Ohio sucks!

I'm disappointed. It's a long complicated explanation, but I'll try to make it short and sweet. There is a program in Ohio for lower income families called ELI (Early Learning Initiative). It's for "at-risk" (aka poor) children ages 3-5. It's state funded preschool. Kyliana is currently in an ELI spot at her school. Prior to this she was on subsidized child care. With this you have to pay a copay. One main difference is that with ELI, you do not have to be working or going to school. Subsidized care you have to work and/or go to school. I do both BUT they don't count my Master's program because "logically" I should be able to get a job with a Bachelor's...right! In whose dreams? I can't get jack with a BA in psychology. Anyhow, so they give me very few hours. Problem is, the girls are at a fulltime center which means they have to be there 25 hrs/week. If they aren't I pay the difference of what job and family services pays and the total cost of daycare, which ends up being a couple hundred $ a month.

So there is a proposal to cut the ELI program all together so Ohio can meet their budget. They also want to change the income guidelines for subsidized care. Chances are that we may not qualify. Now, I'm not another "welfare case" looking for a handout. I'm a college student looking for help while I finish my education so I can provide well for my family. This will be a big blow to me. It might turn out that I have to stay at home...and that may mean that I can't finish internship. Who knows. I'm trying to get Ohioans to sign the petition, but there seems to be so many people who think that everyone who uses ELI is poor, lazy, etc and that we spend what money we do get on clothes, getting our hair and nails done, etc. All of that is funded by MY LOAN money that all has to be repaid plus interest. It's sad that my child may have to lose out on preschool and lose her social interaction...along with me having to lose my oppurtunity to graduate all because Gov. Strickland lied just to get elected (surprise! He IS a politician, I guess I should have known that was coming)