Fewer Idaho families are receiving childcare assistance through the state’s primary subsidy program, which helps recipients afford preschool, daycare and other early learning services.
The decline, which underscores broader challenges facing Idaho’s early learning system, follows eligibility reductions at the start of the year. And despite a 2.6% inflationary increase to federal poverty levels this fall, participation numbers continue to drop.
School districts hope to fill some of the gap with preschool options, but with supplemental levies struggling to pass and other funding options limited, the state’s patchwork of early learning programs remain vulnerable to funding challenges and shortfalls.
Idaho is one of a handful of states that do not fund preschool at all. Advocates warn the state’s childcare and preschool system — funded largely through federal dollars, philanthropy and parent tuition — could face new pressure if Washington shifts more responsibility to the states.
“That’s a signal to me that some of our chickens might be coming home to roost if we don’t get a little more proactive at the state level,” said Martin Balben, director of strategic initiatives at the Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children.
Fewer families qualify for childcare assistance
The Idaho Child Care Program, the state’s childcare subsidy, is largely funded through the federal Child Care Development Fund block grant.
The state sees the program as “primarily a work support program,” said AJ McWhorter, a public information officer for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, which administers ICCP.
Idaho families who qualify for the program can use the assistance to help pay for childcare, including services from licensed childcare centers, preschools and other approved early learning providers.
Idaho froze enrollment in the program in 2024. In August of that year, the program served 7,600 children, which dropped to 5,100 a year later, according to Idaho Kids Covered, a nonprofit that helps families enroll children in health insurance coverage.
The state then signalled it would reopen enrollment in January 2025 with a lowered eligibility threshold from 175% to 130% of the federal poverty level.
Officials said the freeze 2024 was due to a projected budget deficit, but Idaho Kids Covered Executive Director Christine Tiddens called the cuts “a choice, not a budget necessity.”
Even after income guideline increases in October, made to align with the 2.63% inflationary increase to federal poverty guidelines, Idaho’s program enrollment dropped from 5,230 children to 4,779 as of last month, McWhorter said. A household of two must gross $27,504 or less per year to qualify. For a family of four, that’s $41,796 or less.
Those reductions in who qualifies for ICCP subsidies impact all families accessing childcare or preschool because they often hurt the businesses that provide care.
“That’s a major source of revenue for childcare operations across the state,” Balben said.
If childcare operators can’t fill seats needed to be profitable, they’ll raise prices or close altogether.
“If they close, they close for everybody, not just the subsidized children,” Balben said.
Results from a series of listening sessions by Idaho Kids Covered released this month found that 77% of childcare providers surveyed said ICCP changes negatively impacted their business.
But even states that provide additional funds for childcare are seeing cuts after COVID-era funding ended and Medicaid cuts and tariffs began.
In January, the Trump administration cut $10 billion in funding for childcare subsidies to five Democratic states over concerns of fraud. Idaho subsequently reviewed its program providers and terminated 11.
McWhorter said the department hasn’t heard anything about impending cuts to ICCP. But Balben worries they are coming, and if federal subsidies go away, Idaho could lose more childcare providers in an already tight market.
“We’re going to be sort of foisted more into the wild west than we already are,” Balben said.
Idaho’s early learning patchwork
Preschool, daycare, and early learning centers are part of one system in Idaho: early childhood education.
Young children are “like sponges,” Balben said. “In Idaho, preschool is sort of an age, not a place.”
Idaho is one of six states without a state-funded preschool program, according to the 2025 State of Preschool study from the National Institute on Early Education Research. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare does not define preschool and childcare separately, McWhorter said.
Childcare providers often serve children across a wide age range, from infants to preschoolers.
Regardless of what they’re called, early childhood education facilities often face similar funding issues and regulations. While there are best practices that ensure quality care and education, Idaho has fewer regulations than most states.
Some common funding sources are:
- User fees (tuition), where the parent or guardian pays for care
- Grants from nonprofit and government entities
- Subsidies like ICCP (paid for federally)
- Property taxes, including supplemental levy funds some school districts use to pay for early learning
- Federal special education funds, which school districts receive to test and provide services to children, ages 3-5, who need special education services
“Our early childhood system is really heavily dependent on a mix of federal funding streams, philanthropy, and private tuition,” Balben said. “As those funding sources ebb and flow, so do the costs of preschool for families.”
This patchwork of funding sources and facilities, along with a lack of state funding and coordination, makes a cohesive picture of early learning in Idaho difficult to paint.
“Data in Idaho and figuring out what’s going on in this space can be really difficult,” Balben said. “We have a very uncoordinated system of statewide data for birth through (age) 5 children.”
When it comes to preschool, there’s no comprehensive list of public providers in Idaho. An EdNews review of school district websites found that at least 14 districts have some form of preschool open to all children.
Eight districts pay for preschool out of their general fund. Others, like Caldwell and American Falls, pay for the program through grants and collaborations.
See how this Kuna preschool operates through a partnership with a local church.
Some districts, like Coeur d’Alene, opened a childcare program at the district’s early learning center, in part, to help retain early to mid-career teachers struggling to find childcare. The program, which opened last year, enrolled about 52 kids. District employees are eligible for care at a discounted rate, which 15 teachers used last year.
The program also served five families who used ICCP subsidies. To qualify, Jamie Lenz, who runs CDA’s Early Plus childcare program, estimates it costs about $500 per year per staff member for the required 12-hour training, background check, and CPR and first aid certifications.
She fears that if ICCP funding or qualifications are reduced, the impact would be more than financial for families.
“If they cut that, that’s not letting the kids learn,” Lenz said.
More parents might stop working, a requirement to qualify for the funds, but not be able to provide the level of academic and social learning that happens at Early Plus.
Outside of vouchers, tuition families pay covers the cost of the program. The facility is located at the former Borah Elementary School, which closed in 2024.
Some districts, like Lewiston, have expanded developmental preschool classrooms to include children without disabilities, creating more inclusive classrooms where students can learn alongside peers with different needs. But putting together funding to make that possible is complex.
“That’s a pretty huge undertaking in a lot of districts,” Balben said.
Lenz said the first year involved a lot of extra work. She hired outside help to write a curriculum and met with the district’s kindergarten teachers to hear how their students come in struggling.
Things like sitting still for more than 10 minutes, knowing how to open school lunch containers, and listening to instructions were common answers, Lenz said.
They also developed a report to send to kindergarten teachers, so they know what level students are coming in at.
“We are very excited to be able to send teachers documentation of what worked well for this child,” Lenz said. “That generally you don’t get from other childcare providers.”
The program is already popular, with 90 families interested for next school year.
Coeur d’Alene’s program is one of a handful around the state that has childcare co-located with a developmental preschool that serves special education students. Districts reported about 3,800 students enrolled in special education preschools statewide as of April, according to data obtained by EdNews.
Fifteen districts reported no preschoolers receiving special education services, and another 17 reported five or fewer students.
“The numbers don’t lie — areas that have vibrant preschool programs have kids showing up ready to learn, ready to read, in a way that areas that don’t, don’t have,” Balben said.
