EEC Board Committee

Fiscal and Budget

December18, 2009

1:30 pm – 3:30 pm

Massachusetts Business Roundtable

141 Tremont Street

Boston, MA 02111

MINUTES

Members of the Committee Present:

J.D. Chesloff

Commissioner Sherri Killins (Ex-Officio)

EEC Staff Present: Sean Reynolds, Veronica Wornum and Corey Zimmerman

The meeting was called into order at 1:30 PM.

FY2010 Caseload:

Sean Reynolds reviewed caseload with actual amounts billed in from November. Both the deficiencies in the DTA and Supportive accounts total $26.7M ($22.3M in the DTA and $4.4M in the Supportive account). The Income Eligible Account, on the other hand is still projecting a sizable surplus of $27.3M. Commissioner Killins warned that this surplus, caused by attrition and the oft-mentioned 3D structural issue may grow an additional $10M to $15M.

If a sizable surplus continues in the Income Eligible account Commissioner Killins said she would consider opening access. Specifically, the Commissioner mentioned opening access for kids on the waitlist that have siblings currently in care. According to recent projections there are roughly 1,500 such kids on the waitlist. The FY10 cost of these children, assuming care begins in February, would be $5.8M and annualized out to $13.9M in FY11. Commissioner Killins is comfortable that we would be able to sustain the annualization in FY2011. To combat continued attrition, which is driving the Income Eligible surplus up, Commissioner Killins also suggested EEC adopt a rolling enrollment – opening access to a targeted group twice a year. JD. Chesloff voiced concern that the growing surplus presents a problem because CCR&R’s appropriation was reduced during the 9C process. Sean Reynolds responded that the ANF imposed reduction was made in October. At that point ANF and EEC had only 2 months worth of data (July and August billing) to base their decisions. Not to mention that the IE reduction and the CCR&R were not connected to each other.

Commissioner Killins also mentioned the possibility of addressing the schedule of care policy issue as it pertains to the voucher providers. Aligning voucher schedule of care with the contract schedule of care would cost $2.8M this year (assuming policy takes effect on March 1st) and $5.8M in FY11.

Unified IT System:

Commissioner Killins updated the sub-committee on the status of the Unified System. She outlined the option that the IT Governance Committee recommended that the Department pursue with Deloitte: adopting the PELICAN system employed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and select work orders. This option enables the Department to have a new financial tracking system. According to Commissioner Killins, this will greatly improve the Department’s ability to track, to the child and to that child’s cost to the minute, caseload with unprecedented precision.

JD Chesloff asked whether the ability to collect child assessment and outcome data, as stated as a benefit of the system, would tie into the QRIS system. This question segued into the QRIS-Fiscal Incentive presentation lead by Corey Zimmerman (Director of Strategic Planning and Analysis).

QRIS –

Corey Zimmerman reviewed the main components of a QRIS, the process that had been underway to develop the Standards and then reviewed the changes to the most recent version of the Standards. One of the changes to the most recent version of the Standards – is that they are now a “Building Blocks” system. JD Chesloff pointed out it was good that programs must reach a certain standard before progressing to “level 2”.

In answering JD’s question as to how the QRIS ties into the developing Unified System, Corey said that the Unified System will be helpful in research of children outcomes and improving program quality. JD said the IT system, therefore, is a good way of testing the effectiveness of QRIS standards.

In terms of accreditation, Corey said the proposed QRIS shifts the prominence of national accreditation in the standards. JD asked whether programs would still get accredited if the significance of national accreditation (NAEYC) in QRIS standards is removed. Corey responded that accreditation still helps programs move from a level 4 to a level 4+.

JD asked about license exempt programs, specifically public school programs. Corey said the QRIS standards willrely on precedent in Income Eligible re-procurement, that license-exempt programs have to demonstrate they are “licensable” In the QRIS, license-exempt programs will have to demonstrate that they can meet licensing standards by Level 1.

In terms of implementing QRIS standards, JD Chesloff expressed concern that the department may not have the staffing levels necessary to get QRIS operational. Commissioner Killins understood the concern and stated that the timeline for QRIS is 4 to 6 months and not more imminent in consideration of staffing workload capacity.

JD Chesloff asked if there was a way of partnering with the Readiness Centers. Commissioner Killins said there may be, but we would have to still financially support the initiative.

QRIS Pilot Fiscal Incentives

JD Chesloff felt there should be money amount for each level. The Commissioner responded that until we learn the levels of each program then we can not do fiscal incentives in FY2011. We may have to wait until FY12.

Corey Zimmerman outlined some options for fiscal incentives. JD preferred the option that would put contingencies on existing UPK and Head Start grants. EEC would invite UPK and Head Start programs to be part of the pilot. EEC would hold a portion of annual grant and make allotment of the second half of the grant predicated on a grantee earning a rating. For FY2012, Commissioner Killins said EEC should explore Option1B: Take a portion of grant and say a grantee must earn above a certain rating to continue receiving entire grant.

Cost Model of the formula: The model would be the following (the number within the model are not meant to be actual, rather an example of how the model could work)

JD asked whether this $5.4M in the Cost formula example would be on top of what grantees already receive. The Commissioner answered in the affirmative.

ARRA Infant and Toddler Quality Proposal:

Commissioner Killins presented a proposal to fund a two part model which begins with training and then offers small grants to trained programs to implement an environment improvement project. The entire proposal would be funded through $500K of ARRA funds. Within the presentation, the Commissioner detailed what these grants could purchase: lighting, furnishings, rugs, materials from the QRIS checklist, paint, chairs (for toddlers) curriculum area materials, book shelves and fall zones among the many examples. JD was excited about this proposal and asked why just use $500K of the $1M the department set-aside in December for in infant/toddler quality improvement funds. The Commissioner responded that the Department would like to use the remaining money for professional development programs.

JD wanted to make sure that this would go to the neediest programs in the state and the Commissioner said there will be enough safeguards to ensure that money is directed to those programs. Overall, JD felt this was a great expenditure of ARRA funds and gave his approval.

The meeting concluded at 3:30 pm.