A 10-year project to enhance child care and support homeless children in Whatcom County should kick into action after next week, when the county council is expected to approve a $20 million spending plan for the Healthy Children’s Fund.
Community members who spoke March 7 at a public hearing asked for tweaks to the spending plan, which covers the first two years of the levy. Voters in November 2022 narrowly approved a property tax levy that will raise $10 million a year for the fund over 10 years.
One speaker asked for assurances the money would go to rural parts of the county, where the child care shortage is most acute. The 90-page plan reports the county has 5,000 fewer child care slots than it needs.
Another speaker at the hearing wanted more detail about the budget: How much money will the Healthy Children’s Fund lure from state or federal coffers with the promise of $10 million annually in county property tax receipts? The county has already earmarked more than $8.1 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for child care improvements.
Much of the focus this year with the Healthy Children’s Fund will be on hiring staff and putting out a call for applications for the levy funds. Projects won’t start until the first half of 2024, according to a timeline in the spending plan.
As it now stands, the draft spending plan calls for 64% of the levy fund over the next two years, or $12.8 million, to be spent on early learning and child care. Another 27%, or $5.36 million, would go toward vulnerable children. A database provided by the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction shows that 842 students in Whatcom County public schools were homeless this school year.
Council may alter the spending plan before voting on it at its 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 21 meeting.
