Arkansas is now delaying changes to a childcare assistance program for low-income working families. Changes to the reimbursement formula of Arkansas’ School Readiness Assistance (SRA) Program were supposed to go into effect on Wednesday, but have now been delayed another month, after widespread pushback. As Little Rock Public Radio reports, Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva says the state would have to make up the roughly $80 million funding gap if the changes are not implemented. “Without knowing what our future appropriations is, is every week that we put a pause, we have to look at the fund balance that we have in our grant, not knowing when the next award’s going to be. Um, we can’t make allocations for programs for revenue and dollars that we don’t receive.”
Proposed changes would mean all child care facilities would receive the same reimbursement rate, unlike in the past, when rates were tied to a facility’s quality. Christine Eichler, president of the Arkansas Family Child Care Association (AFCCA), said a new co-pay structure for the programs that did go into effect yesterday, will put added financial strain on families. “Under the new system, even families living at or just above the poverty line will face co-pays estimated at a hundred dollars per week per child. For households with more than one child this cost quickly becomes unsustainable.” The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) announced that it has already begun informing parents and child care providers of these new developments.
