March 1, 2024 Interim Guidance

Early Education Division Email

Date Sent: March 1, 2024

Expires: Until Superseded by a Management Bulletin (MB) or Statute; Payment Timeliness Guidance Superseded by MB 24-04: Timely Payments for Family Childcare Providers

Attention: All Executive Directors, Program Directors of California State Preschool Programs, and Other Interested Parties

On September 12, 2023, the California Department of Education (CDE) sent out an email on program changes and interim guidance in light of the 2023–24 budget. This is a follow up reminder about two changes taking place March 1, 2024: (1) a change in the definition of part-time and full-time preschool services and (2) new requirements regarding payment timeliness.

Additionally, this email also provides guidance on the removal of the travel ban on travel to specified states as the CDE has received questions regarding this issue.

The CDE, Early Education Division (EED) is working on management bulletins and changes to the Contract Terms and Conditions for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024–25, as specified below, to provide more detail about the changes to these policies.

Changes to the Part-Time/Full-Time Definition

Between January 1, 2022 and February 29, 2024, inclusive, a child enrolled in the California State Preschool Program (CSPP) was considered full-time when their certified schedule totaled 30 hours or more per week, while part-time was defined as having a certified schedule of less than 30 hours total per week.

Effective March 1, 2024, Senate Bill (SB) 140 (Chapter 193, Statutes of 2023) amended Education Code (EC) 8205, changing the definition of part-time and full-time designations. Specifically, EC Section 8205 (af)(1) defines “part-time” as preschool services certified for a child for fewer than 25 hours per week and EC Section 8205 (af)(2) defines “full-time” as preschool services certified for a child for 25 or more hours per week.

Reporting Requirements

There is no change to the Enrollment, Attendance, and Fiscal Reports in the California Preschool Accounting Reporting Information System (CPARIS) as a result of this change to the part-time and full-time definitions. However, beginning March 1, 2024, contractors will report all children with a certified schedule of less than 25 hours total per week as part-time and all children with a certified schedule of 25 hours or more per week as full-time.

Example of How to Report a Child’s Days of Enrollment Whose Certified Schedule is Between 25 and 30 Hours Per Week

A child is certified to receive services Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday for 5 hours per day, and on Thursday for 8 hours, totaling 28 hours per week. Between July 1, 2023, and February 29, 2024, the child’s days of enrollment would have been reported on the part-time rate category, as the total number of hours was below the full-time threshold of 30 hours per week. Beginning March 1, 2024, the contractor would report this child’s days of enrollment on the full-time rate category, as the total number of hours exceeds the new full-time threshold of 25 hours per week.

Payment Timeliness

Pursuant to SB 140 (Chapter 193, Statutes of 2023), which ratifies the agreement between the state and the Child Care Providers United (CCPU) Union, on or before March 1, 2024, contractors operating a CSPP through a Family Childcare Home Education Network (FCCHEN) are required to develop, implement, and publish for access by family childcare providers a plan for timely payments to family childcare providers. This written plan must be included in written information for providers and in individual provider agreements. As specified in EC Section 8223.5 this plan is required to include the following provisions:

A provision that family childcare providers must be paid within 21 calendar days of the provider’s submission of daily sign-in/sign-out sheets, as referenced in the California Code of Regulations, Title 5 (5 CCR) Section 17818.

• A schedule for the payment of services which is required to be signed by the family childcare provider.
  
• A provision that if a provider submits attendance records or invoices for multiple children and not all individual records or invoices within the submission are adequate, the contractor must not withhold payments for those individual records or invoices that include adequate information to provide a payment.
  
• Procedures that establish clear processes and timelines to resolve overpayment and underpayment issues, which are required to include the provider’s written consent in order to recover any overpayment.
  
• A provision that if a contractor is unable to issue payments to providers within 21 calendar days of submission due to extenuating circumstances, including, but not limited to, an emergency or payment system malfunction, the impacted provider(s) is/are required to be notified within a reasonable timeframe of the contractor becoming aware of the circumstance causing the delay of reimbursement payment.
  

Contractors are required to publish the timely payment plan/plans for family childcare providers that are affiliated with the CSPP FCCHEN to access and reference. The plans must be published in documents available to providers, such as individual provider agreements, as appropriate.

EC 8223.5 requires the CDE to support CSPP contractors with the development and implementation of the plan and to provide guidance for compliance with the requirement for timely payments. If you need assistance in the development of your plan, please reach out to your Program Quality Implementation (PQI) office regional consultant. The EED PQI Consultant Regional Assignments directory can be accessed at https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ci/assignments.asp.

If the CDE becomes aware that a CSPP contractor is not complying with the requirements of this section, the CDE may issue a finding of noncompliance, and the contractor may be subject to corrective action.

Removal of the Travel Ban Pursuant to Senate Bill 447

Pursuant to SB 447 (Chapter 199, Statutes of 2023), travel restrictions to states enacted by Assembly Bill 1887 (Chapter 687, Statutes of 2016) have been lifted, effective September 13, 2023. Accordingly, contractors may submit requests to the CDE for approval of travel to all 50 states; all other terms and conditions in the 2023–24 Contract Terms and Conditions related to travel still apply.

As this change took effect after the CDE, EED issued the 2023–24 Contract Terms and Conditions, please disregard the language regarding the travel ban in sub-section E, section V. Costs, Earnings and Reimbursement of the 2023–24 Contract Terms and Conditions. This language is no longer applicable, pursuant to SB 447. The CDE will be modifying Contract Terms and Conditions for FY 2024–25 accordingly.

In the interim, if you have any programmatic questions regarding this policy, please contact your assigned EED PQI Office Regional Consultant at https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ci/assignments.asp.

If you have any fiscal questions about this policy, please contact your assigned Early Education and Nutrition Fiscal Services analyst. The fiscal analyst directory can be accessed at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/cd/faad.asp.