Good morning all,
The coalition received the following Q&A document form OEL late yesterday. Please read the questions and answers below. I will be scheduling a webinar for Tuesday, March 31, 2020 to discuss this other other information. A separate BLAST will be sent later today with the webinar registration information.
Florida Department of Education/Office of Early Learning Q & A Guidance – March 26, 2020
The purpose of the Q&A document is to provide additional guidance and clarification regarding actions to minimize the financial impact to School Readiness and Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Education providers and the children they serve. All provisions will be reviewed every 15 days.
School Readiness (SR) and VPK Program Payments
1. Q: Will additional absences, due to parents keeping their children at home, be paid while providers are
open?
A: Yes. Providers will be paid for these unanticipated absences beginning March 1 without additional
documentation.
2. Q: Will providers be reimbursed for absences (active enrollments) during temporary closures?
A: Yes. Providers will be reimbursed for current/active enrollments during temporary closures without
additional documentation.
School Readiness Screenings and Assessments and VPK Assessments
3. Q: Are child assessments and developmental screenings of SR children still required?
A: No. These screenings have been cancelled for the remainder of the 2019-20 program year.
4. Q: Are the VPK assessments required to be administered?
A: No. These screenings have been cancelled for the remainder of the 2019-20 program year.
School Readiness Program Assessments
5. Q: Are the 2019-20 program assessments (CLASS) for SR providers still required to be completed by
June 30, 2020 for contracting for the 2020-21 contract year?
A: No. The deadline for completing program assessments will be extended.
School Readiness and VPK Program Improvement Plans
6. Q: Are the Quality Improvement plans (QIPs) required for SR providers still required to be completed in
12 months?
A: No. The timelines for these will be extended.
7. Q: Are the applications for Good Cause Exemption available to VPK providers on probation for three
years (POP3) still required to be completed by March 23, 2020?
A: No. The timeline for these is extended to April 15th.
School Readiness Eligibility
8. Q: Should coalitions’ review of SR families’ eligibility and their redetermination of eligibility continue?
A: No. ALL terminations of SR families’ eligibility have been suspended effective March 15th.
Redeterminations of eligibility is extended an additional 60 days. No families should be removed
from the program.
School Readiness Parent Copayments
9. Q: Are providers still required to collect parent copayments for SR families?
A: No. Providers are not to collect SR parent copayments and will be reimbursed for these copayments
beginning April 1.
I am sure after reading this Q&A you have many more questions. You will have the opportunity to ask those questions on the webinar that is scheduled for March 31, 2020 at 12:30 pm. Be on the lookout for the webinar registration BLAST later today.
Thank you for your continued patience during this difficult time. If you need to reach me email me
[email protected] or call 850-693-0808.
In your service,
Suzan Gage
Executive Director
