Wednesday’s CCDF State Plan Public Hearing and the Market Rate Survey

Just in time for giving public comment on the proposed CCDF State Plan to MDHS Policy Makers tomorrow, the agency has released a beautiful and intelligent Wages and Market Rate Survey Dr. Heather Hanna and her team worked so diligently to develop.

As Delta providers know, when the Pandemic ended, so did the Pandemic Child Care Rates we had become accustomed to depend on. While Urban areas maintained child care reimbursement rates a few dollars above the Pandemic rate, rural areas lost no less than 17% of our total incoming revenue.

The good news is that the Newly Released Market Rate Survey lists 75% of rural center based care at $150 per week which would reinstate the Pandemic reimbursement fee for us…and with costs of care being taken into consideration, may place us slightly above that amount!

However, due to limited resources, MDHS may strive to serve more eligible children or provide a higher stipend for those being served.

Delta Licensed Providers feels that during the public hearing, it will be important for Delta and rural providers to enter public comments encouraging the choice to pay higher subsidy for those we serve in support of quality over quantity.

During a period of depopulation in the Mississippi Delta (Perhaps due to NAFTA), Mississippi also initiated the Pre-K Collaborative as well as Title I Preschool which has largely drained the number of four-year-old children from our centers.

Further, for legal reasons supporting free enterprise, the Mississippi State Department of Health has continued to issue multiple child care licenses regardless of the actual need in our area.

In Greenwood alone, there are approximately 300 more licensed child care slots than there are for ALL (including middle and upper income) children five and under in all of Leflore County! The CCDF resources are spread so desperately thin, most CCPP providers struggle daily to remain open.

Two more centers opened in Greenwood last month and a fruit basket turn over began.

In other industries, such as in real estate for example or law offices, professional organizations support stricter guidelines and higher licensing fees in order to keep the number of competing businesses manageable and to safeguard the long-term real investments such professionals have made in their communities to provide expert services and earn a living.

This is common business, industry and organizational practice.

As a matter of fact, the State Department of Mental Health quickly put requirements and standards in place with regard to funding for Adult Day Care as that industry was becoming too concentrated and congested in many areas while the quality of care was lacking.

While we in the Mississippi Delta would love to see MDHS to initiate a needs assessment prior to CCPP funding, we understand that option is not available at this time – but the quality option is!

Many of us are participating in the first state pilot of C.L.A.S.S. – a quality initiative that provides training and expertise in Adult/Child relationships and quality instruction. Although it is work intensive at times, we are enjoying it and the relationships we have developed – the training has been kind, plentiful and abundant!

While the results are not yet in for our pilot, Delta Licensed Providers supports such a quality initiative and all the financial supports needed to successfully care for and educate those young children in our care. We are not opposed to such a requirement so long as it proves to be fairly administered and fully funded. (All Works-in-Progress require evaluation and input after the fact and MDHS is open to such input.)

For this reason, Delta Licensed Providers urges our providers to provide comments tomorrow that support fully funding this quality initiative should it be required. (C.L.A.S.S. is used by Head Start, the Pre-K Collaborative, Jackson Public Schools and more and so it is logical that such training may better prepare our children for school entry as such participation suggests so long as we safeguard from what many adversely experienced through Q.R.I.S. which you all know I strongly opposed!)

To sign up to speak at tomorrow’s public hearing with MDHS, June 19^th, 2024
10:00AM – 12:00PM, click here: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/c6bd0071d43546a6b1ca644ee05a7338

To see the New Market Rate Survey, click here: https://www.mdhs.ms.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Mississippi-Child-Care-Market-Rate-Survey-2024.pdf

We are proud of the opportunities that have been provided to us in the Mississippi Delta and other rural areas and look forward to the positive energy we may share tomorrow in moving forward!

My home! No longer last! No longer isolated!

Debbie

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