House Human Services backs most of governor’s childcare budget, flags prevention cuts and tax-admin discrepancy

The House Human Services committee reviewed the Department for Children and Families Child Development Division and recommended concurring with most elements of the governor’s FY27 budget while flagging specific concerns about prevention program cuts and administrative funding.

Speaker 1 (Chair) opened discussion noting the committee would finalize recommendations to House Appropriations. Speaker 2 summarized that the Child Development Division shows a net decrease of "a little over $2,000,000" driven by program changes, a net-neutral transfer and a loss of federal spending authority, and said programmatic changes "aren't really having a significant impact on families." The committee nevertheless asked DCF for clarifications on specific line items.

Members focused on a $1.1 million decrease to the Strengthening Families line and whether Act 76’s $10,000,000 for quality programming can offset the reduction. Speaker 2 said Act 76 funding is being folded into STARS and that some of the $10 million will be used to bolster the Strengthening Families framework, but the committee requested explicit language showing how those dollars map to the line item.

The group also examined administration costs tied to the childcare financial assistance program (CCFAP). Speaker 1 said roughly $4,000,000 of the changes are for CCFAP provider payments and another $2–2.5 million was identified for the Tax Department to support software and outreach. Speaker 2 said the Tax Department reported budgeting about $2,000,000, and committee staff have asked DCF to reconcile the $500,000 discrepancy before the Appropriations submission.

Committee members discussed Parent Child Care Centers’ total request (committee discussion documented different totals, with the group agreeing a request of about $1,880,000 had been made). The panel recommended funding $180,000 of concrete supports for centers while offsetting the amount by reducing school-age childcare grant line items, describing the swap as cost neutral.

Several members said they were concerned that the governor’s budget pairs increased investment in high-end system-of-care services—Speaker 3 described a proposed 3-bed program at nearly $4,000 per bed per day—with cuts to prevention programs that, according to committee testimony, helped avert more than $600,000 in custody costs last year. The committee asked staff to include language clarifying which reductions are general fund versus global commitment so Appropriations can see how proposed restorations and offsets add up.

The committee also noted the state recently received a federal disaster recovery grant for child development (reported at about $19,000,000) that allows capital construction funding and the PDG grant awarded in December; members said these awards may affect where they recommend offsets in the final memo.

The committee will transmit its chart and cover memo to House Appropriations with requests for clearer line-item language and a reconciliation from DCF on the Tax Department administration funding discrepancy.

Ending: The committee adjourned this portion and moved to other Human Services budget items to finish its Appropriations recommendations.