(The Center Square) – Alarmed by fraud reports among Minnesota day cares, calls grow in Pennsylvania to review taxpayer-funded programs in the commonwealth to weed out similar issues.
State Reps. Jill Cooper, R-Export, and Kate Klunk, R-Hanover, began circulating a cosponsorship memo this week that mandates an audit of Child Care Works, a $280 million assistance program for low-income families funded by state and federal dollars.
About 6,900 licensed child care facilities operate in Pennsylvania as of 2024, according to the most recent data available from the Department of Human Services. Of those, 73% have children enrolled through the program, which covers 74,000 children monthly.
“Pennsylvania, like most states, has limited resources to operate these programs,” Cooper and Klunk wrote in the memo. “This legislation is designed to ensure that taxpayers are getting full value for their tax money and to ensure that those dollars are going to help our working families who need assistance with child care.”
The proposal follows bombshell reports from Minnesota, where a conservative independent journalist claimed that taxpayers were subsidizing fraudulent day care centers with no active enrollment. In the days since, the federal government has frozen $10 billion it sends to Minnesota, California, Illinois and Colorado for child care assistance.
As for Pennsylvania, child care centers receiving similar funding must submit monthly attendance data to receive payment. The state also visits facilities unannounced to ensure compliance or investigation claims of fraud and abuse.
In 2023, the state Office of Inspector General said it charged 590 people for public assistance fraud, though it’s unclear how many of those targeted child care subsidies alone.
In a statement to TCS, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office said he’s well-known as the former state attorney general for cracking down on fraud and abuse across Pennsylvania’s government-funded programs.
“Rooting out waste, fraud and abuse is nothing new for Governor Shapiro – he cracked down on fraud and public assistance benefit theft as Pennsylvania’s attorney general, charging dozens of people who stole millions in taxpayer dollars,” said Alex Peterson, speaking for Shapiro’s office. “Across commonwealth programs and initiatives, the Shapiro administration has strict guidelines in place, as well as additional internal checks, to ensure taxpayer money is used for its intended purpose.”
