Kasich touts budget at YMCA

By Marc Kovac | April 12, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

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Governor John Kasich

COLUMBUS

Gov. John Kasich marched a few exercise steps with the preschool set during a stop at a central Ohio childcare center Monday.

The governor also talked to a few of the youngsters, helped one up and down from a climbing wall and played upsy-daisy with another.

The Columbus YMCA facility offers programming for all types of children, including many with developmental disabilities and/or from low-income households.

The state provides subsidies to cover the costs of about half of the children enrolled, said Ben Johnson, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Kasich used the stop Monday to tout his $55.5 billion biennial budget proposal, which includes a 7 percent decrease in childcare provider reimbursements from the state and a decrease in eligibility for new families wanting to receive childcare assistance to 125 percent of the federal poverty level from 150 percent. Current families would continue to be served under the latter level.

The changes have prompted concern among some childcare providers.

“We very much appreciate the ability to keep kids on current eligibility level in quality programs,” Todd Tibbits, chief executive officer of the YMCA of Greater Toledo, said in testimony before a House subcommittee earlier this month. “Yet the proposed cuts still would have impacts. In Toledo, those cuts would translate to losing seven centers, five of which are school-age and two early childhood. In total, we would be losing the ability to serve 378 kids. We would also have to layoff three full-time and 12 part-time employees.”

But ODJFS Director Michael Colbert said the changes are needed to deal with a decrease of more than $100 million in federal funding.

The state serves about 105,000 youngsters through the childcare subsidies, with that number decreasing to about 104,000 in the next fiscal year.

But all existing families, including all of the youngsters currently at the Columbus center and others statewide, will have access to subsidized childcare.

“We decided early on that child care was critical,” Kasich said of his budget proposal. “It’s critical to moms and dads. It’s critical for moms who have dads who ran out on them ... We want moms to be able to work, and we’ve got a situation here where’s it’s safe, they’re learning, it’s great education.”