POLICY & SUBSIDY REFORM PROGRAM

C

hild care subsidies are an important investment in all our futures. Yet Mississippi serves only a fraction of income-eligible families through its Child Care Certificate Program (CCDF). As now structured, CCDF also suffers from burdensome regulations—creating obstacles for those most needing help.

Furthermore, there are $18+ million in unspent federal TANF funds that could be allocated to child care to help the neediest have the opportunity to achieve. MLICCI is committed to educating policymakers and the public about the benefits of quality child care for all our children through research, outreach, and policy recommendations.

Step-Up Demonstraton Project

QRS and the Low-Income Child Care Sector

Challenges facing the low-income child care sector are compounded by the requirements of the state's new quality rating system (QRS), which aims to improve child care by offering a graduated scale for reimbursements, based on quality enhancements. However, the reimbursements rates are too small even to finance basic QRS entry requirements. We know from our examination of the pilot program that centers serving low-income working parents have two options: choose not to participate or raise fees (effectively excluding or pricing poor children out of the QRS). Either outcome will further exacerbate inequities that plague our state.

Identify Barriers to Participation and Demonstrate Solutions

With a major grant from the Kellogg Foundation, MLICCI is launching Step Up—a three-year operating project designed to:

  • Demonstrate what it costs for centers serving low-income families to successfully participate in the QRS;
  • Create detailed recommendations for providing resources so that poor children are not left behind; and
  • Examine whether/how other states have made quality improvements in their early care and education systems without making these critical services unaffordable for low-income working families—research that has not been done.

The project will enroll 20 representative low-income centers from across the state. Each will receive technical assistance and financial support in the form of items needed to implement quality improvement plans to meet QRS entry requirements. Their progress will be closely monitored and evaluated as the basis for an extensive study of the sector's needs.

Assessing the Impact of Mississippi’'s
Quality Rating System (QRS)

The Step-Up Project grew out of a 2008 report commissioned by MLICCI to assess the impact of the new QRS system on low-income child care centers: MS Child Care Quality Impact Study, and is monitoring the program and inequities. We are supporting low-income child care centers' quality improvement efforts through training, technical assistance, and parental engagement (see Training & Events).    TOP  »

Legal Remedies Project

1. Free assistance for parents & providers

Parents and providers frequently report instances of DHS subcontractors obstructing, terminating, or disallowing payment for child care services. MLICCI is assessing legal protections for families and child care centers participating in CCDF. In addition, MLICCI is pressing for a fairer administrative grievance procedure by DHS.    TOP  »

Through a partnership with the Mississippi Center for Justice (MCJ), MLICCI is working to identify violations and provide pro-bono legal assistance to parents and providers, and to promote reforms that would improve services to families.

Read about MLICCI’s recent victories establishing a fair appeals process for CCDF and repealing unfair restrictions on new centers occupying the disbarred providers' buildings or hiring ex-employees.    TOP  »

The Legal Remedies Project:

  • identifies situations where legal assistance can result in increased protection of child care centers and parents from wrongful actions;
  • provides (or helps to make accessible) such legal assistance;
  • pursues "impact litigation"
  • recruits and advises other attorneys (a handbook is available)

For more information, contact the supervising attorney, Beth Orlansky of the Mississippi Center for Justice at 1-877-352-2269.    TOP  »

2. Educating policymakers

State policymakers need accurate information to evaluate the child care certificate program and how to improve it. MLICCI is providing research and policy analysis to help them weigh the issues and the options for addressing them. See set of recommendations>> MLICCI sent to the OCY director for the required biannual state plan and hearings on child care programs.

The System Improvement Project will:

  • provide objective research about problems identified by the child care certificate reform project
  • educate policymakers about CCDF program and strategic reforms

3. Building consensus for reform:
    engaging the public and child care community

Many problems with the child care certificate program could be addressed through administrative changes, yet DHS opposes reforms. In addition to information included in the Stennis report, MLICCI is gathering information from providers statewide to assess implementation of OCY’s policy manual from district to district, develop options for reform, and build consensus on priorities for change among parents and providers.     TOP  »

MLICCI will also work to reinforce the emerging consensus about reform through a state-wide communications campaign, which will:

  • survey and meet with parents and providers around the state to identify and build consensus around strategic reform priorities;
  • promote these reforms with policy makers; and
  • develop a media strategy to promote the need for child care certificate reforms

Aligning Early Childhood Systems:
Best Practice Policy Briefs

MLICCI is examining how Mississippi can coordinate federal child care programs so that they align to more effectively serve the working poor. Policy briefs outlining best practices are widely disseminated.    TOP  »

Minimizing interruptions in child care services

Poorly designed child care policies and regulations create unnecessary burdens for parents and child care providers. In Mississippi, families often suffer interruptions in child care and providers have to deal with payment shortfalls and administrative headaches. MLICCI commissioned the Urban Institute to draft a policy brief on how our state can best design child care subsidy policies to minimize these problems: Designing Subsidy Systems to Meet the Need of Families, and is promoting its recommendations.    TOP  »

Promoting Head Start/child care partnerships

Head Start programs and local child care providers can share resources and work together to provide the best quality early care for children. MLICCI commissioned the Center on Law and Social Policy to create policy recommendations on how child care /Head Start partnerships can be promoted and supported at the state level: Head Start and Child Care Partnerships Policy Brief, and is promoting its findings. MLICCI also presented recommendations to the state's Early Childhood Advisory Council (Powerpoint presentation>>) to promote alignment.     TOP  »

Also of interest: see our comparison of Head Start and CCDF.

Providers Surveyed About CCDF:
Program Found Lacking

MLICCI and the MS Center for Justice surveyed child care providers during the spring of 2010. The results show some improvements in comparison to previou survey results. The most important improvement was the result of federal ARRA funds, which allowed OCY to increase the number of certificates by 6,000 and reduce the waiting list. Some results indicate areas where progress can still be made. Specifically, these are: Improve DA performance; Require consistent application of the OCY Policy Manual; Utilize priorities only when processing applications at the beginning of the year; Extend the re-determination period to one year; Make full-time students a higher priority without a work requirement and allow students to have a certificate for a full school year; Eliminate the child support requirement; and Create grant opportunities to support child care centers participating in the certificate program. For a summary of survey results>>

See MLICCI’s earlier survey work on child care reforms:

"Investing in Futures:
The Business of Child Care in Mississippi"

Child care in Mississippi is a big business. It creates jobs, enables citizens to work, generates tax dollars, and contributes to local economies. According to the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, the child care industry in Mississippi in 2001 directly generated or indirectly facilitated:

  • 37,900 to 55,700 jobs
  • $571 to $830 million in personal income
  • $33.7 to $49 million in state general fund revenue.

MLICCI published "Investing in Futures" to underscore the importance of child care as an important business and driver of economic development in all sectors in Mississippi. This four-page report quantifies child care’s critical role in the state’s economy. View the report or read the press release.    TOP  »