Changes to Childcare Subsidies: Impact & Next Steps

Families, including those enrolled in our public school partners, now must apply for all childcare subsidies through the Ohio Benefits Portal. This transition has complicated processes for all of our providers, but most significantly for our families enrolling in our public school partners. Funding that used to be determined by the districts themselves is now being determined by caseworkers at the Job & Family Services (JFS) offices. As a result, many families are attending unfunded.  We are working with the state of Ohio and Montgomery County to navigate these issues and continue to advocate for our providers. 

These complications have also increased the per/child amount we are paying for tuition assistance—and we are looking to remove barriers like this for children to attend preschool. 

Last year, we paid out 2.4 million dollars in tuition assistance for 937 children, and hit our tuition assistance “cap” in January. This school year, we have currently approved 724 children for tuition assistance and will most likely have to cap tuition assistance by late November, which means less families will be able to receive this benefit.