Local child care providers say they're worried they don't have enough support to keep helping Quad City families. Proposed funding cuts to early childhood education programs on the Illinois side of the river could have a negative impact in more ways than one.
Illinois State Senator Neil Anderson got a first-hand look at what early child care services look like in the Quad Cities and tried to answer questions about state cuts likely coming to services like Skip-A-Long.
73 percent of families at Skip-A-Long's Moline location and 99 percent of families at their Rock Island location get state aid through CCAP or Child Care Assistance funding. The emergency funding measure propped up state aid through June, however come July 1st that might not be the case. Governor Bruce Rauner proposed unspecified level of cuts to various child care programs.
"We would have to look at what`s our eligibility, how families would be able to access the services," said Marcy Mendenhall, Skip-A-Long's CEO.
Mendenhall says if cuts were made not only would there be a loss in revenue but also a loss in early development, "The social benefits would be that children are most likely to graduate from high school, less likely to be involved in juvenile court."