ST. PAUL, MN – Nearly a year after raising alarms about potential misuse of state child care funding, Minnesota legislators are revisiting questions about oversight of daycare facilities that continue to receive millions in public subsidies despite safety and program violations.
The Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee highlighted the issue again this week, pointing to a February 2025 hearing where members provided the Department of Human Services (DHS) with a list of daycare providers receiving more than $1 million in Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) funding, even as they accumulated multiple licensing violations.
Committee Chair Rep. Kristin Robbins (R–District 37A) previously sent a letter to DHS Commissioner Shireen Gandhi on February 19, 2025, urging the agency to explain how such facilities remain eligible for CCAP dollars. In that correspondence, Robbins cited reporting by KSTP News that revealed certain daycare centers continued to receive substantial public funds despite documented safety violations.
The committee’s social media post this week referenced one provider, the “Quality Learing Center,” listed among those with repeated violations. Legislators say they are still awaiting a full accounting of how DHS investigates and prevents fraud or improper use of public funds within its licensed child care network.
DHS officials have not yet responded publicly to the renewed criticism. The committee has indicated it may revisit the matter when the Legislature reconvenes in 2026.
Minnesota lawmakers are again pressing DHS over oversight of daycare providers that recived large sums in child care funding despite repeated safety violations.