North Carolina Wastes Stimulus Funds Preventing Low Income Mothers From Working...Can't Afford Child Care

NC State uses Stimulus Funds to send 16 employees to expensive Calif. Child Care training while Low Income Working mother await Subsidized Child Care assistance



NC State is using $140,000 in Federal Stimulus money to send 16 employees to child development workshops in San Diego while North Carolina has thousands of struggling families seeking subsidized care for their children.

NC State administrators said the trip is an appropriate use of stimulus money and will lead to better child care. But some are questioning the trip when the number of children on the waiting list for subsidized care has reached a historic high of 41,000.

Using stimulus money to send state employees across the country for training is at odds with the public expectation that the money would be used to create jobs, said Perri Morgan, president of the Capitol Monitor, a Raleigh organization tracking state stimulus spending.

"I don't think that is what people want to see," she said. "These kinds of workshops are wonderful. However, during a distressed economy, we should be taking advantage of ... more efficient ways to do it."

Linda Piper, executive director of the N.C. Licensed Child Care Association, wondered why some of the stimulus money set aside to improve quality isn't being used to help pay for more child care. North Carolina has $35 million less in subsidy money than it projected because of state budget cuts, and more children than ever are on the waiting list.

"It seems they have that kind of backwards," Piper said.

Deborah J. Cassidy, director of the state Division of Child Development, said the state cannot spend the $11 million in stimulus money it received for quality improvement to offer more subsidies. And some of the improvement money must focus on infant and toddler care, she said, because care of children that age has become a national concern.

At the San Diego institute, the state's 16 lead child care consultants will get intensive training in infant and toddler development and appropriate care, Cassidy said. The plan is to have employees go to the institute twice next year, in January and July, for a week at time.

What they learn will be passed on to 107 division employees who work with child care providers. The lead consultants also work with operators opening new day care centers.

"We'll be able to work with child care facilities so they will improve the quality of their programs," she said.

The plan fits a national emphasis on improving infant and toddler care, Cassidy said. The San Diego institute offers the best advanced training on infants and toddlers, she said, and is one of a few that focuses on that age group.

Alternatives to sending employees to San Diego were examined, Cassidy said, but the other options were not possible or did not reduce the cost.

"Good use of funds"

Danielle Ewen, director of child care and early education at the Center for Law and Social Policy, said the employee training was "an entirely legitimate" use of stimulus money. The Washington think-tank is also tracking how stimulus money is used.

Having employees who can pass along information helps address the lack of training available to people who care for infants and toddlers, she said.

"It's a good use of funds," she said.

But Debra Townsend, who owns child care facilities in Lumberton and Pembroke, said families in poor counties are desperate for child care subsidies.

"Why not funnel some of this money into subsidy?" she asked. "Let's use it for working parents. They're struggling to get by."



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Under The Dome, News & Observer, Dome Magazine, Recovery.gov, Google Maps