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NCACDSS Day Care Committee Meeting
June 9, 2004
Attendance
Nicki Griffin Franklin County Nancy Williams Catawba County
Susan Parrish Catawba County Terry Keene Johnston County
Annette Johnson Onslow County Mary Kidder Caldwell County
Wanda Smith Durham County Jane Kimsey Macon County
Kathy Snethen Orange County Connie McAdams CCN – Chatham Co.
Kay Galloway CCRI – Mecklenburg Heather Thomas Randolph County
Aliesa Bowman Iredell County Amy Pike Buncombe Co
Penny Butler High Co COG Liz White Forsyth Co.
Betty Hamby Craven County Amie Barham Franklin Co.
Cindy Tharrington Franklin Co. Cookie Henry Wake Co.
Sonja Hester Robeson Co. Linda Leggett Roberson Co.
Carla Bass Robeson Co. Ron Byrd Harnett Co.
Gloria Cook Wake Co. Lisa Worley Pender Co.
Leanore Corbett Pender Co. Della Sweat Cumberland Co
Denise Hill Guilford Co. Pattie Stowe CCRI Mecklenburg
Mary Smith Guilford Co. Vickie Jackson Wayne Co.
Jani Kozlowski NCPC Regina Watkins DCD
The meeting was called to order by Nicki Griffin, Co Chair. The minutes of the April 7, 2004 meeting were approved with the correction of adding the names of Della Sweat, Cumberland County , Denise Hill, Guilford County , Patti Stowe, CCRI, Mecklenburg County ; and Mary Smith, Guilford County .
Expenditure Report
Susan Mitchell discussed the expenditure report. She pointed out that the NCPC allocations given to some counties are broken out separately if a funding authorization was completed prior to May 15 th . Expenditures in the aggregate are finally under 100%. The waiting list went down around 500. Nancy Guy explained that this was probably due to the review of the waiting list.
Division Report
Legislative Update.
Nancy provided an update on the state budget proposals. She reported that the Governor's budget proposed $22 million increase for subsidy services ($12 million in state funds and $10 in federal funds) for SFY 04-05. The House budget proposes $13.3 million ($2 million of state funds and 11.3 million in federal). The House budget was approved last night. The additional federal funds are from TANF and SSBG which are flexible programs. The Senate now has to approve their budget and any differences between the House and Senate have to be resolved.
Nancy reported that the Division had estimated that at least $20 million was needed to maintain service levels. That was a conservative estimate and did not allow for an increase in the average cost of care. Rob Kindsvatter reported that based on what the Division is observing regarding susbidy spending, we will have little carry forward funding, maybe $1 - $2 million. He said the Division will know more once all subsidy reimbursement claims for May services have been processed.
Nancy reported that there were no cuts to Smart Start proposed in either budget and no expansion. An $8 million increase in funding for the More at Four Program is included in the House Budget to fund an additional 2,000 slots.
In terms of Special Provision changes, the House Budget Bill includes the following:
• Add three temporary staff to the Division of Child Development during 2005 to eliminate the backlog in criminal record checks.
• More at Four Program staff would review the number of slots filled by counties on a monthly basis and shift slots to counties as needed through January 30, 2005 . After that point, any funds existing from unfilled slots in the More at Four Program shall be transferred to DCD to address the subsidy waiting list.
• Effective SFY 04-05, the More at Four Program shall establish income eligibility requirements for the program at 75% of SMI to make the program more consistent with the Child Care Subsidy Program.
Regarding funding at the federal level, Nancy reported that North Carolina could gain $23 million in federal Child Care and Development Funds (CCDF) if the funding increase as proposed in the Snow/Dodd amendment is approved by Congress.
There was a question about the content of Senate Bill 1813. Nancy advised that this was a blank bill introduced by Senator Rand. The bill was filed in this manner to meet the deadline for filing bills and can be revised later.
4-H Summer Grants Update
The grants have been awarded by the 4-H office at NCSU. A letter was issued to counties providing instructions and a list of providers. Funds totaling $1,813,596 were awarded to fund 2,846 slots. The funds are not regular subsidy funding but Federal funds that must be used for quality activities. This can include expanding availability for summer slots. Gloria Cook (Wake) asked if we would do this again next year and Nancy responded by saying that it depends on whether or not money is available next year and if it is successful this year.
It was reported that some 4-H slots have been transferred to different facilities than those on the original list, which is happening with some chain providers such as La Petite and Child Care Networks. Nancy said the 4-H office will provide an updated list, if needed. Patti Stowe ( Mecklenburg ) said that some providers are receiving less than the market rate because 4-H is paying for the summer instead of by 4.333 weeks per month. For example, they may pay a provider $1,000 for a child to attend all summer, and if the program is 10 weeks long, that would equal $100 per week. However, the market rate may allow a payment of $125 per week.
