That made a huge difference for Lisa Fackler, a 29-year-old mother of two. With the increased state subsidy, her out-of-pocket cost for day care for 10-year-old Risha and 3-year-old Aaron at the YMCA dropped from $392 in September to $25 the next month.
Fackler received help with her day-care costs from the state, the Y and others before the change. But the increased state subsidy made the expense easier to afford while she pursues a bachelor's degree at Portland State University and works part time.
"It's critical," she says.
Yet nearly six months after Oregon made extra dollars available to help families pay for day care, many parents don't know about it.
About 9,900 families are currently enrolled in the state's Employment Related Day Care program. More than 500 new families signed up in February -- but that's still short of the 3,000 families the Department of Human Services predicted would be added to the program by July 1, 2009.
Oregon had been one of the stingiest states in subsidizing child care for working families. Then the 2007 Legislature reversed course, putting an additional $35 million state tax dollars into child care and easing the income threshold for families to qualify for a subsidy.
Now a family of two can earn $2,159 a month before taxes and still qualify. Families of three can earn as much as $2,714, while families of four can earn $3,268.
Rep. Tina Kotek, a Portland Democrat who pressed to include the money in the 2007-09 budget, said Oregon's child-care subsidy had lagged behind most other states for more than a decade.
Parents were either forced to pay more than they could reasonably afford, or decide they couldn't go to work, or cobble together some other solution, Kotek said. "We know access to affordable child care is one the stress factors that can lead to abuse and neglect and as people come off of (welfare) they need to have child care to keep a job."
The amount of the subsidy depends on how much a family earns, type of care and the age of the children. Once a family is qualified, the dollars flow from the state directly to the day-care provider.
A child-care center must be licensed by the state to participate. Or caregivers must clear criminal background and child protective services checks.
"If parents have their kids in lousy care or in bad situations because they don't know they could afford quality care, we want them to know about this program," said Mark Anderson, who managed the state's child-care program before retiring last month.
Anderson said he won't ever forget the tragic story of a mother who pulled her toddler from a licensed child-care center because she couldn't afford it. She relied on a boyfriend to care for the child while she figured something else out, but the boyfriend killed the child.
As the state subsidy fell below market rates, Oregon child-care providers looked for ways to keep parents from facing similar bad choices.
The YMCA centers in Portland offered nearly $300,000 in child-care scholarships last year to low-income families, including Fackler's.
Deborah Murray, executive director at the Peninsula Children's Center in North Portland, said the difference between what the state reimbursed and her center's costs ranged from $160 to $300 per child each month.
How did the nonprofit stay in business?
"We got a bunch of grants. Hired a full-time development director and spent our time fundraising like crazy," Murray says.
But the low state subsidy also meant some of the center's staff earned little more than minimum wage.
Now that the state has increased its subsidy, Murray says the reimbursement is much closer to the actual cost of care.
She's able to give staff raises. And more of the low-income parents who bring their children to the center have been able to qualify for help.
People are trying really hard to get the word out about the change, Murray says.