|
|
|
Revised Minutes of Day Care Committee Meeting
12/11/02
Nicki Griffin presided over the Day Care Committee meeting. She reviewed the October minutes and corrections were made. She will send out a copy of the October Minutes with the changes for review and approval at the January meeting.
Ron Penny reviewed the spending report for October service month, November payment. The state-spending coefficient with DCD funds is 95%. The state-spending coefficient with Smart Start funds is 110%. This may not reflect additional allocations for all counties so if the spending level is higher that you expected for your county you should check with your local Smart Start Partnership. The combined spending coefficient for the state is 97%. Waiting list numbers have come down and it appears that counties are updating their list. The deadline to submit surveys regarding the wait list is 12/20/02.
Nancy Guy shared a Child Care Subsidy Update that she had prepared for the county DSS Directors that summarized the recent distribution of subsidy funds. The handout also included information about ideas for changes to the subsidy allocation formula being considered by the Allocation Advisory Committee.
The non-reccurring subsidy money has been distributed. Counties need to keep open their option for spending TANF money at the local level. This is the year Congress is to pass the CCDBG for child care subsidy but they have issued a continuing resolution, which means no additional money from the Federal Government at this time. DCD will begin contacting under-spending counties to determine if they have money to revert. There will have more discussion about this at the January meeting and the Committee needs to be prepared to make a recommendation in January regarding how to distribute reverted funds.
Nancy also shared with the Committee the website address of the Department of Public Instruction, which is www.ncpublicschools.org. On this website you will find a list of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grantees under /school_improvement/21cclc. This is another source of funding for school age care.
Nancy reported that DCD is looking at doing a percentage increase for areas where the private pay rates are higher than the current market rate. They hope to have news about this at least by our next meeting. Nancy asked about the earlier recommendation of the Committee that counties be given a two month notice prior to new rates being implemented. Committee members indicated that if the rates were not going to decrease for providers that a two month notice is not needed.
The More At Four question and answer document that was reviewed by the Committee in October is being revised and DCD will issue it as a Change Notice for the manual. The Q&A documentwill also clarify the question regarding the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). Some providers are requesting the $1.00 subsidy supplement for children enrolled in More at Four classrooms to make them eligible for the CACFP; however, DCD staff are attempting to verify with CACFP staff that the family can qualify if they meet the Free and Reduced Lunch Program Income guidelines. If this is correct, then providers can ask parents to complete the income form for that program rather than asking the family to apply for subsidy services to receive a $1.00 subsidy payment. The Change Notice will also address the issue of subsidy payments for children in the custody of DSS who are placed with relatives who are also provide child care in their licensed child care facility.
In January, the contractor will begin surveying providers for the next market study, which is required, every two years. Please encourage providers to participate in the study. There is still a sense of confusion among providers regarding the need for the study. We need at least 50 responses in each age group to establish a county market rate.
The Allocation Advisory Work Group is meeting this afternoon to make a recommendation regarding the allocation formula. They have suggested looking at the 2001-2002 initial allocation amounts for counties when comparing gain/losses. They are discussing setting a 10% cap on gains and losses for counties when running the formula as the formula sometimes has unexpected outcomes and this prevents large gains or losses. They have discussed creating a formula that would provide information to the Legislature regarding the cost to serve all eligible children.
Denise Hill from Guilford County brought up that it is not easy to utilize TANF funds for child care on short notice. For the 200% cases, county staff are required to open a SIS case by completing an application and the 5027 form which requires kinship verification. If the family has ever received Work First in the county, the printout screen can be used for documentation of kinship; otherwise a birth certificate is required. DCD will invite Carl Breazeale with the Division of Social Services, to the January meeting to provide further clarification.
Nancy Guy gave us an update on the Feds response regarding fraud and/or administrative error cases. DCD wrote to them again in October and the response given is that Federal funds spent inappropriately will be repaid and will be subtracted from our Federal allocation. This response does not change the instructions DCD gave to counties. County Directors have asked that a fund be set aside at the state level to pay back the Feds and this has been taken under advisement.
These items were identified for the January meeting:
Submitted by:
Gloria F. Cook
Wake County
