Child Care Access in 2020: How will pending mandates affect availability in Franklin County, Ohio?

In less than one year, Ohio’s “quality mandate” for publicly funded child care providers will go into effect. By July 2020, all providers that receive publicly funded child care (PFCC) must be in the state’s star rating system, Step Up to Quality. This is true for centers as well as home providers. Providers that fail to apply for and/or gain entry (one star) will no longer receive public funds.

This white paper examines what the impact of this requirement might be on the publicly funded child care landscape in Franklin County, Ohio.

HOW DOES PFCC WORK?

Ohio’s PFCC program provides child care subsidies directly to providers. For families to be eligible, there is both a work and income requirement. A caregiver must be working, enrolled in the Ohio Works First Program, or in some cases, gaining additional education. Household income must be at 130% of the federal poverty level (FPL) or less, with an eligibility sliding scale until 300% of the FPL.

Some of our findings include:

21,095 publicly funded slots in Franklin County could be at risk
36% of Franklin County's 765 child care programs accepting PFCC are currently SUTQ rated

What this looks like in Franklin County, Ohio:

This map on the left shows current programs accepting PFCC. Yellow dots are programs already rated in SUTQ. Red dots are vulnerable programs not yet in the system. The map on the right shows child care programs in Franklin County that would be left if unrated programs close in 2020.

Join the conversation:

The goal of Step Up to Quality is to ensure every family has access to high-quality child care, and we wholeheartedly believe in that. However, when the majority of the children being served by unrated providers are children of color, living in some of the lowest asset neighborhoods in our community, that’s something I take personally. We’ve made great strides in Franklin County, but we certainly still have work to do – and those children and their families are counting on us.

– Joy Bivens, Director of Franklin County Jobs and Family Services

Statewide, policy makers may want to glean more information related to barriers that providers face – especially in counties that lack the intensive effort put forth by Franklin County. Rural communities may be especially at risk, given the sheer distance between some existing providers. It may also be helpful to gather information related to barriers not only for the most immediate mandate, but for the 2025 deadline as well. By 2025, providers accepting PFCC must be 3-star rated or higher.

By July 2020, all Ohio child care providers accepting publicly funded child care subsidies must be Step Up to Quality rated. How might Franklin County’s child care landscape change after this mandate? @CraneCenterOSU’s latest white paper attempts to find out: https://crane.osu.edu/files/2020/01/2019_08-PFCC-Mapping_electronic.pdf

@CraneCenterOSU’s latest white paper addresses how pending 2020 state mandates might affect child care availability and access in Franklin County. Read more: https://crane.osu.edu/files/2020/01/2019_08-PFCC-Mapping_electronic.pdf

Read or download the white paper: