CENTRAL, Texas — If you're a parent, you know that childcare is not cheap. Assistance like Childcare Management Services (CCMS) provides help to low-income based families to afford daycare costs.
A notice was only sent out to daycare owners in February, yet workers pushed for it to be pushed back and removed. However, starting in October, parents will not be charged the difference between the childcare provider rate and what the CCMS program pays.
"It's really putting poor families in a bind," said Dan Kiniry, a former CCMS parent who relied on the program to help with childcare costs.
"It's a bind that's gonna hurt families' pockets in a couple of months," Stephanie Shoemake, owner of Peas In A Pod learning center in College Station, explained.
"February of 2023, we received an email from some of the board members of the Brazos Valley Council of Governments. They just explained to us that the State of Texas, how that was gonna change regarding the difference in cost of care that they are paying at childcare centers," Shoemake said.
After months of banding with daycare owners, Shoemake and Marie Ann-Holland, owner of First Adventures Daycare & Preschool, are taking action against the new rule.
"We're gonna petition the state of Texas because we feel like that's where it's coming from," said Ann-Holland. "So we don't really know how it's working across the state but we know it's just... we can see the consequences that it's gonna have on our community," she said.
The rule is expected to double the costs of childcare.
"What changes here is that across the board even those families that can afford a difference in costs of care, they're no longer gonna have that choice," said Shoemake.
Kiniry claims the decision is the beginning of a segregated issue.
"This is just one of many ways that poverty is getting worse in our community. We're gonna see this crisis of parents who aren't gonna be able to get childcare anymore and how are they supposed to work," said Kiniry.
Now daycare owners are forced to tell parents about this change, which will be a surprise.
"It's time for them to find out," said Ann-Holland.
To sign the petition, or for more information, visit this link.
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