State Child Care Assistance Policies 2010: Iowa

•    Income eligibility limit: In 2010, a family of three in Iowa could qualify for child care assistance with an annual income up to $26,556 (145 percent of poverty, 45 percent of state median income).¹

•    Waiting list: Iowa had no waiting list for child care assistance as of February 2010.     

•    Parent copayments: In 2010, a family of three with an income at 100 percent of poverty ($18,310 a year) receiving child care assistance paid $9 per month, or 1 percent of its income in copayments.²

•    Reimbursement rates: In 2010, Iowa’s reimbursement rates for child care providers serving families receiving child care assistance were below the federally recommended level—the 75th percentile of current market rates, which is the level designed to give families access to 75 percent of the providers in their community.
o    Iowa’s monthly reimbursement rate for center care for a four-year-old was $99, or 15 percent, below the 75th percentile of current market rates for this type of care.³
o    Iowa’s monthly reimbursement rate for center care for a one-year-old was $79, or 10 percent, below the 75th percentile of current market rates for this type of care.

•    Tiered reimbursement rates: In 2010, Iowa did not pay higher reimbursement rates for higher-quality care.

•    Eligibility for parents searching for a job: In 2010, Iowa allowed parents to qualify for or continue receiving child care assistance for up to 30 days while searching for a job.

¹For special needs care, the income limit was $36,620 in 2010. Also note that in some areas of the state a separate American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)-funded scholarship program helps families with incomes between $26,556 and $33,874 pay for infant and toddler care offered by providers that are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) or the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) or that have a rating of a level three or higher under the state’s child care quality rating and improvement system. The scholarship program began in July 2009 and will end in June 2011 or earlier if the amount of funding available is expended.
²A family with an income at 150 percent of poverty would be eligible for assistance if the family were using special needs care. For this family, the copayment in 2010 would have been $174 per month. A family of three with an income at 100 percent of poverty that is using special needs care would have the same copayment as a family using basic care. Also note that no copayment is assessed for families with incomes under 100 percent of poverty.
³The state calculates reimbursements based upon units of care. A unit is a 5-hour block of time. These rate calculations assume that a family is using 9 hours of care, 5 days per week, 4.33 weeks per month, which would translate into 2 units of care per day for 22 days per month, or 44 units per month.

Source: Karen Schulman and Helen Blank, State Child Care Assistance Policies 2010: New Federal Funds Help States Weather the Storm (Washington, DC: National Women’s Law Center, 2010). These data reflect policies as of February 2010, unless otherwise indicated.