Jefferson City News

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Office of Childhood has completed its review of the backlog in child care subsidy applications. This includes family applications for assistance, provider applications for contracts, and payment reviews through September. Payments will continue to be issued over the coming weeks. From March onward, application reviews are expected to adhere to the office's standard processing time.

"We appreciate the diligent efforts of the teams that worked to address the system issues and reviewed the backlog," stated Commissioner of Education Karla Eslinger. "We also want to thank subsidy program families, providers, and other stakeholders for their patience."

The backlog resulted from technical challenges encountered during the launch of a new Child Care Data System (CCDS) in December 2023. The number of backlogged cases has been decreasing since summer 2024 when additional temporary staff were hired. All necessary technical issues within CCDS were resolved by January 2025, which is expected to prevent future backlogs.

In 2024, more than $204 million was paid to child care providers serving subsidy-eligible children. The Office processed 39,006 family applications for subsidized child care and nearly 2,800 provider contracts. About 22,000 children and 2,000 providers are currently participating in Missouri's child care subsidy program.

A leadership change occurred within DESE’s Office of Childhood on February 24, 2025. Kelli Jones has assumed the role of interim main point of contact as Deputy Commissioner.