By Kofi Mframa, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. -- Some Virginia child care facilities face an uncertain future with the September expiration of pandemic-era relief funding. Additionally, a recent report found facilities are understaffed and child care is unaffordable for many Virginia families, especially those with young children. 

An estimated 88,265 kids in Virginia will lose their child care, according to The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank. An estimated 1,383 programs could close and 2,861 child care workers will lose their jobs.

Places like L & E Bright Future Child Day Center in Virginia Beach are in financial limbo.

Owner Elizabeth Oppong received past government funding, and said she's still struggling to keep the doors open. Her situation will be worse without federal funding, she said.

Oppong can't afford to hire more teachers, she said. That also means she cannot enroll new students, because there are state protocols for teacher to student ratios in day cares. She loses money every day, but there is a demand for her services.

"I get parents calling me every day," she said. "I do have spots, but I don't have a teacher yet."

Oppong, a single mother, opened her day care to help low income families access affordable child care, something she didn't have. 

"Half your paycheck is going to day care," Oppong said. "When we opened the day care we decided to open a day care that's affordable." 

Most of her clients use social services funding. Her rate can't increase unless the social services rate increases, she said. Oppong can't offset costs, which have seen "a big jump."

"My rent increases 3% every year," she said. "The bills continue to increase; I have gone from $9 an hour to $14 an hour to my staff."

Child care centers were stabilized during the pandemic with $24 billion from the 2021 American Rescue Plan. Day cares used funds to keep doors open despite lower enrollment rates and the increased cost of operations. There was an additional $15 billion injected to the Child Care and Development Fund.

It is estimated the program helped 220,000 child care providers nationwide, saved approximately 9.6 million child care slots and more than 1 million child care jobs.

Almost 5,000 child care programs in 96% of Virginia counties received a portion of funding, which impacted up to 317,500 children. Almost 3,000 centers used funds to pay for personnel costs and staffing, according to the Virginia ARP Child Care Stabilization Fact Sheet. 

More than 2,100 child facilities operated out of homes used stabilization payments to make rent and mortgage payments, typically their largest expense.

 Maria-Isabel Ballivian is the executive director of the Annandale Christian Community for Action Child Development Center. The center has the capacity to serve 290 children, but has only 187 enrolled. This is mainly due to staff retention. The center has lost potential staff to the school system because it can't compete with the wages schools provide, Ballivian said.

This directly impacts the quality of care the center is able to provide, she said. An increased number of enrolled children now have developmental delays, particularly speech delays, as a direct result of the pandemic and isolation during critical development, Ballivian said.

"Now early childhood programs like ACCA that are high quality, that provide an inclusive environment for children with special needs, are being forced to do a lot more with a lot less," she said. 

Congress called on Biden in August to invest $16 billion to keep the Child Care Stabilization Fund program going. The end of the program will only worsen the crisis, the letter stated.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who signed the letter, is cosponsor on a bill to extend the fund. Versions of the Child Care Stabilization Act have been introduced in the House and Senate. 

Kaine held a video call with the press in late September to discuss short-term solutions to the national budget. 

"I am hopeful that in that deal we will include the same kind of robust increases for child care funding that we were able to get in last year's budget," Kaine said. 

Federal lawmakers have until Nov. 17 to pass a budget. 

A Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report on Oct. 16 found child care is unaffordable for many Virginia families, especially those with young children. Child care costs throughout Virginia surpass 10% of the median income. The federal government defines affordable child care costs at 7% or less of household income. 

The demand for child care in Virginia beats out the availability, with at least 140,000 more slots needed to fill the gap, according to the report. 

The JLARC report focused on the state's TANF, SNAP and Child Care Subsidy Programs. JLARC estimated 25,000 less children will have access to subsidized care when state program funding expires next year.

Virginia needs to keep expanded child care funding in place, the commission recommended. It outlined several other legislative and executive actions that could improve access to child care.