for us, but this is a good first step in our campaign to get eligibility guidelines to current levels. Given the state's financial situation, it does not appear that we will be able to make progress this year on raising rates to the 75th percentile. We'll keep bringing the message home, though, and eventually we'll win!

The House will be voting on the budget this week, and the Senate Appropriations Committee will soon begin its budget deliberations. Stay tuned—we’ll need to contact our Senators.

Federal Action

Senators Dodd (CT) and Snowe (Maine) have written a letter to their colleagues urging them to support a $874 million increase for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and $1.072 billion for Head Start in the FY2009 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. Both Senator Leahy and Senator Sanders have signed the letter. Please take a minute to thank them:

Senator Leahy: 1-800-642-3193 or senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
Senator Sanders: 1-800-339-9834 or www.sanders.senate.gov/comments/

For more information about the Kids Are Priority One Coalition's Child Care Subsidy Campaign, contact Kim Friedman, Organizing Director, at (802) 348-9879 or kfriedman@svcable.net.