Early Care

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Early Care Education in Missouri

• Landscape Legislative Opportunities in 2009

Carrie Shapton Partnership for Children Policy
Outreach Coordinator
December 9, 2008 CMC 2008 Missouri Policy Briefing
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Why invest in early care education?Because
its good for Missouris economy!

• Child care is an essential support for Missouris
  working families

• 175,00 parents with children under the age of 6
  (68.2) depend on child care to go to work every
  day in Missouri.

Child care is a critical industry in Missouris
economy

• The regulated child care industry employs 34,000
  people in 5,000 small businesses.

Quality early care education programs
prepare Missouris children for tomorrows
workforce

• 90 of a childs brain develops before the age of
  5 and early childhood experiences have a critical
  impact on K-12 achievement.
• To stay competitive in a global economy, Missouri
  must start investing today in tomorrows
  workforce.

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Early Care Education Issues in MO

• Quality Rating System

• State Child Care Reimbursement Rates

AFFORDABILITY
QUALITY
ACCESS

• State Child Care Assistance Eligibility

Voluntary Pre-K For All
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AFFORDABILITY
State Child Care Assistance Eligibility
Quality child care is out of reach for many
low-income families

• A single mother with two young children in
  Missouri making just 23,000 a year would be
  ineligible to receive state assistance for child
  care that costs an average of 11,325 across the
  state nearly 50 of her total income.
• At 6,500 a year, the average cost for infant
  care in Missouri is nearly equal to tuition at
  Missouri state universities.
• At 127 of Federal Poverty Level, Missouris
  income eligibility for state child care
  assistance ranks 47th in the nation.

When quality child care is unaffordable

• Parents are forced to turn to lower quality, less
  reliable, or even unsafe child care situations.
• Children dont benefit from quality early
  learning experiences that have the greatest
  return on investment.
• Parents worry wondering if their child is safe.
• Employers lose productivity when parents have
  unreliable child care situations.

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AFFORDABILITY
State Child Care Assistance Eligibility
Missouri trails behind our neighboring states
141
117
181
180
127
146
163
199
203
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AFFORDABILITY
State Child Care Assistance Eligibility
Recent progress in Missouri

• In 2007, Missouri raised income eligibility rates
  from 108 FPL (the lowest in the nation) to 127
  FPL.
• Used to be 51st in the nation, moved up to 46th
  in 2007, and now dropped to 47th in 2008.
• In 2008, Missouri funded a new transitional
  assistance program so that a parent can accept a
  raise of up to 1 hr and maintain reduced
  benefits for child care up to 139 FPL -
  24,500/yr for family of 3.

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AFFORDABILITY
State Child Care Assistance Eligibility
Transitional Assistance Helps Reduce the Cliff
Effect

• When eligibility limits are so low for child care
  assistance, parents turn down raises or
  promotions because a small increase in income can
  end up costing more in child care costs if the
  parent becomes ineligible for state assistance.

of Monthly Income Spent on Child Care Based on
Eligibility for Child Care Assistance (Based on
single parent with 1 infant 1 preschooler in
Jackson County)
Cut Off at 127 FPL
Transitional Assistance from 127-139 FPL
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ACCESS
State Child Care Reimbursement Rate
Even families who qualify for state child care
assistance still cannot access quality,
affordable ECE programs.

• States are recommended to set reimbursement rates
  to child care providers at the regional market
  rate to ensure that low-income families have
  equal access.
• Missouri is last in the nation for adequately
  reimbursing pre-k and school age providers,
  paying only 50 of the true cost of care.
  Missouri ranks 44th nationally in access to
  infant care.

• Providers are less willing or cannot afford to
  care for subsidized children when reimbursement
  rates are so low.

The market rate is determined by a statewide
survey every two years and ensures families can
access 75 of providers in an area.
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ACCESS
State Child Care Reimbursement Rate
Case Study The monthly cost of care for 1 infant
and 1 preschooler in Jackson County
Who pays the difference?
State Reimbursement to Providers 946
Market Cost of Child Care 1,580

• Low-Income Parents
• Often cannot afford the high co-pay
• Are pushed to lower quality and unregulated care
• Do not have access to high quality programs that
  best prepare children for school success

• Child Care Providers
• Affects resources available to improve quality
• Cannot afford to raise teachers salaries
• Hard to recruit retain qualified staff
• Must limit or eliminate slots for subsidized
  children

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ACCESS
State Child Care Reimbursement Rate
Current reimbursement rate vs. market rate

• Because of low reimbursement rates, parents
  receiving child care assistance can still pay up
  to 89 of their total income to access child care
  at the market rate.

of Monthly Income Spent on Child Care Based on
Level of State Reimbursement (Based on single
parent with 1 infant 1 preschooler in Jackson
County)
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ACCESS
State Child Care Reimbursement Rate
Recent progress in Missouri

• In 2007, Missouri raised rates for licensed
  providers by 5
• In 2008, rates for all Missouri counties were
  raised to at least 50 of the market rate for
  licensed pre-k and school age providers, and 65
  of market rate for infant care.
• Some regions saw large increases after years of
  inequity (Buchanan County), while other areas
  only received a small raise (Jackson County).

