(MCT) – Gov. Pat Quinn said Tuesday that he's found a way to plug a $73 million budget gap that would have cut off funding for child care services for low-income families across Illinois.

The announcement came one week after Quinn's office told more than 40,000 child care providers that the state had run out of money and couldn't pay for their services for the final three months of the budget year, which ends June 30. That left day care providers wondering how they would stay open and panicked parents who said they wouldn't be able to work or go to school without the subsidized care.