The federal stimulus package’s economic cycle is running out, and the end may well usher in an era of deeper cuts in state child care spending.
The federal stimulus package helped states preserve child care aid, CLASP reported this month, with total funding falling slightly to $12.4 billion in 2009 from $12.6 billion in 2008.
The 2009 expenditures include $260 million in ARRA funds that became available February 2009. Without these funds, state expenditures would likely have declined even further… — “ARRA Funds Prevented Larger Decline in Child Care Spending.” 1/6/11.
(Check out the accompanying Child Care Assistance Profile chart, which shows state matching funds fell nearly 4 percent and states’ maintenance of effort funding dropped 10 percent, while discretionary spending rose 3.6 percent in 2009.)
As emergency funds dry up, the budget climates in many states, including Washington, are turning colder. Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire already proposed scaling back child care subsidies as part of an effort to balance the state budget, and reports are coming in detailing proposed cuts around the country.
While spending on the Child Care and Development Block Grant fell 1.6 percent from 2008 to 2009, we may see steeper falls in 2010 and 2011.
A C+ for Washington Early Learning: Check out the League of Education Voters 2011 report card for Washington State. The good news is early learning received the highest grade. The bad news is that grade was a C+.
Many Babies Are Obese: A new study found nearly one-third of infants and 24 percent of two-year-old children are either overweight or obese, LiveScience reported.
The study suggests a trend that “(k)ids who start out heavier end up heavier. Of kids who were normal weight at 9 months old, 75 percent were still normal weight at 2 years. But kids who were at-risk at nine months had only a 50 percent chance of being normal weight at age 2. More than 28 percent of at-risk kids ended up obese by their second birthday.” – LiveScience, 12/31/10.
(Thanks to Child Trends for highlighting this news.)