ST. LOUIS – Childcare centers are fighting to stay open as they wait for subsidy payments from the state. Avonda Bryant says her childcare center, Smart Kids, is currently only half full.

“Just because of everything that’s going on with DESE across the state, we are not sure what to do,” she said. “Do we enroll children as getting a childcare subsidy, but we have to wait three months to know if they’re approved?”

Software errors are causing delays for people applying for subsidies and centers receiving those payments. Bryant says the state still owes her about $30,000.

“Not only is subsidy not paying but then it’s also low enrollment because how do you enroll children if we don’t have the staff or the funds to pay them?” Bryant said.

Daycare center providers say this can be fixed by automatically renewing subsidy applicants for now and paying daycare centers based on enrollment instead of the current system, which pays by attendance. New federal rules will require states to pay based on enrollment. But that switch will take time and come with a price tag.

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“Our new decision item that we just covered with our board yesterday is 85 million dollars for that,” Dr. Kari Monsees, deputy commissioner of Financial and Administrative Services with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), said in a committee meeting last week.

“DESE is working with the Missouri legislature, federal government, and stakeholders to move towards paying on authorized enrollment versus attendance. However, DESE’s current appropriation authority limits DESE to paying on attendance at this time,” DESE chief communications officer Mallory McGowin told FOX 2 News in a written response to questions.

FOX 2 asked DESE if they could automatically renew applications. They responded by writing, “DESE expects the backlog in family applications and provider contract applications to be cleared by the end of September.”

When asked if there was any way to get childcare centers more funding right now, McGowin pointed to the latest round of stipends sent out last week.

“You got these stipends, but what if you’re three months behind. You’re behind on other bills so you have to catch up. It’s a make-up and now you pay this stipend but now I’m missing ten kids on my regular check that I’m supposed to get monthly,” Bryant said.

Bryant says lost in all of this are the kids.

“It’s the children who are going to suffer. They’re not going to have a safe place. We have some children; how do we know if they’re getting meals at home?” she said.

FOX 2 also reached out to the governor’s office to learn about possible solutions.

“Our office is working closely with DESE to ensure we are providing any support we can to help fix the issue,” DESE Deputy Communications Director Johnathan Shiflett said.

More specific questions were directed back to DESE.

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