Ohio Rep. Williams to Newsmax: Ohio Needs Daily Daycare Oversight

Ohio state Rep. Josh Williams told Newsmax on Friday that he is calling for tougher oversight and more frequent, unannounced inspections of state-funded child care centers after viral videos raised concerns that some providers may be billing Ohio for children who are not actually in attendance.

The GOP lawmaker also said on Newsmax's "National Report" that he was struck by the fact that members of the public, not state monitors, surfaced the alleged problems.

State lawmakers have pressed the Ohio Department of Children and Youth to expand surprise inspections, and he said the agency has already begun increasing those visits.

"We're calling for an increased effort to do unannounced visitations to these child care centers, especially in the area where we're getting viral videos and huge public concern as it relates to our child care programs here in the state of Ohio and potential fraud," Williams said.

"We have talked directly to the Department of Children and Youth about those increased unannounced visits, and they have started here in the state of Ohio," he added. "There are currently centers that are under investigation, and there's increased effort from the legislature going to be happening in the spring, including new legislation to provide daily oversight of child care providers in the state of Ohio."

Williams' comments come as Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's administration has defended the state's payment system and anti-fraud measures.

DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said Ohio's attendance-based payment system and other measures significantly address concerns about "ghost enrollment" and "ghost attendance" raised on social media.

DeWine also said the Department of Children and Youth conducts cross-department data checks and monthly monitoring reviews to identify "fraud, waste and misuse of funds."

Williams said those efforts fall short if the system relies on information entered by the child care centers themselves.

"That's simply sitting behind a computer screen looking at data that's being input by the child care providers themselves," he said. "We need boots on the ground, going to these child care facilities and making sure the children are in attendance."

He pointed to prior state steps intended to curb attendance manipulation, including a daily PIN system that requires parents to log children in and out using numbers issued by the Department of Children and Youth.

But Williams said investigators found that approach could be undermined.

"We started doing things like daily PINs, where the parent has to log the child in and out with a pin issued by the Department of Children and Youth," he said.

"Well, what we found out through our investigations were the day care centers were just being handed over the pins from the parents so they could log the kids in when they weren't present," Williams noted.

After the department sent a warning letter, Williams said thousands of families requested new PINs, which he said suggested the safeguards were being bypassed.

Williams said he plans to introduce legislation this spring and said the state needs more frequent auditing and on-site checks.

"There needs to be daily audits of these child care facilities on a regular basis to assure that the children are in attendance," he said.

He also raised concerns about providers' enrollment patterns.

"We even have bigger concerns about the structural problems that we have here in the state of Ohio, where we have child care providers, where their employees and their children are the only ones enrolled at the day care center," he said.

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