BOISE, ID – The Idaho Legislature’s budget committee on Tuesday rejected allowing the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to spend $16 million in federal funds to expand child care access.
In that vote, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee also effectively rejected adding five new jobs to investigate issues in the Idaho Child Care Program. The program gives child care subsidies to families of nearly 6,500 children, and the department has stalled doling out grants to expand access to child care providers in Idaho.
The Legislature has been mulling additional fraud prevention measures to the program this year on the heels of concerns about fraud in Idaho’s program after viral allegations in Minnesota prompted the Trump administration to crack down on child care funds.
The vote came a day after the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare released a report that found few instances of suspected fraud or other issues with nearly 800 providers that participate in the program. Budget committee co-chair Rep. Josh Tanner, an Eagle Republican, said he appreciated the department’s report but said he had concerns.
“Idaho is a very low – without a lot of fraud, we have not found a lot. But … we have found some within it. And that’s something the department is actually taking action on,” Tanner told lawmakers. “… I do think it’s concerning. … With the amount of fraud you see through this country, still I think there’s always concern with that.”
Since the allegations in Minnesota, Idaho’s program has been thrust into the national controversy by state lawmakers. In December, two Republican lawmakers, including Tanner, asked the state to freeze funds in the program meant to expand child care provider access.
Public records obtained by the Idaho Capital Sun show that the letter appeared to prompt state health officials to indefinitely pause their plans to post applications for the grant opportunities, which were set to open in January.
The budget committee’s vote to not appropriate the funds for fiscal year 2027 will likely prevent the agency from spending the funds to expand child care availability. But a separate budget bill headed to Gov. Brad Little, Senate Bill 1435 would set aside $64 million for subsidies for families next fiscal year.
Last week, the Senate rejected a bill to shift the program from rules to state law, lower the income eligibility threshold and implement a range of fraud-prevention efforts, like giving the Attorney General’s Office jurisdiction to prosecute cases.
State audits found issues with 3.6% of providers
State audits recently found issues with a small portion, 3.6%, of all 776 providers that are part of the program, according to a report that the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare released Monday.
The audits spurred the state to take administrative action against 28 providers — which can range from decertification to being banned from the program, depending on the severity of issues providers had.
“We hope that this demonstrates to Idahoans and to our partners here in the Legislature that Idaho does not have the level of challenges that other states have seen,” Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Juliet Charron told reporters Monday.
And she previewed what the agency could do with more resources, like the extra staff to do program integrity work that the budget committee rejected.
“If we are given the resources to really kind of ramp up this work on a more year-round basis, I would expect that number to maybe even diminish further, which would be great,” Charron said.
Idaho Senate rejects bill to lower income cutoff for child care subsidies
Charron said that the issues with child care providers ranged between minor problems, like not correctly keeping paperwork, to “blatant fraud.” The 16 providers that the state terminated, which bans them from being part of the program for five years, were in the Treasure Valley, and many were in Boise, according to termination letters the agency shared with reporters.
“Concerns such as our staff showed up on an in person, on site, review during normal business hours, and there were no children on site, no children being served,” Charron said. “It was not spring break. It was not holidays. It should have been a time that children should have been there.”
Two providers with more minor issues have since resolved their issues and are back on the program, agency Deputy Director Monty Prow told reporters.
In the past, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare hasn’t had the capacity to do full provider audits, Charron told reporters. To do the reviews after lawmakers requested more oversight, the agency dedicated 10 staff — including all four on the child care program, and another six program integrity staff that handle all programs besides Medicaid — to the reviews full time, she said. That has meant other work has piled up for them, she said.
“We’ve just had to basically freeze everything else for the last several months, which means that now we’re going to have to pick up the backlogs of other work,” Charron said.
At least nine child care providers that the Department of Health and Welfare terminated had allegedly committed suspected fraud at times when the agency was led by Alex Adams, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Adams, a former budget chief for Idaho Gov. Brad Little, was nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Adam has been part of the agency’s efforts to crack down on Minnesota following child care fraud allegations.
Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.
