JEFFERSON CITY — A funding logjam bedeviling Missouri’s child care providers has triggered at least two legislative hearings and has become an issue in the race for governor.
Amid intense pressure on the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to fix software problems that have resulted in payment delays to child care facilities, two House committees are set to discuss the issue when lawmakers return to the Capitol in September for their annual veto session.
Fingers are pointing at the vendor handling the payment system, Maryland Heights-based World Wide Technology as a culprit in the delays.
The company was paid $36 million for work for the state during the fiscal year ending June 30 and has pulled in $8 million in taxpayer funds this fiscal year.
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Officials at the education agency said earlier this month that a resolution may be at least two months away after previously estimating a fix would be in place by the end of July.
On Sept. 10, the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee will hear testimony on the issue affecting an estimated 23,000 children.
“The delays in issuing child care payments are having an impact on Missouri families and childcare providers and they deserve answers,†said House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres.
On Sept. 11, the House Budget Committee also has invited DESE representatives to testify on the delays.
The committees were scheduled following outcry from House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, who will face Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe in the November election for governor.
Earlier, Quade called the situation a “crisis†and called on Plocher to form a separate committee to deal solely with the delays.
“This breakdown in how DESE is carrying out this important duty is inexcusable, as is its monthslong failure to resolve the problems,†Quade said. “We feel this issue is serious enough to warrant its own interim committee.â€
Quade said the state could tap into an existing pool of funds for child care to stabilize the industry while the software bugs are worked out.
“The time has come; we need to get these funds into the hands of our providers before more Missouri families lose access to child care,†Quade wrote in a letter to DESE leaders and the state school board.
Kehoe told the Post-Dispatch earlier he plans to help business and industry boost child care offerings if elected.
Kehoe also has the endorsement of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, which has pushed for an expansion of child care to help get more people into the workforce.
Senate Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, also weighed in on the backlog, calling for the formation of an interim committee to probe World Wide Technology’s role in the “debacle.â€
O’Laughlin added that the issue has been in the spotlight for the past year after Gov. Mike Parson made child care access a major priority. The Republican governor, who is in his final months in office, was not successful in convincing conservative lawmakers to go along with an expansion of the industry during the legislative session that ended in May.
“This is the governor’s priority… and instead of creating more childcare this office is running daycares out of business,†O’Laughlin wrote in a social media post Tuesday. “This is unacceptable, and I am not willing to let it continue.â€