Even with recent increases, Missouri has a long
way to go to catch up for flat funding state
child care reimbursement rates for over 15 years
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QUALITY
Quality Rating System
Missouri must invest in quality to see the
greatest return on investment

• 527 Missouri child care providers have achieved
  national accreditation
• But parents have no consistent measure or
  comparison of quality for the more than 3,000
  additional licensed child care providers in the
  state.

A Quality Rating System would

• expand access to high quality early learning
  opportunities for children
• provide a way for parents to evaluate and select
  high quality programs
• and ensure that Missouri tax dollars are being
  spent on the highest quality programs that are
  most effective at preparing our youngest
  Missourians for success in school

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QUALITY
Quality Rating System
Improving quality costs , but parents cant
afford to pay more

• The QRS Program Improvement Fund will help
  programs afford quality improvements without
  having to pass on all the costs to parents
• Program Improvement Grant funding could be used
  for
• Technical assistance
• Facility expansion, play structures, and
  educational materials
• Educational scholarships for teachers
• Teacher compensation initiatives
• Missouri currently allocates 12 million a year
  to quality improvement initiatives that could be
  targeted through a statewide Quality Rating
  System

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QUALITY
Quality Rating System
Legislative History

• Legislation has been sponsored by Senator Charlie
  Shields (R-St. Joseph) for past 3 years
• In 2008, SB 726 would have only required ratings
  for programs receiving state quality improvement
  funds
• Tasked the Coordinating Board for Early Childhood
  with developing a tiered system of reimbursement
  for providers serving children with state child
  care assistance
• QRS passed the Senate in 2007 2008, but stalled
  or was weighted down by other amendments in the
  House

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Pre-K
Access, Affordability, Quality
Missouri trails, but hope on the horizon

• 2007 State of Preschool ranked Missouri 32nd for
  access to state-funded pre-k for 4-yr-olds out of
  38 states with state programs
• Funding for the MO Preschool Project has been
  flat funded at about 13 million/year since its
  inception 10 years ago
• MO Panel on School Readiness Focus on Pre-K
  convened 4 times in the summer and fall of 2008
• Final report has been published with 9
  recommendations

• Now the Coordinating Board must determine next
  steps with the Governor and Legislature

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Pre-K
Access, Affordability, Quality
Pre-K Panel Recommendations

• Voluntary for Missouri 3 4-yr-olds
• All children are eligible, but would use a
  sliding fee system based on income
• Centers, family homes, and school-districts can
  participate (diverse delivery), but have to meet
  standards established by the State
• Enrollment should begin in the fall of 2012
• Establish a standardized child-assessment process
  and data tracking system
• Establish state and local systems of oversight

Purpose of Missouris Publicly Funded Pre-K
System To ensure that Missouris children have
access to high quality pre-kindergarten learning
experiences that prepare them to succeed in
school and life.
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Legislative Opportunities
Whats in store for 2009?

• 2008 State Legislative Elections
• 43 new state House members and 6 new Senators
• Republicans took 3 Senate seats (23 Rep/11 Dem)
• Democrats took 3 house seats (89 Rep/74 Dem)
• New Governor
• Nixon has expressed support for pre-k, but could
  be lost amongst many social service priorities
  tough budget year

• Coordinating Board for Early Childhood
• 2009 policy priorities include child care
  affordability and QRS
• Draft next steps for Pre-K Panel recommendations
• Projected budget deficit of 340 million in the
  current fiscal year
• MO Budget Project estimates 900 million
  shortfall in FY 2010

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Legislative Opportunities
ECE Legislative Priorities in 2009

• Maintain and increase income eligibility for
  state child care assistance.
• Maintain and increase reimbursement rates for
  licensed child care providers serving families on
  state child care assistance.
• Support legislation establishing a statewide
  Quality Rating System that will help providers
  improve the quality of their care.

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Legislative Opportunities
What can you do? Children need advocates to speak
up!

• Come to Child Advocacy Day!
• January 27, 2009
• www.childadvocacyday.org
• Write, call, or meet with your State
  Representative about Missouris Quality Rating
  System
• Invite your state legislators to visit an early
  childhood program in your community

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Contact Partnership for Children

• Partnership for Children
• 4510 Belleview, Suite 200
• Kansas City, MO 64111
• www.pfc.org
• Carrie Shapton
• Policy Outreach Coordinator
• Phone [phone] ext. 227
• Email shapton_at_pfc.org