- First, the bill proposes giving the Ohio Attorney General’s Office the authority to investigate civil and criminal complaints pertaining to child care centers, and bring charges when appropriate.
- Secondly, H.B. 647 would give the Ohio Department of Children and Youth the new authority to suspend child care licenses and suspend payments to facilities where fraud is suspected.
- Third, the bill would codify Ohio’s long-running practice of reimbursing child care facilities based on attendance instead of enrollment.
- Fourth, the bill would give DCY $5 million over the next two years “to support enhanced data analytics in order to conduct automated attendance reviews of publicly funded child care providers.”
The legislation comes after social media took hold of a high-profile allegation of Somali-run daycare fraud in Minnesota, which coincided with the Trump administration’s decision to surge federal immigration enforcement into the state to investigate fraud, and to temporarily pause all federal child care funds for every state in the country, pending review of the programs.
On Wednesday, the Montgomery County representatives framed the bill as an attempt to close gaps in Ohio’s already-good, state-run child care program, which reimburses about 5,200 facilities across the state with federal funds for providing child care services to about 100,000 children in the state.
“I can tell you guys right now, this is a very, very solid system,” Plummer told reporters at a Statehouse press conference. “I would not put my name on this unless it wasn’t. And, we’re gonna make it better.”
H.B. 647 was workshopped alongside the state’s agency for children and youth and its director Kara Wente, who also spoke at the press conference. She and Gov. Mike DeWine have made several public appearances to highlight the state’s anti-fraud measures and quell concerns about widespread fraud, while acknowledging that some fraud does indeed occur and is addressed on a case-by-case basis.
“We can’t gaslight this and say, ‘Ohio’s terrible,’ because Ohio is not terrible … There is fraud,” said Plummer. “We’re addressing this. We’re gonna hold (those) who stole our money accountable, hopefully convict them criminally. But this is under control in Ohio.”
Earlier this month, DeWine told reporters that the Minnesota allegations took root here because Ohio, like Minnesota, has a large Somali community.
“There has been some connection, I’ve seen on social media, from people who say ‘Well, there’s lots of Somalians in Ohio, too; there’s Somalians in Minnesota; therefore, Ohio has a huge problem,’” DeWine told reporters earlier this month. “I don’t think that’s fair.”
The concern in Ohio has led various individuals to conduct their own investigations, of sorts, by approaching child care centers and trying to ask questions, often being swiftly brushed away by on-site staff.
This outlet asked the representatives if they had concerns about Ohioans approaching child care centers for these purposes. Young said he had three children who were once in child care facilities and that he appreciated the tight security.
“There’s no way, (even) as a parent, I can just walk through that door and walk back to a classroom. There are protocols and they are tight, and there’s a reason for that: for their safety,” Young said. “People knocking on doors, trying to get into a child care center, if my kid’s there I’m applauding the people there (working) at the centers who protect the children.”
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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