Idaho restores childcare plan paused by budget issues

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in 2025 will reopen applications to the Idaho Child Care Program with a lower income eligibility cutoff and a waitlist.

The state health agency in August paused applications to the program to avoid a projected $15 million budget shortfall.

Applications to the Idaho Child Care Program will reopen starting Jan. 13, 2025, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced in a news release Thursday.

Health and Welfare’s enrollment pause this summer also came with a delay to increasing rates paid to child care providers through the program. But next summer, those rates will rise.

The changes will make the Idaho Child Care Program “financially sound,” Health and Welfare said in the release.

“These combined changes to the program will restore eligibility to historical levels and this ensures we continue to serve Idaho’s neediest families while remaining within our appropriation,” the agency said.

Child care providers and advocates said the program’s cuts compounded financial troubles for child care providers and parents, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.

What’s changing in the Idaho Child Care Program?

When the program reopens for applications, Health and Welfare says the income cutoff for eligibility will be reduced to 130% of the federal poverty level.

That means the highest income a family of three could earn to be eligible for the program is $33,566 annually. That’s down from $45,185 for a family of three, based on the current income eligibility cutoff that is 175% of the federal poverty level that the department had raised the cap to in recent years.

People already enrolled in the Idaho Child Care Program will only be affected by the lower income eligibility cap once they complete their annual recertification for the program, Health and Welfare says. For enrollees who wouldn’t qualify when they recertify, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare says it is working on a plan to help them transition from the program.

Health and Welfare will also raise rates it pays to child care providers starting July 1, 2025, to the 65th percentile of 2024 local market survey rates. Those rate increases apply for all age groups, and take effect around the start of Idaho’s 2026 fiscal year.

How does the waitlist work?

Health and Welfare doesn’t expect a waitlist immediately when applications reopen in January, but it still expects significant enrollment then due to “pent-up demand during the enrollment pause.”

The agency anticipates starting a waitlist as soon as July 2025.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare says it will develop standards for the waitlist in the months ahead. “Priority populations” will be exempt, Health and Welfare said in the release.

Agency spokesperson AJ McWhorter says that priority populations exempted haven’t been finalized, but could include foster families, and families who are experiencing homelessness, caring for a child with a disability, participating in the Temporary Assistance for Families in Idaho program, or who have a parent age 19 or younger.

In August, about 7,800 kids were enrolled in the Idaho Child Care Program. That’s when Health and Welfare paused enrollments, citing projections of rising enrollment, rising child care costs and expanded program eligibility.

State health officials exempted some vulnerable groups – such as kids who are in foster care, who are experiencing homelessness, who have disabilities, and who are receiving preventive services through the child welfare program, along with families receiving aid through the Temporary Assistance for Families in Idaho program — from the freeze in new program enrollments.

Kyle Pfannenstiel is a reporter for the Idaho Capital Sun, covering health care and state politics.