Day care businesses in Illinois are struggling as a result of the state's budget problems.
Many working parents depend on subsidies for child care. These parents make up a big part of the clientele for day care centers.
That is, until recently.
Michele Baker-McElroy owns and directs Once Upon a Time Child Care in Sycamore, Ill. She says 90% of her clients are in the Child Care Assistance Program. She currently serves 78 families.
"So far, we've had five families that are no longer eligible for child care," Baker-McElroy says, adding that she talks to two or three families each day that are being denied.
The denials result from changes in eligibility announced by the Department of Human Services in July.
"They have no idea what they are going to do with their children," Baker-McElroy says.
Gov. Bruce Rauner says he tightened eligibility because he had to manage the state's finances during the budget stalemate. Human Services estimates only 10% of families in the childcare assistance program will remain eligible.
Baker-McElroy says, as a result, her center's kindergarten will shrink from 17 children to 10. She'll also close one of five classrooms and lay off three of 15 staff members. "The last resort will be that parents will bring their kids' lunch," she says. "And I'll provide breakfast and snacks daily."
Baker-McElroy adds the state hasn't paid her for three weeks.
She says she and other day care providers contacted their state lawmakers, asking them to raise more revenue, but they couldn't promise any help. She says the lack of funding will affect her business's purchases of food and other supplies. It could also have bigger effects down the road:
"Early education is the first step we need to make with children," she says. "These kids are one day going to run our country. They need to be educated with the same opportunities, and it will cost more because unemployment will go up, as well as assistance like food and housing. I don't understand how this is not a priority for the entire state of Illinois."
Illinois is in its sixth week without a spending plan. Despite this, government continues to operate for some. State workers will get paid, at least for now, after an Illinois appellate court upheld a lower court ruling that protected payroll. Another order from a federal judge keeps the Department of Children and Family Services open. And public schools will open on time; that's one of the few pieces of spending legislation Gov. Rauner signed. Additionally, both state fairs will proceed -- including the one in Springfield that started Friday.
But for many people who depend on state services, and the businesses that serve them, state government stopped functioning weeks ago. And there's no sign that it will resume any time soon.
