Education officials previously predicted the payments to child care providers would be caught up by the end of October, but now expect an additional five weeks
BY: ANNELISE HANSHAW
Missouri Independent
A massive backlog of payments to Missouri child care providers will continue beyond October despite a previous pledge that the state will be caught up by the end of this month.
Pam Thomas, assistant commissioner for Missouri’s Office of Childhood, told the State Board of Education Tuesday that the department would not meet its October goal, explaining that the software company utilized for the child care subsidy program needs five more weeks because of missing data.
She is “cautiously optimistic” about the next few weeks and believes that the software is close to working as intended.
“The system today is not perfect,” Thomas said, “but I don’t know that a system ever is perfect. It seems there are always technology issues, but we are at the end or nearing the end of these major system issues.”
A change in the software that tracks eligibility and routes payment to providers began a burdensome process last December where families enrolling in the program and child care providers were not properly accounted for.
Providers began complaining that they were missing months of payment from the state and were close to shuttering. The program supplements or pays for the daycare or preschool for children of low-income families. Some families were turned away because of a lack of payment from the state, providers said during hearings held by state lawmakers last month.
There are just over 2,400 providers contracted to serve children with the subsidy. From January through May — when the software was having the most issues — 1,818 providers received at least one payment. Of those, half are under review to check the calculation of aid.
“The current payments that are being made to providers are being calculated correctly and are accurate,” Thomas said. “The issue is not current payments but what was paid earlier.”
Since the beginning of the year, 70 providers have left the child care subsidy program and 141 have applied to begin the program. It is not clear how many of those applications have been completed. There is a separate backlog of provider applications, both new to the system and renewals, that the office is addressing.
According to estimates produced by the software and presented to the education board Tuesday, there are nearly 400 provider applications pending review by the state. Thomas estimated it will take six weeks to reduce the pending applications to a goal of under 200, which she said is around what she expects to receive in a month in renewals.
The state is still over 400 providers short of what it had in the program in 2019, and the need for participating daycares remains high.
The department receives around 4,000 applications from families each month to receive aid for child care. For months, parents watched their applications sit in the queue and were unable to receive the subsidy after the new software went into effect.
The current waiting list of parent applications is akin to this time last year, but Thomas said this still isn’t ideal. She wants to cut the number to 500 applications at a time, which is about a week’s worth of work for the office, and she estimates that goal will be met in four to six weeks.
“We want to be working on cases that we’ve received in the past one to two weeks, but right now, we’re working on cases received in September and October,” she told the board.
Board President Charlie Shields, of St. Joseph, asked if there would be a way to automatically approve a portion of applicants.
Presumptive eligibility is allowed, Thomas said, but staff would still be required to verify income after a period of service.
“We have to have a supply of child care providers to serve them. We have to have the funding to serve them,” Thomas said. “So while I understand and appreciate that side of it, there might be some unintended consequences of that.”
Another board member recommended a risk assessment to estimate what would happen if the office had automatic approvals.
Some applications are rejected because the applicants didn’t supply the requested proof of identification or two pay stubs, Thomas said.
Board member Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge, of Pasadena Hills, said the application should prompt people for the complete information, blocking them from moving forward until every field is checked.
“It is better to get kicked out before you get into the pipeline, so you can go and get what you need,” she said.
A woman in the audience spoke quietly, “or they sit for six months.”
Thomas didn’t appear to consider a change in the application process. The state is not allowed to restrict people from applying, she said.
She is beginning to see signs of the system returning to normal, Thomas said, with the call center reporting that one of the top five questions is how to apply to become a provider. Other issues have overwhelmed the help center in past months, and callers have reported high wait times to receive answers.
Thomas said this process should be running smoother for program participants, with the average wait time dropping from an hour to 15 minutes in the past month.
“How do you feel about our providers and families, what are their current states of mind with us?” Kerry Casey, a board member from Chesterfield, asked.
“They are still frustrated that we don’t have all of them and we don’t have all of the payment requests cleared,” Thomas said. “And all the family applications are not cleared.”