Budget Budget FY2010 Update Fiscal Sub-Committee January 15, 2010

Table of Contents I. FY10 Budget: Year to Date spending II. FY10 Caseload III. Income Eligible Surplus: Actions IV. Recommendations for the IE Surplus Open Access Siblings: Children on the waitlist with siblings in care; 2,400 Children from the Waitlist; Schedule of Care V. License Plate Fund QRIS fiscal incentive funding 2

*FY2010: Year to Date Spending 3 Spending is as of January 13, The caseload accounts, however, reflect only 5 months spending.

4 Fiscal Year 2010 Caseload – Supportive Care ( )

Fiscal Year 2010 Supportive Caseload Projected Cost 5 Current deficiency stand over $1.1M. Light blue represents actuals (December billing has not come in yet). (Amount in Thousands) FY10 (Post 9C) Approp: $77.8M

6 Fiscal Year 2010 Caseload – DTA Related ( )

FY2010 DTA Caseload Projected Cost (Amount in Thousands) FY10 Approp: $116.2M Current projected deficiency is $20.1M. Light blue represents actual amounts processed. The remaining months amounts are projections.

8 Fiscal Year 2010 Caseload - Income Eligible ( ) Also DTA and Supportive account are projecting deficiencies that this surplus may have to reconcile.

Income Eligible Caseload Projected Cost 9 (Amount in Thousands) Projected surplus, after November billing, is $46.7M. Light blue represents actual amounts processed.

Fiscal Year 2010 Caseload – Balance Sheet 10

Income Eligible Surplus – Action: Open Access for Certain Contract Slots Allow New Contract Slot Utilization Background: Contract awards were made to existing providers for the number of slots which they previously held except for: center based slots that were awarded to new providers or existing providers that were awarded additional slots; family child care system slots that were awarded to Systems that had previously been contracted for those slots. Issue: Families in contracted vendors without a new contract needed to move to a contracted vendor by June 30, Due to budget concerns in the beginning of FY10, EEC did not allow new providers from filling their slots, thus 120 slots are unfilled (10 slots in within the slots awarded to new providers and 110 slots of the 279 slots awarded to existing recipients of IE slots). Solution: Allow these slots to be filled from waitlist. FY10 cost (assuming effective March 1) would be $373K and $1.1M in FY11. 12

Income Eligible Surplus – Action: Amend FY10 Budget Language Support the deficiencies in the DTA-Related and Supportive accounts, which project to be roughly $22M at the end of FY10. Barrier: Current line item language prevents any transfer from the Income Eligible account that exceeds 3% of the appropriation to the DTA-Related account ($7.83M). Additionally, any transfer must come with a 30 day notice. This could cause bills to go unpaid for a month. Solution: Requested ANF to amend, through a supplemental budget, the line item language to allow necessary transfer. Timeline: Based on current projections, the DTA account will be deficient after April bills are submitted (May 20 th ). Generally, ANF files a supplemental budget that accompanies the House 1 budget. Proposed amendment: Eliminate the 3% transfer cap and allow only a 15 day notice for said transfer. 13

Income Eligible Surplus – Recommendation I: Open Access Open Access Waitlist kids that have Siblings Already in Care Income Eligible available money could still grow beyond the amount necessary to cover the deficiencies in the DTA and Supportive accounts. If the Department acts in January, certain groups can have access to care beginning in February (with contracted vendors and in March with voucher families) and, with attrition continuing into FY11, sustain that care throughout FY11. Below are a few groups access could be extended in FY10: 14

Income Eligible Surplus – Recommendation II: Open Access for 2,400 more kids The remaining surplus and anticipated FY2011 appropriation; EEC to open access for 2,400 children from the waitlist (estimates assume children start care March 1 st ) Infant/Toddlers: 798 infant/toddlers from the waitlist $3.9M in FY10 and $10.5M in FY2011; Preschool: 798 preschool children from the waitlist $2.4M in FY10 7.4M in FY2011 School Age Children: 798 school age children from the waitlist $1.5M in FY10 $4.4M in FY2011. Overall, EEC would open access to 2,394 children, which would cost $ 7.9M in FY10 and $22.3M in FY11. 15

Income Eligible Surplus – Recommendation II: Open Access for 2,400 Children 16

Income Eligible Surplus – Recommendation III – Schedule of Care Purpose: Align the Voucher Schedule of Care with the Contract Schedule of Care. Currently, there are 5,106 voucher kids that have a full time authorization but a placement of less than 5 days (but greater than part time). Schedule of Care – Current Contracts: Subsidized families having a documented service need of 30 or more hours of care per week currently receive for full-time child; families with a documented service need of between 20 and 29 hours of care per week receive part time child care irrespective of whether or not the time of the service activity coincides with the time of the child care. Vouchers subsidized families, regardless of their full time or part time service need are eligible for care and the number of hours only during the time that the parent(s) is/are involved in their service activity. Schedule of Care: Proposed Align voucher placement rules with contracts Cost to Implement: Align Full-Time at the time of reassessment, 5 day placements to the 5,106 voucher kids authorized for full time, but placed for less than 5 days ( for 3 or 4 days) be $2.8M in FY10 (assuming change is ready by March 1 st ) and $8.6M in FY11. 17

Income Eligible Surplus 18 *FY11 appropriation based on the FY11 budget presented to the Board in November ** FY11 projected need is using FY10 projected spending as a base and factoring the $29M attrition.

Income Eligible Surplus The Income Eligible Surplus could change in the upcoming months based on several factors: 1. Underutilization: Underutilization is the unused dollars left in a maximum obligation contract after a vendor and/or provider has been paid in full. We assumed $8.1M, but this number is unpredictable, therefore could higher or lower. 2. DTA and Supportive Deficiencies: These deficiencies also could go higher or lower than currently projected. If there is a variance in projected vs. actual caseload in the next few months it could significantly alter either deficiency, thus impacting the IE surplus. 3. Attrition: If attrition rate increases/decreases from current levels this also could significantly alter the projected Income Eligible surplus. 19

Benefits of EECs Recommendations 20 Opening access to only those we can sustain into a very difficult FY2011 will result in care for over 4,000 kids currently on the waitlist: Below is a breakdown of by age group of those children: The 4,000 kids we open access to from the waitlist would reduce the waitlist by 18.7% (Based on November waitlist numbers) Infant/Toddlers: reduced waitlist by 18.6% (8,169 to 6,619); Preschool: reduced waitlist by 16.1% (6,009 children to 5,044); and School Age: reduced waitlist by 20.6% (7,486 children to 5,947).

License Plate Fund– Possible Funding Stream for QRIS Quality Improvements: Current Purpose: Currently, this fund is being used to support quality improvements within programs to help them either get accredited, or for teacher training, etc. Programs submit proposals to EEC to receive license plate money. Authorization: Amounts credited to said fund shall be available for expenditure by the commissioner of early education and care for providing grants to not for profit child care organizations for the purpose of improving child care services… Revenue: Currently, $458K is in the trust fund. EEC has historically collected approximately $300K a year in license plate fees. Recommendation: Allocate the trust fund for QRIS Quality Improvements. 21