John Braun commentary: Democrats are in no rush to settle concerns about potential fraud
Friday, April 10, 2026
A recent state audit questioned whether Washington’s Department of Children, Youth and Families had properly spent federal funds to subsidize childcare. Between compliance and documentation concerns, the money involved could exceed $37 million.
Just as troubling, if not more so, is an admission DCYF made through the audit: Two-thirds of the payments it made to childcare providers during the latest fiscal year were larger than they should have been. The overpayments amounted to more than $1 out of every $5 the agency paid out.
The audit, released March 30, ought to light a fire under the Democrats who control our state government, starting with Gov. Bob Ferguson.
He is ultimately responsible for DCYF, as chief executive. Also, the governor is surely aware of what can happen when a state fails to exhibit what auditors call “adequate internal controls” over its handling of federal dollars.
Just look at Minnesota, where the recent childcare-funding scandal destroyed the credibility of Tim Walz, his counterpart there, and how the new scandal concerning hospice funding is staining the reputation of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom.
Besides, this isn’t the first time DCYF and its childcare payments have been in the news in 2026.
Soon after this year’s legislative session began, Washington’s state auditor made a stunning disclosure: During Jay Inslee’s final term as governor, the recordkeeping at DCYF was so substandard that four years’ worth of childcare subsidies couldn’t be audited properly.
As a result, the agency was questioning the spending of $416 million in federal childcare-related funds from 2021-24.
I brought up DCYF and its problems at a meeting with Gov. Ferguson in late February, as the fourth and final quarter of this year’s legislative session began.
We specifically discussed the importance of addressing concerns about the agency’s records and payments in a swift, comprehensive and transparent way. At the time, it seemed the governor agreed.
A follow-up letter revisited the value of being open with the public about DCYF whether or not any improprieties were found. I also noted how the state auditor and the attorney general were making conflicting and contradictory statements about how fraud-related concerns would be handled.
For that reason, my letter ended by asking Governor Ferguson to review the matter and take the appropriate steps to ensure that any allegations are thoroughly evaluated.
Since then, there’s been nothing.
To put the silence in perspective, it took the governor and his political allies in the Legislature a total of 43 days to move the new state income tax through Olympia’s lawmaking process. My February 25 letter to him has gone a longer time without a response.
The March 30 audit raises new concerns.
DCYF made 397,000-plus payments to childcare providers during the 2025 fiscal year, which ended this past June. It was shocking to learn the agency sends money out to providers without first looking at documentation to verify whether a payment request is allowable.
A staff of just six people is supposed to do billing and attendance audits within four to six months of payment. The state audit found those usually don’t happen until six months to a year later.
Only 2,228 payments — totaling nearly $10 million — were examined by agency staff this past fiscal year. Of those, 67% of those were found to be excessive. The overpayments totaled $2,185,753, or approximately 22% of what was paid out.
Any attempt to recover overpayments belongs to what is basically a taxpayer-funded, in-house collections office, with no guarantee the money will come back.
This wrongheaded, inefficient approach wouldn’t be tolerated in the private sector. But things are different in state government, when the money being wasted belongs to the taxpayer.
DCYF acknowledged in its response to the audit that additional in-house auditing would increase what it calls “provider payment integrity,” but that would require more funding.
It’s outrageous for the agency to assert it doesn’t have the resources already. The DCYF office of public affairs has 22 employees, double the number from just five years ago.
In fact, DCYF has more people specializing in “government affairs” — seven of those 22 — than it has to audit subsidy payments. That tells you how much priority is being put on things like lobbying rather than accountability and protecting taxpayer dollars.
While the agency disputes any suggestion that overpayments are evidence of fraud, the public is going to need something more concrete than that. Remember, DCYF is also in charge of juvenile rehabilitation and protecting helpless children from abuse, and its failures in those areas don’t inspire confidence.
Republicans understand how childcare costs are one of the many things that make living in Washington unaffordable. We believe the better path is to reform the regulations that have closed so many daycares and let the market work to increase access and bring prices down.
Whether the embarrassing audit results are due to indifference or incompetence on DCYF’s part is a separate question. Either way, it would be a pleasant change if Democrats would show more interest in proving that taxpayer-funded support for childcare isn’t being wasted or misused, instead of being in such a rush to impose more taxes.
That’s why I am writing to the governor again – to let him explain what’s being done to make sure public funds are being handled appropriately. Stay tuned. The executive branch must do better.
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Sen. John Braun of Centralia serves the 20th Legislative District, which spans parts of four counties from Yelm to Vancouver. He became Senate Republican leader in 2020.