MO child care advocates rally over cuts to subsidy program

[Editor’s note: This report was initially published by Missouri Independent on March 26, 2026 at 5:55 a.m.]

The Missouri House rejected attempts by Democrats on Tuesday to restore $51.5 million in cuts to the state’s child care subsidy program.

The program helps cover the cost of child care for more than 27,000 low-income and foster children statewide, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The department started a waiting list for the program on March 1, citing a 19% increase in demand during the past year.

Lawmakers also rebuffed efforts to allow the department to begin making subsidy payments to providers based on enrollment at the beginning of the month instead of at the end of the month after reporting the number of days children were in their care.

Opponents of Democrats’ failed amendments argued they would have derailed efforts to rightsize the state budget facing massive shortfalls. But supporters said recommendations in a budget plan laid out by Republican state Rep. Dirk Deaton of Seneca, chairman of the House Budget Committee, would add to the struggles of low-income families and prolong chronic instability in the child care industry.

Hundreds of child care providers, parents and child advocates rallied in the Missouri Capitol on Wednesday.

Providers and parents who attended the Child Advocacy Day rally said problems of funding instability and scarcity of affordable, quality child care are not new. They emphasized the importance of the subsidy program, which uses state and federal funds to help bring child care within reach of low-income and foster families.

But as the state faces a looming fiscal cliff, efforts to restore the cuts and clear the way to implement enrollment-based payments face obstacles. Senate leaders have not yet embraced either step, and the House budget would block the payment change from taking effect.

The average annual cost of child care for an infant in Missouri is $13,780, according to Child Care Aware of Missouri. For a 4-year-old, it’s $9,568. And 78 of Missouri’s 114 counties are child care deserts, where there are more than three times as many children ages 5 and under as there are licensed child care slots.

Deidre Anderson-Barbee, assistant commissioner of the Missouri Office of Childhood, told those attending the rally that child care accessibility is integral to the state’s “economic strength” and “workforce stability.”

“These are not separate issues,” she said. “They are deeply connected.”

The House budget plan, laid out by Deaton of Seneca would close a nearly $2 billion deficit by using most of the surplus in the state’s general revenue fund.

Democratic state Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern of Kansas City said she is “very hopeful” that the Senate will be able to restore the cuts in its version of the budget.

“I will work tirelessly to make that happen,” said Nurrenbern, who serves on the appropriations committee.

The subsidy program is available only to low-income families who earn up to 150% of the federal poverty level.

State Rep. Betsy Fogle of Springfield, ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, countered that the cuts would “further compound the problem of working families and kids in foster care accessing quality and affordable child care.”

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which administers the subsidy program, planned to begin paying providers based on enrollment in May.