DESE hopes the child care backlog will be resolved by October 30

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (First Alert 4) – The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which has overseen the state’s child care subsidy program since December 2023, is now releasing weekly data on its progress toward clearing a provider backlog.

“Providers are still not being paid,” said Lisa Scheer, director of Baden Christian Child Care Center in St. Louis. “You don’t get paid on time. They are not being paid correctly and this is due to the new childcare data system.”

According to DESE, the system was updated 15 times in September.

“The ongoing challenges posed by system issues with data migration and system integration have resulted in a backlog of family applications for subsidy assistance and provider contract applications,” said a statement from DESE spokesman Mallory McGowin. “DESE and its vendors are committed to resolving these issues and processing all applications as quickly as possible.”

On September 26, DESE said that all child care applications had been reviewed by August 4, but 89% of them did not have all the required information.

According to DESE, 68% are also due to renewing or processing a backlog of contracts with child care providers.

For all accounts that received the incorrect amount of subsidy payments before June 1, the department says it made 42% of those corrections.

“Payments for attendance requests and corrections submitted by child care providers are now processed daily,” McGowin said. “In most cases when a provider cannot receive payments from the system, the problem is with the child’s eligibility and/or approval (e.g. childcare provider must be selected pending eligibility determination, incorrect information in the system) .”

The department cited Oct. 30 as the date by which it hopes to have cleared the entire backlog.

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