El Paso County is planning to reinstate a partial waitlist system for the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, a program that subsidizes child care costs for low-income families.<\/p>\n
The program ran out of sustainable funding in 2024, prompting a freeze on admitting children from new applications in November of that year. Since then, only children who were already enrolled could continue to receive subsidized care. The El Paso County Department of Human Services has logged applications for 2,140 children since the freeze.<\/p>\n
Children age out of the program as they reach school age, so overall enrollment has decreased since the freeze from approximately 3,600 countywide to about 2,700.<\/p>\n
Thanks to an infusion of state funding and a waiver of a new federal reimbursement rule, El Paso County will soon institute a waitlist with priority spots for about 450 children. The prioritized applications will be for children experiencing homelessness, who have additional care needs or are in households making less than 130% of the federal poverty level.<\/p>\n
The qualifying income limit for CCCAP is 185% of the poverty level. <\/p>\n
County staff acknowledged the partial reopening would not meet the program\u2019s demand even with additional limitations. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe won\u2019t get through all these prioritized families,\u201d said Nikki Simmons, El Paso County Finance Director. <\/p>\n
El Paso County is among 19 Colorado counties that have frozen new admissions to CCCAP since 2024, while five others have waitlists. The majority of the program is funded through the state and federal governments. Colorado passed new reimbursement requirements for child care providers, which El Paso and other counties have said significantly increased administration costs.<\/p>\n
In the past two years, CCCAP has received two funding infusions from the state. In the 2023-24 fiscal year, Colorado added $15 million, while in 2025-26, the program will receive an additional $10 million.<\/p>\n
Simmons said the combination of enrollment attrition and state money meant the program was now underspending its allotment. Of the $10 million allocated this year, El Paso County is receiving $3.8 million, or about 40%. The same amount would revert to the state if unspent at the end of the fiscal year. <\/p>\n
Also helping the reopening is a two-year waiver the state of Colorado has received from new provider reimbursement requirements that would have gone into effect next year. The new rule would have required CCCAP to pay child care providers for cancellations and no-shows.<\/p>\n
Commission Chair Carrie Geitner said she was sympathetic to child care providers wanting better pay, especially while working under costly business regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand their struggle,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
County Administrator Bret Waters said that the state had \u201chamstrung\u201d counties\u2019 ability to administer the program while not providing sustainable year-to-year funding. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s still a structural deficit,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Colorado saw multiple local ballot measures in November to increase funding for early childhood education, including one that has created the state\u2019s first special district for sliding-scale tuition assistance in Garfield, Pitkin and portions of Eagle counties.<\/p>\n
Child care is a major household expense in El Paso County, with fewer slots than there are children with working parents. The Common Sense Institute, a Colorado-based policy think tank, reports that an average wage-earner in El Paso County pays 21% of their income in child care per child. The county also only has 0.33 childcare slots per child under 6.<\/p>\n
The county will pull from the existing waitlist for CCCAP with a \u201cfirst in, first in\u201d policy. DHS will reach out to families with the oldest applications that meet the new, stricter requirements. If still interested, families will need to fill out a full application in addition to the continuing interest form they received to be placed on the waitlist. The new admissions will start after the county receives state permission.<\/p>\n
County staff said El Paso would likely be the first Colorado county to end the freeze. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been an incredibly frustrating topic,\u201d said Geitner. <\/p>\n
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