Some licensing fees for Arizona child care centers will be reduced to just $1 through the end of June 2024.
The Arizona Department of Health Services offers licenses to individuals operating day cares and other child care facilities. The cost for three-year licensing can range from $1,000 to $7,800, depending on the number of kids the facility accepts.
Tom Salow is the assistant director of licensing and policy for DHS.
"We actually reimbursed providers for the past year," he said, "and then we're reducing it for this year and the following year. So during that three year window there shouldn't be any child care fees except for $1."
Salow said cutting those fees will provide temporary relief to child care providers still recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During COVID, the child care industry was really impacted," Salow said. "There were a lot of closures, temporary closures and hopefully this can keep those open."
Cutting costs could allow more kids to have access to quality care as well.
“We had a fee that once you had 60 or more children, you paid the highest tier," Salow said. "So some of the facilities that are licensed may have the capacity to do a lot more, but they didn’t want to pay extra. Now there’s no financial impact for increasing that capacity.”
The change is thanks to $1.3 billion in federal funds that were awarded to the state. The Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) passed that money to DHS to temporarily reduce provider licensing fees.
