Beshear says new revenue is only way to restore child care subsidies

Changing Kentucky’s tax code to squeeze out more revenue is the only way to restore funding to a program that helps low income families pay for child care, Gov. Steve Beshear said Thursday.

The government has no more spare funds to cover the deficit that forced cuts to the program.

“It is time now to start reinvesting in our children, in terms of education. It’s time to create enough money that we can have these child care programs so that people who want to go to school or want to go to work can put their child in daycare,” Beshear said.

Here’s his full answer:

Beshear also said he was unaware of any early childhood programs having excess money, as one child care advocate alleged in a committee meeting Wednesday .

Lawmakers and advocates have decried the cuts as having broad social and economic effects. Most notably, affected parents — those that make the poverty rate up to 150 percent of the poverty rate — might have to choose to stop working, which would only increase the burden on state assistance programs.

The Kentucky General Assembly isn’t likely to take up tax reform until later this year in a special session. Beshear has been forecasting that. And Thursday, Senate Republican Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, indicated that he fully expects the governor to call lawmakers back to Frankfort later this year. He told the House State Government Committee that he wants to see lawmakers take up pension reform in the final 13 days of this session and return between “April and the end of the year” to deal with tax changes.