News

Grant funding available for child care expansion

By Eric Blaisdell
Staff Writer
MONTPELIER — State officials have announced grant funding is available to increase the number of child care providers.

Gov. Phil Scott said his administration has also prepared a balanced budget for the Legislature to review next week that includes no new taxes or fees and no cuts to services.

At his Tuesday news conference, the governor said schools are three weeks away from reopening after shutting down in March as consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Scott said health officials continue to believe the state is in a position whereby schools can be reopened safely.

Several school districts are working on hybrid models in which students are taught in person and also remotely during the week. Mike Smith, secretary of the Agency of Human Services, said the Department for Children and Families looked at the Agency of Education’s enrollment data and determined the state needs more than 10,000 slots for child care for students K-6 to meet the demand remote teaching will create.

Smith said DCF will work during the next month with community partners to get these slots open. He said the governor has signed an executive order lifting a restriction on current child care providers by which they could only offer four hours of care per day. The state, with approval of the Legislature, will use $12 million in federal CARES Act funds for the expansion.

He said the department will also support the creation of 73 “child care hubs” that would be treated the same as summer camps in work places and school buildings around the state. That effort would use about $7 million in federal dollars for grants. The secretary said those funds would be used for start up and operational costs.

Smith said the hubs are expected to serve around 7,000 children and the remaining 3,000 needed slots would be taken care of by the expansion for current child care providers.

Also, the governor announced the Legislature will review a balanced budget from his office when it reconvenes next week.

“Building a budget in this environment hasn’t been easy, and I appreciate all the work by my cabinet and their teams this summer. It was a bit challenging to turn this around so quickly, but they were up for it,” he said.

State officials were able to balance the proposed $1.6 billion general fund budget using leftover funds from the previous year and CARES Act funds.

“This is the right time and the right way to use this funding because we need to provide for Vermonters now so we can rebuild and recover faster and stronger. But we must also recognize there will be more difficult budget decisions ahead,” the governor said.

Scott said even if a vaccine is available early next year, the next fiscal year could be difficult because the federal funds are one time only. Also, he said it’s unknown when the pandemic will be over and what the final economic impacts will be. That’s why he said he didn’t want this budget to include any new taxes.

The governor said he didn’t believe it was the right time to ask more from Vermonters because the state still hasn’t felt the “full magnitude” of the pandemic.

eric.blaisdell @timesargus.com

Avatar photo

As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.