Carly Graf, Lee Enterprises, Sept. 11 2024
A number of nonprofits in Montana that help families find and figure out how to pay for child care are expected to lay off staff or close their doors altogether after losing some or all of their state contracts.
Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services announced Aug. 29 that it intends to award heaps of state dollars to a New York City-based for-profit firm that operates in nearly two dozen states after the company won out in a competitive application process.
When parents with pre-school-aged children set out to find child care, one of the first places they might go is their local Child Care Resource and Referral agency. Known as CCR&Rs, these nonprofits receive state funding to refer families to licensed day care providers that best suit their kids. They also help low-income earners navigate the web of scholarship applications to make child care more affordable.
The Montana health department has, for years, administered CCR&R contracts with six nonprofits in seven regions canvassing the state. They run brick-and-mortar offices so parents can stop by to walk through their application for Best Beginnings, an income-based subsidy program. They host in-person workshops for how to identify quality providers and often get to know families on a first-name basis.
But now much of the state dollars used to fund these activities have been awarded to Shine Early Learning, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.
“As a result of the state’s competitive procurement process, not all current CCR&R providers are guaranteed a new contract,” DPHHS spokesperson Jon Ebelt said in an email.
For day care owners like Cicely Podgorski, they fear the loss of community-based services will mean they no longer have the strong support network that makes them better at their jobs.
Podgorski runs a home-based child care facility in Butte. She keeps a mug on her desk and a card that reads “for all your patience day to day, for every tear you wipe away … we say thank you,” both gifts from Greater Butte Community Coordinated Child Care, otherwise known as Butte 4Cs.
“I can’t even process what a great loss it is for every single provider in Montana,” Podgorski said. “The amount of emotional support you get from the people at Butte 4Cs is unreal.”
Still just three years into her tenure as a child care provider, Podgorski has relied on Butte 4Cs, which is now looking at layoffs, for essential services that she can’t add to her already long days that regularly clock in at 10 working hours.
When DPHHS issued this request for proposals, it notified existing CCR&Rs that it planned to reduce the number of grantees. The agency also split what had been a single contract into three — one for family support services like the kind that help parents with Best Beginnings applications, the other for provider resources and a final for business support.
Child Care Connections in Bozeman, District 7 Human Resource Development Council in Billings, Family Connections, Inc in Great Falls, Greater Butte Community Coordinated Child Care, Inc in Butte and Child Care Resources, Inc., in Missoula all submitted proposals that would have allowed them to continue the work of provider and family support services.
All were denied in their bids to work with child care providers. Without these state funds, most of these organizations are looking at de facto closure or hefty layoffs.
Heather O'Loughlin, executive director of the Montana Budget and Policy Center, said Wednesday that through decades of doing work with providers and families, CCR&Rs developed regional expertise and housed staff and infrastructure for both functions in the same administrative function. O'Loughlin was providing testimony at the interim legislative committee that oversees the state health department and urged state lawmakers to ask DPHHS for a "detailed accounting" of the contract process.
CCR&Rs handle background checks and fingerprint scans for new employees. They help providers with licensure and offer curriculum materials for early childhood educators. Staff visit communities across the counties they serve, particularly small, rural ones, to establish relationships with families. Agencies provide continuing education for early childhood educators so they don’t have to travel elsewhere for that training during evenings or weekends.
“It is a core part of what we do, how we define ourselves, so we are devastated to lose it,” said Kelly Rosenleaf, the executive director of the Missoula CCR&R.
The referral agencies in Bozeman, Missoula and Great Falls were awarded the contract to help families with Best Beginnings. But, in some cases, they’re being asked to do more with less state money.
“It is an overwhelming process for parents to apply for that type of assistance,” said Valerie Reynolds, who runs New Kids on the Block in Sheridan. “It’s a pages-long application, and there is a whole feeling about not feeling good about applying for assistance. (CCR&Rs) take that away, they guide people through this process, saying there is no judging you as a parent or a provider.”
Missoula’s Child Care Resources, for example, currently operates in three counties. Under the new Best Beginnings support contract, it would serve 23 counties but without the funding earmarked to open new offices in those communities or readily ramp up staffing to do the work at that scale.
That mismatch between the money required to do this work and the funds provided in the single contract meant that Child Care Connections, which has offices in Bozeman and Helena, couldn’t make the budget pencil out. It withdrew from the contract process and announced on Facebook that it would no longer provide family or provider services after Sept. 30.
“My concern is that the kids are going to be the ones who lose out,” Reynolds said. “Children are not how people should be making money. Children’s care isn’t all about the money that’s being made, and I feel like the for-profit has been put over the care of the children or the quality of education that children are receiving.
Shine Early Learning did not respond to multiple requests for comment about whether it planned to open offices in Montana and other questions about its transition plans when current contracts terminate at the end of the month.
"DPHHS is working to ensure that families and child care providers maintain statewide access to resource and referral services during this temporary transition period," Ebelt said in an email.
According to DPHHS, new contracts are built on a “pay-for-performance” model with the goal of increasing access to child care in Montana, a state that’s struggled to get its arms around making licensed early childhood care accessible and affordable for the families who need it most.
The family support contract — which gives state funding to help parents with Best Beginnings — will evaluate agencies based on the increase in applications processed, growth in provider participation in the program and maintaining a low improper payment error rate.
Shine Early Learning’s contract for provider support will be evaluated on retention of child care business, growth of quality programs, provider education and child care slot expansion.
Records from the state Department of Administration show Shine scored the highest on the application, scoring 9,618 out of a possible 10,500 points. It barely edged out Missoula’s Child Care Resources, Inc., which earned 9,439 points. All other applicants scored lower.
During the Thursday interim legislative meeting, health department Director Charlie Brereton responded to questions about this process, calling it “standard” and noting that independent scoring committees reviewed proposals and made recommendations.
“We are interested in all responses,” Brereton said. “We are interested in the highest-quality responses … and those that will be the greatest return on investment on behalf of Montana’s taxpayers.”
MBPC is a nonprofit organization focused on providing credible and timely research and analysis on budget, tax, and economic issues that impact low- and moderate-income Montana families.