DeWine went on to detail anti-fraud measures that have long been in place for state-funded childcare facilities in Ohio. At the top of the list was Ohio’s practice of shifting tax dollars to its state-funded facilities based on attendance, not enrollment, with the state verifying individual enrollment through a personalized identification number that should not be shared with a daycare provider.
Additionally, Ohio’s Department of Children and Youth (DCY) regularly reviews families’ eligibility for subsidized childcare and performs unannounced health and safety inspections at state-funded facilities. DCY also monitors data for fraud and looks into public tips of fraud.
Still, a collection of Republican lawmakers have called on DCY and Auditor Keith Faber, a Republican, to recommit to finding and stopping childcare fraud in Ohio.
“We have the right to ask those questions as legislators, I think that’s our responsibility,” local Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Butler Twp., told this outlet, noting that he’s fairly confident the state’s system is well-protected after talking with the DeWine administration.
“We have a lot of checks and balances,” Plummer said. “So, I got a better feeling from them, but you know you’ve got to trust and verify, so we’re just asking everyone to verify.”
The letter sent to DCY calls for the department to increase its unannounced facility inspections in the Columbus area, audit attendance records, and suspend payments to facilities where inspections indicate probable fraud or false attendance reporting.
“Ohio families deserve assurance that public resources dedicated to childcare are being used lawfully, ethically, and in compliance with all state regulations,” the letter, written by Toledo-area Congressional candidate Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania, reads.
Plummer told this outlet that he’s been approached by a plethora of constituents regarding the Minnesota case, where federal prosecutors allege billions of taxpayer dollars may have been illegally squeezed out of the state-funded childcare system.
President Donald Trump signaled similar concerns in his administration’s decision to freeze federal childcare funds until states prove the funds are being used for proper purposes, as the Associated Press reported this week.
At the state level, officials haven’t been told specifically what the Trump Administration needs to see to get the funds flowing again. Dan Tierney, a spokesperson for DeWine, told this outlet Friday that the state is still awaiting the guidelines.
“Right now, we could only speculate,” Tierney said in an interview. “We are optimistic that, because we have an attendance-based payment system instead of an enrollment based payment system, that we’ll be in a good spot because of that and our other anti-fraud measures to hopefully comply quickly. But, that’s just speculation and optimism, we’ll need to see the guidelines to know for sure.”
DCY did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday regarding how much federal money was at stake. Tierney told this outlet he didn’t expect the funding freeze to have an immediate impact on Ohio’s childcare operations.
Plummer expressed concern about cutting off federal funding.
“Childcare is a serious workforce issue, and if you can’t have adequate childcare, you’ve got to stay home and we’re losing our workforce (as a result), and we’re seeing that all over the place,” Plummer said. “...So I don’t think we should stop the funding. Let’s just do our due diligence and do our inspections and investigations and hold people accountable if there is fraud.”
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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