Mississippi spends millions on childcare without tracking attendance or outcomes

Millions of dollars from Mississippi’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program are being allocated to nonprofits for childcare services without requiring daily attendance or outcome data, according to a report from the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor.

The report found that nonprofits received the same funding whether children attended once a month or every day. In fiscal year 2024, nearly $11 million of state TANF funds went to these organizations to serve low-income families.

State Auditor Shad White criticized the lack of oversight, citing a scandal in Minnesota as a cautionary tale. “The childcare fraud scandal in Minnesota has shown just how easy it is for nonprofits to receive government funds intended to help our poorest children and then light that money on fire,” White said. “It’s critical that Mississippi has effective oversight on childcare spending so we don’t repeat the mistakes we’ve seen in other states.”

The Department of Human Services did not collect attendance data from centers but gathered participant records, which contained errors like duplicate entries, misspelled names, and incorrect addresses, the report said. While nonprofits were required to track outcomes such as literacy and teen pregnancy prevention, the department did not reliably measure whether these goals were achieved.

The report is part of a series examining taxpayer-funded childcare programs in Mississippi. It emphasizes the need for better oversight to ensure funds are used effectively and children are actually benefiting from the services. The full report is available on the auditor’s website under the “Reports” tab.

Source: Original Article