Research for Impact: Partnering with Ohio to analyze its publicly funded child care program

A cross-disciplinary team from the Crane Center is finalizing its evaluation of Ohio’s publicly funded child care (PFCC) program for the Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Dr. Lauren Jones, Jamie O’Leary, Caitlin Lennon, Dr. Sunny Munn, Marialejandra Guzman Cruz, Julie Fitz, Rachel Martinez, Nahae Kang, and Shivani Patel analyzed various aspects of Ohio’s program, including how PFCC is utilized by providers and parents, the market rate survey method (contrasted with methods used by other states), funding options for the program, and more. The eight-month project involved quantitative data analysis, interviews and focus groups with providers, parents, and policy staff, and a thorough review of state child care plans. The group’s final report and presentation will be delivered in December. The Ohio PFCC project concludes the second Crane project to evaluate state child care programs and nearly three years of work to build our expertise in state child care policy, cost modeling, subsidy analysis, and market rate methods.