Several counties, including Iredell, Wake, Johnston and Guilford , said that they were not able to fill all of the available slots. Some reported that as many as 1/3 are unfilled. This is in part due to the location of the providers who applied for the grant, the need for preschool care for siblings in addition to the school age care, transportation, staff time to process the paperwork, etc. The suggestion was made to do this earlier next year if the funding is going to be made available again. Denise Hill pointed out that it was really helpful to parents not to have to pay an activity fee.
Final Clarification Regarding Contributions
Nancy reported that the final version of the document regarding contributions presented at the April meeting was not ready for discussion today. She will try to send it out prior to August meeting for review by Committee members.
Allocations Update
Nancy reported that since the last meeting, the Division has allocated about $900,000 to 19 agencies that requested additional funds to finish the year. The majority of this funding came from funding provided to us by NCPC (reverted Smart Start funds). Nancy said that many counties are closing out with excess balances. She said we are looking at this closely and may be calling some counties to ask them to recode children if there is an unspent balance of Smart Start funds. Nancy stated that if counties need additional money they need to let her know. Agencies have until June 21 st to close out. There is no guarantee of funding if counties close out overspending without making prior arrangements. We are going to wait until everyone closes out to determine if we have funds to address overspending over $1,500.
Nancy said that she would like to use the reversions and reallocations guidelines again this year for SFY 04-05. The Division will do some additional analysis of spending and we are willing to review the spending coefficient levels that are in the guidelines. A question was asked about how Smart Start funds are counted. Nancy advised that we look at combined spending coefficient. A suggestion was made not to count money until a county has it. Counties have to go through different approval processes before they can spend money. Nancy said that once the state has a certified budget, the Division will issue the official allocation amounts for SFY 04-05.
Terry Keene ( Johnston ) asked Jani Kozlowski from NCPC what Smart Start partnerships were going to be able to do at this point in time as far as subsidy funding contracts, pointing out that last year they put only 50% in contract prior to an official budget. Jani said that 70% can be put into contracts, but that this is optional on the local level.
Nancy Guy said that there is not a plan to change market rates at this time. She said that the Division is reviewing new rates for developmental day centers. Nancy said that Mental Health used to do the cost study but that the Controller's Office did the cost study this past year and many (not all) of the rates went down. She described the process of rates having to go before the Department's Rate Review Board. The fiscal analysis of the impact of implementing the revised rates indicated $3 – 4 million would be saved. In light of this, the Review Board asked the Division to move forward with the updated rates. The Controller's Office mailed a letter this past Friday to developmental day directors with the proposed rate information. They gave them two weeks to provide any additional information that could change the rates. Once the rates are finalized, DCD will notify LPA's and issue revised Approval Notices.
Denise Hill asked if there might be changes in the payment rate policies in SFY 05-06 and Nancy said that was a possibility. She said that the Subsidy Advisory Committee had made some suggestions, like changing the wording “market rate or private pay rate, whichever is lower” because some providers can't charge the market rate due to local economic conditions. The question was asked if the Division has to implement new market rates every two years. Nancy explained that it is no longer required in legislation, but the federal funding agency requires us to provide rates no more than 2 years old for reporting in CCDF plan. The last was completed in 2003. The current information indicates some rates need to be increased; however, there are no new funds to cover an increase. The results of the survey will be made public in the future.
Nancy Guy talked about the letter which was e-mailed on May 25th to coordinators of LPA's and State Level Contractors, followed by a signed hard copy to the agency directors. The letter explained the need for the Subsidy Business Plan and provided the format for the plan. She said the Division would give everyone an official due date once counties receive their official allocation; the plans will be due 30 days after that. Nancy said that identifying the local resources that are available will be helpful. This is not a paper exercise but a plan to help counties prepare for the year and help the Division understand county needs. Issue was brought up about the timing of receiving additional money from the Division and local partnerships and the need to receive all money upfront.
Aliesa Bowman (Iredell) had a question about the More at Four Program only looking at the initial family income and no updates being required. She was asking if that was going to be a possible audit problem if the DSS put the family income and coding for TANF eligible children into the Reimbursement System if they didn't determine eligibility, couldn't confirm changes, and if different income eligibility criteria was used for determining the TANF eligibles. She pointed out the recent federal audit problems and resulting paybacks that the State had to make. Nancy Guy said that some Smart Start activities are without regard to income and that they can set their own criteria for their activities, including funds spent in More at Four Programs.
Patti Stowe asked if there was any legislative language that would increase the dollar amount the More at Four Program can receive per child. Nancy said there wasn't any such change being proposed at this point.
Nancy Guy reported that Vi Simmons had moved to another position in the Division and was no longer serving as the Program Compliance Unit Supervisor.
The SIAC (Special Investigations Advisory Committee) representative did not attend the meeting this month to make their presentation.
The Day Care Committee will not meet in July. The next meeting will be on August 11 th. It was requested that the discussion regarding counting contributions be scheduled for the August meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Terry Keene
