News summary from Bruce Liggett, Director of the Arizona Child Care Association:
"Late this afternoon (Weds, Feb 25) Governor Brewer announced her support for using the federal stimulus funds to prevent the cuts of 15,000 from the State child care subsidies. This is great news and we sincerely appreciate the Governor's leadership to prevent the harm that would have been caused. ACCA and all of our members, families, advocates did an amazing job of making our voices heard - our actions influenced this decision.
We assume that the Governor's statement means that DES will not send the letters terminating parents from the program. It may also mean that the waiting list will be suspended - although that is not clear yet. Details about the impact on rates and co-pays are not available.
We are not fully out of the woods - the legislature must appropriate the new federal funds. The Governor has asked for a bill to be sent to her that she could sign to appropriate the new federal money. So we may yet have to convince legislators - stay tuned. We'll let you know what actions are needed but for now, feel good about what we have done so far. I'm proud of all that we have done so far!"
Sycamore's suggestion: Call the Governor (602-542-4331) to thank her for this action and call or email your legislators to request that they take full advantage of the Federal funds immediately.