Chairman Catania and members of the Committee on Education, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Soumya Bhat, and I am the Education Finance and Policy Analyst at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. DCFPI engages in research and public education on the fiscal and economic health of the District of Columbia, with a particular emphasis on policies that affect low- and moderate-income residents.
I would like to focus my testimony on the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), and specifically, in these three areas for the Council:
- Approve the proposed budget’s increased funding and eligibility for early intervention services.
- Fund #1 on the mayor’s wish list by investing in child care reimbursement rates.
- Restore the position of education ombudsman at OSSE.
Approve the proposed budget’s increased funding and eligibility for early intervention services.
DCFPI would like to express strong support for the investments for special education early intervention already within the mayor’s budget and ask that the Council approve these changes in the final budget. We know that identifying and addressing developmental delays early can improve a child’s chances of succeeding in school. The proposed fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget includes $4 million in the current year and $6 million in fiscal year 2014 to expand early intervention services for infants and toddlers with delays. The funding will allow the DC Early Intervention Program to broaden coverage to serve children with a 25 percent developmental delay in two or more areas, rather than the current standard of only serving children with delays of 50 percent or more. Funding for next year also will extend coverage until age four, allowing families to have the option of letting their child stay in the program longer if they feel it is necessary. OSSE officials estimate they can serve twice the number of children next year with this expansion.
Fund #1 on the mayor’s wish list by investing in child care reimbursement rates.
The first item on the mayor’s revenue contingency list, or “wish list,” is an $11 million investment in child care. This means if future revenue projections for FY 2014 are higher than the revenue projection used to build the budget, $8.2 million will be devoted to raising child care provider rates by 10 percent for about 3,000 existing infant and toddler slots. An additional $2.8 million would create 200 more infant and toddler child care slots. DCFPI urges the Council to move resources into the FY 2014 budget to fund the increased rates to communicate that child care is a priority and a critical work support for low-income families in our city. Even though it is number one on the contingency list, items placed on the list in the past two years largely went unfunded.
A rate increase is long overdue for the District, where child care reimbursement rates have not been changed since 2006 and are based on outdated market rates from 2004. As a result, many child care providers who primarily serve low-income families participating in the subsidy program must absorb the difference in cost. The child care providers in the highest level, or gold level, of the District’s tiered reimbursement rate system (also referred to as the quality rating and information system, QRIS, or “Going for the Gold”) receive the highest reimbursement rate. The proposed 10 percent rate increase would be based on this gold level rate, which will put the new flat daily rate at $59.85 for infants and $55.96 for toddlers.[1] As a source of comparison, current infant/toddler rates are $57.71 in Virginia (Fairfax) and $68.05 in New York.
Last week, OSSE released its most recent child care market rate survey from 2012. This report, released every two years, surveys family home providers and child care centers in the District to help policy makers better understand the child care landscape. The new survey shows a considerable difference between market rates and the rates currently offered to OSSE contract providers. For example, daily full-time rates — calculated at the 75th percentile of all market rates, a standard set in federal law — stood at $84.48 for infants and $78.98 for toddlers at child care centers, much higher than the $50-54 rates currently offered to gold level providers.[2] The survey also reports that a reason that some providers declined participation in the survey was the belief that “results on rates would not be used to establish new reimbursement rates.”[3]
Restore the position of education ombudsman at OSSE.
The education ombudsman office, when open between December 2007 and October 2009, helped District residents have a designated staff person who they could contact to voice their concerns and request information for DC Public Schools, DC public charter schools, and the University of the District of Columbia. In addition to being a strong component of a transparent government, an education ombudsman is also a legal requirement.[4] DCFPI supports reinstating the education ombudsman and placing the position under the auspices of OSSE.
Thank you again for the opportunity to offer input. I am happy to answer any questions.
[1] FY 2014 Budget Oversight Stakeholder Briefing Presentation, OSSE, April 19, 2013.
[2] 2012 District of Columbia Child Care Market Rates and Capacity Utilization, Final Report Prepared by Center for Applied Research and Urban Policy, Revised March 2013, p.48.
[3] Ibid, p.13.
[4] D.C. Code § 38-351.