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During and after the pandemic federal dollars flowed into Virginia to help support child care services and hundreds of thousands of Virginias went on public assistance programs. But federal money that supported day care is about to run out, and a new report suggests the agencies responsible with helping those on public assistance aren't getting them long-lasting jobs.
All of this information comes in a report released Monday from the state's nonpartisan Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission, or JLARC. It suggests there's a $319 million hole Virginia’s legislature has to fill, or it could put much of the state's already understaffed child care providers in deeper crisis.
This story was reported and written by Radio IQ
“Staffing costs and staff salaries are the number 1 thing that drives the availability and affordability of child care so if there are government resources that can go along to help with staffing that will go a long way,” said JLARC's Tracey Smith on what the commission recommends to fix the problem.
But Virginia’s history as a low tax, low service state is bound to create conflict, especially with a budget-sensitive Republican governor and, potentially, the legislature.
“Obviously it's a concern when you’re talking about making sure people have what people need to get into the workforce and develop their capacity to be effectively in the workforce and take care of their families,” said Republican Delegate Lee Ware whose district includes rural areas west of Richmond.
Ware wasn’t sure what would happen with the legislature’s next budget, especially with November elections bringing in so many new members. But he and Northern Virginia Democratic Senator Jeremy McPike both think the federal government won’t come to the rescue this time around.
“I wouldn’t count on anything from Washington with the dysfunction going on right now," McPike said. "What’s important to Virginia’s families is child care access.”
In a statement a spokesperson for Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin said the “full spectrum of cost-driving factors” including regulatory issues and private sector innovation could be used to address the issue.
Tangentially linked to the childcare issue is the future of public sustainability programs. Many Virginians left work during the pandemic, and that includes child care providers. And while other workers may have returned, they have not. But the system designed to support folks out of work, and get them self-sustainable, is also deeply flawed according to JLARC.
There are about 856,000 Virginia households that live either in poverty or below the standard of living across the state. And the report says programs like the Virginia Initiative for Education and Work, which connects folks on benefits to jobs and training, is failing to offer services that achieve its goal.
“The participants in these programs aren’t making a lot of progress toward self-sufficiency," said Stefanie Papps, a JLARC project leader who helped in the survey of about 265,000 benefit recipients. "They are increasing their wages over a four-year period but really weren’t achieving self-sufficiency and weren’t really lifting them out of poverty.”
Among the culprits according to the report are local programs which fail to enforce rules or communicate with recipients about available workforce training options. Elected officials like Hampton-area Senator Mamie Locke think it’s the programs themselves that weren’t designed to complete their purpose.
“What’s needed is better coordination, better workforce development type of planning,” Locke said, suggesting there was systemic change from within unemployment service providers that needed to be undertaken.
McPike argued some of the employment providers weren't giving enough consistent work to those hired through state programs. He suggested more incentives for employers to offer more might be needed.
The state legislature could address the issue come January when the general assembly returns.
