Owners of child care centers in Portage County are worried cuts in state support may force some of them to close their doors.
Local providers saw their subsidy rate cut by 19 to 35 percent per child after a recent rate review in the state.
"It's a 23 percent decrease on our ceiling rates, about $25 to $30 per child per week," said Kortney Hamblin.
She and her husband own Young Friends Childcare Centers in Kent, Ravenna and Streetsboro, serving about 250 children total. About 140 of her client's children are affected by the change, Hamblin said.
"If the rule remains in effect, many providers will be closing their doors," said Hamblin. That would make it difficult for working parents who need childcare.
Michelle Beachy, a partner in The Care & Learning Center of Streetsboro, said the decrease would hit her "extremely hard." She said about 80 percent of her 30-child enrollment gets some level of state subsidy.
Beachy, Hamblin and others planned to go to a public hearing in Columbus on Sept. 4. If they can't get the rate increased, Beachy said she feels her center is in jeopardy.
The tough economy has already forced her to leave one vacancy unfilled. She's cut another full-time person to only 27 hours per week and is looking at laying off another full-time person.
She said she's had to go up to the state's maximum ratio of children to staff "and I don't like it one bit."
"We're still trying to give the best quality care," Beachy said.
Hamblin said the ceiling rates are equivalent "to the 1990s when the minimum wage was $2.50 an hour lower" than today.
The new rate schedule is "a hot topic around the state," and not just in Portage, said Matthew Murray, human services program administrator with the Bureau of Child Care and Development.
"It is a difficult situation for a lot of providers out there," he acknowledged.
Federal regulations require that childcare subsidy rate ceilings be based on the rate that unsubsidized providers charge parents. The rate can vary around the state.