Representative Doug Green and 4C’s Kim Ginn visit Afton Wesleyan Preschool and Day Care. Under Governor Kasich’s new education budget, programs like Afton Wesleyan will not qualify for state funding aimed at raising program quality.

Representative Doug Green and 4C’s Kim Ginn visit Afton Wesleyan Preschool and Day Care. Under Governor Kasich’s new education budget, programs like Afton Wesleyan will not qualify for state funding aimed at raising program quality.
State House Representative Doug Green toured a quality-rated child care program in Batavia on Thursday, April 4. The goal was to draw attention to the many community-based child care programs that will not benefit from the preschool dollars included in Governor Kasich’s education budget.

Michele Jowers, director of the Afton Wesleyan Preschool and Day Care, and Kim Ginn, a Clermont resident and director of quality initiatives for 4C for Children, hosted this visit.

Michele and Kim answered Representative Green’s questions about community-based child care programs, such as The Afton Wesleyan Preschool and Day Care. He was surprised to learn that child care centers such as Afton, even with its two-star rating through Ohio’s Step Up To Quality voluntary rating system, would not be eligible for the preschool funding that is part of Governor Kasich’s budget; only public preschools would be eligible. A SUTQ rating means that a child care program goes over and above the state licensing standards.

Fifty-two percent of the children being cared for at Afton Wesleyan Preschool and Day Care have public subsidies to help pay for their care.