List for child-care help grows as funds fall short

Federal aid level has been static for 6 years

By Charlotte Tubbs

A shortage of child-care assistance funds has prompted state administrators to place thousands of parents on a waiting list and to consider restricting eligibility.

State officials are also considering not renewing some parents' child-care vouchers as early as June, said Tonya Russell, director of the state agency that administers the child-care assistance program.

No children from low-income families have been added to the program since September, causing a waiting list to grow to nearly 5,000.

The shortage of funds stems from six years without an increase in federal funding and an expansion of state income eligibility standards. In 2007, income eligibility was increased from 60 percent of the median state income, or $29,000 for a family of four, to 85 percent of the median state income, or $41,000 for a family of four.

For more information see today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Subscribers can read the story here on ArkansasOnline.