Open Letter to Mississippi State Early Childhood Advisory Council Regarding CCPP Pause

Dear SECAC members,

I am writing to alert you that child care in Mississippi is in crisis. Providers, parents and children need your help! 

As you may know, DHS has paused the state’s Child Care Payment Program (CCPP) for all those new or renewing applicants who the state is not federally mandated to serve, which means most families are losing child care assistance. DHS says they must reduce the number served in CCPP in order to stay within this year’s CCPP budget that is smaller after the loss of federal covid supplemental child care funds that expired 9/24. This means as many as 9,000 children will lose child care assistance, forcing parents to quit work and children to lose early childhood education.

Last year, DHS announced they were serving more children in the Child Care Payment Program (CCPP) than ever: 36,000 children. They also announced that after the federal covid child care funds expired, DHS would be forced to cut back on the number served because their regular. federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) appropriation was inadequate without the supplemental covd funds to continue serving that number. Thus, as of April 1, 2025, DHS “paused” applications and renewals in CCPP to all but 6 limited population categories.

While COVID funds may have expired, MS has accrued a large unspent balance of federal TANF funds (over $156 million in the most recent federal report) that can be used to prevent terminations from CCPP.

On June 28, the MS Low Income Child Care Initiative held a meeting of 200 child care providers from all across MS who participate in the CCPP program. Those attending our meeting reported losing children, closing classrooms, having to terminate staff, and parents losing their jobs and/or having to quit education and training programs. These consequences are entirely preventable. As the attached memo, which we’ve shared with DHS, lays out, MS can use our unspent prior year TANF funds on direct child care spending in addition to the transfer of current-year TANF funds to CCDF we are already making, to prevent these terminations. 

DHS has taken laudable steps to avert this crisis. DHS pressed the legislature for additional funds for CCPP. In response, the legislature awarded DHS an unprecedented state investment in CCPP of $15 million. This is fabulous, but not the $50 million that DHS requested. We still need $35 million to prevent additional terminations. In addition, DHS is “transferring” 30% of the state’s TANF grant to CCPP, the full amount allowed by federal regulation to be transferred from TANF into CCPP. This is also fabulous. But, it’s not enough to avert this crisis.

 A national TANF expert, Elizabeth Lower-Basch, who was a senior official at HHS and wrote guidance to states about federally compliant uses of federal TANF funds, has also written a memo that we shared with DHS indicating this use of prior year TANF funds is not only allowable, but quite safe as a federally compliant use. Here is a short video of her explaining the situation: http://bit.ly/4mZ1JnQ 

Many states are using prior year TANF funds to finance child care. Ohio is using their prior year TANF funds to finance their child care subsidy program just as we’re urging DHS to do in MS. Ohio administrators have offered to talk to DHS about how they’re doing it. Texas is using their prior year TANF funds to fund their child care subsidy program. Many, many other states are using prior year TANF funds to finance child care subsidies.

DHS is asserting that they are not allowed to use prior year TANF funds as a revenue stream for CCPP. But they can. To prevent further job losses, further child care terminations, further financial damage to our child care sector, please help us take this message to DHS: Use prior year TANF funds to prevent further damage to our child care sector. 

Please join my child care colleagues and me in urging DHS to use prior year TANF funds for CCPP to prevent further child care terminations that are preventing parents from going to work, seeking education and training leading to higher paying jobs, and preventing children from the early childhood education they need but their parents can’t afford without CCPP.

My colleagues and I would love to meet with you to explain further, and answer any questions you may have. Elizabeth Lower-Bausch has offered to be available also. Ohio administrators have offered to be available. While DHS has not accepted these offers of assistance to learn about available solutions, you can accept these offers to learn more and to help urge DHS to take this action available to them, compliant with federal TANF regulations, and for which DHS has more than enough prior year TANF money.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Thanks,

Carol Burnett

MLICCI Executive Director

Using TANF for CCPP.pdf

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