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Low-income families in Colorado’s child care subsidy program will get financial assistance at least through June 30 as a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration effort to withhold $10 billion in funding from five states unfolds.
The Colorado Department of Early Childhood announced the funding extension on Friday after a recent disbursement of child care dollars from the federal government.
Colorado’s program helps cover the cost of child care for more than 27,000 children so parents can work or take classes. It’s mostly funded by the federal government with smaller contributions from states and counties. In January, the federal government threatened to cut off funding to Colorado, California, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York, suggesting without evidence that the states were providing benefits to “illegal aliens.”
The five states quickly sued to prevent funding disruptions. Now, even after orders from a federal judge to release the funding as scheduled, there is a sense of uncertainty about the fate of the targeted programs.
In early January, when federal officials first threatened to restrict funding, Colorado officials estimated they had only enough money to offer child care aid through the end of January. Since then, they have sent regular alerts to child care providers and the public with updates on the freeze lawsuit and the latest estimate of how long funding will last.
In February, federal District Judge Vernon Broderick granted a preliminary injunction requiring the federal government to continue providing the child care and social services funding to the five states that sued.
In early February, Colorado estimated the child care assistance money would last through May. Friday’s announcement extended that by a month.
Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.
