Low-income child care assistance in every Colorado county could soon face a near-complete freeze in new enrollment or, at best, a waitlist as state and local funding fails to keep up with new mandates. The Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP) helps low-income families afford child care so that parents can work or go to school. Recent state and federal changes, coupled with stimulus money drying up and tight budgets all around, has put it in dire straits. State officials project that roughly 22% fewer families will be able to access the program without a sudden injection of cash.
Children play at Lil People Learning Center, a child care center in Green Valley Ranch, in Denver on Nov. 18, 2024. Low-income child care assistance in every Colorado county could soon face a near-complete freeze in new enrollment or, at best, a waitlist as state and local funding fails to keep up with new mandates, state budget documents show.
, or CCCAP, helps low-income families afford child care so that parents can work or go to school. But recent state and federal changes, coupled with stimulus money drying up and tight budgets all around, has put it in dire straits. State officials project that roughly 22% fewer families will be able to access the program without a sudden injection of cash,More than a dozen counties have already frozen enrollment into the child care program, including Denver, Jefferson, Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Broomfield counties. Officials expect every county in the state will either freeze enrollment completely — meaning no new children can enroll, and those who leave the program won’t be replaced — or establish a waitlist for applicants by the end of the state’s fiscal year on June 30. Those actions mean thousands of children and families across the state won’t be able to access a program aimed at lower-income families trying to juggle work, education and childrearing. Traditional child care costs an average $20,000 per year in Colorado, according to “We were really serving the most vulnerable families in the community,” said Tara Noble, the program manager for Jefferson County. “ really a work support. It’s there so people can go to work and go to school to improve their situations.”limit eligibility to 185% of the poverty line, or about $49,000 for a family of three. The limit is up to 300%, or $80,000, in the mountain counties with the highest cost of living.Jefferson County has 440 children across 330 households who were frozen out, after having more than 1,000 children on the waitlist through the summer, according to officials there. The waitlist means those children may be accepted into the program if a slot opens up. In a statement, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which oversees the program, laid out a limited list of options: Ask for more money from the federal and state governments, and work with counties on how to limit expenses. Otherwise, it expects the program’s cost to soar, from $6,000 per child as of last September to $18,000 per child by October 2026, spokesperson Carolyn Romero said. “If additional funding is not identified, counties will continue to implement enrollment freezes or waitlists to adjust caseloads to match available resources,” Romero said in the statement. “Our priority remains ensuring that families who rely on CCCAP continue to receive support while working collaboratively to identify sustainable funding solutions.”Last year, the state enacted a new law increasing how much the program pays child care providers and expanding enrollment criteria so that more people can use it. That largely aligned the state with federal standards. But since then, federal stimulus money has dried up, costs have increased and budgets have tightened. At the same time,on the program has risen from about $113 million in the fiscal year that began in July 2018 to more than $177 million this fiscal year. Most of that has been footed by the federal government, and state funding has remained relatively flat, at about $30 million. Colorado Counties Inc., an advocacy organization for county governments, estimated that, collectively, counties have needed to spend between $17 million and $24 million more to meet the new state requirements just since July. And the cost to counties is set to rocket in coming years if counties shoot to serve the same number of families. For Denver, the impact of the changes in state law will amount to an estimated $10 million per year, said Clint Woodruff, the chief financial officer for Denver Human Services, during the recent presentation — “with no additional funding in sight.” The Denver program serves about 3,200 children per month. Woodruff expects it needs to get down to about 2,000 to break even. Accounting for children naturally dropping out of the program, he said, that would take about three years with a freeze in place. “This was an unfunded mandate from the state, and without an increase in funding that could fill that gap, we’re really just stuck holding the bag here,” Adams County Commissioner Julie Duran Mullica said. “We really have our hands tied trying to help these kids.” More than 700 children have been put on waitlists there, while about 2,200 are currently enrolled, she said. She expects the waitlist to increase, meaning more kids potentially cut out of early childhood care and more parents unable to work or build their skills. Sen. Judy Amabile speaks during a Joint Budget Committee hearing at the Legislative Services Building in Denver on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. So far, Gov. Jared Polis has proposed a $10 million increase to the program for next year, which could help — if lawmakers can agree on where Polis found the money — but it also wouldn’t alleviate much financial pressure when spread across the state, Mullica said. The state is also requesting that counties foot a larger share of the program’s cost after a decrease during the pandemic.Jefferson County Commissioner Rachel Zenzinger, who helped write the state budget as a senator last year, says she hopes the state can both fill the gap this year and patch it before it grows. Without affordable child care, other challenges can spiral for families, she said. They might turn to lower-quality, lower-cost care, or they might have to turn to food assistance if they can’t work and afford child care, she said. “If people can’t work, they can’t afford their rent or their mortgage — and they’re more likely to end up in a situation facing housing insecurity,” Zenzinger said. “There’s just this ripple effect.”Judge rules against Aurora landlords accused of threatening to report tenants to immigration authorities Sen. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat on the budget committee, said lawmakers agree the program deserves money. But it’s a struggle to find money when the state faces “We are looking at some creative ways to get more funding into that, but I don’t know how it’s going to shake out,” Amabile said. “Almost every time we get more information about the budget, things are worse than we originally thought.” Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican who’s also on the committee, demanded more accountability from the Department of Early Childhood. It has more than $54 million on hand that it doesn’t plan to spend this fiscal year, which ends in June, and the department has had huge pots of unspent money in years before that. “Why are we sitting on these huge fund balances when they know a lot of counties and lot of our larger counties — which means a lot of our kids and a lot of families — are being put on a waitlist or most likely a freeze?” Kirkmeyer asked. Romero, the department spokesperson, said the money was being held to qualify for some federal grants, but also “to mitigate what it anticipates could be an otherwise swift and sharp fiscal cliff” for the program.Body found in Boulder Canyon believed to be missing CU studentColorado state wrestling tournament 2025 results and coverage, Day 3Alamo Drafthouse workers strike after layoffs at Denver movie theaterAurora dentist tried to pay inmate $20k to kill detective in wife’s murder case, DA says Dalton Knecht’s disorienting two weeks ends at All-Star Sunday; Nikola Jokic says Luka Doncic “was hurt” by trade Dalton Knecht's disorienting two weeks ends at All-Star Sunday; Nikola Jokic says Luka Doncic "was hurt" by trade Grading The Week: If Vic Fangio could embarrass Patrick Mahomes on NFL’s big stage, then Broncos, Sean Payton can too Grading The Week: If Vic Fangio could embarrass Patrick Mahomes on NFL's big stage, then Broncos, Sean Payton can too
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