Glitch blocks plan to increase KY child care funds

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – A plan to boost child care assistance for poor working families has collapsed because it wasn’t enacted before Gov. Steve Beshear left office.

The Courier-Journal reports that Beshear is urging his successor, Matt Bevin, to deal with the problem. Jill Midkiff, a spokeswoman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, says the Bevin administration is reviewing the matter but hasn’t reached a decision.

Beshear announced Dec. 3 that his administration planned to use about $15 million in surplus federal money to boost payments to centers that accept children whose parents qualify for help through the Kentucky Child Care Assistance Program. The higher payments were supposed to begin Jan. 1.

But the new plan wasn’t filed by cabinet staff until Dec. 9, the day after Bevin became governor.