Management Bulletin 24-04

Early Education Division

Subject: Timely Payments for Family Childcare Providers

Number: 24-04

Date: June 2024

Expires: Until rescinded or superseded by regulations

Authority: Senate Bill (SB) 140 (Chapter 193, Statutes of 2023); California Education Code (EC) Section 8223.5; Agreement between the State of California and the Child Care Providers United (CCPU) Union

Attention: Executive Officers and Program Directors Operating a California State Preschool Program (CSPP) through a Family Childcare Home Education Network (FCCHEN)

Purpose

This Management Bulletin (MB) is to notify and provide guidance to California State Preschool Program (CSPP) contractors who provide CSPP services through a Family Childcare Home Education Network (FCCHEN) regarding state requirements on timely and accurate payments made to family childcare providers.

Policy

On or before March 1, 2024, contractors operating a CSPP through a FCCHEN are required to develop, implement, and publish for access by family childcare providers a plan for timely payments to family childcare providers. This written plan must be included in publications with information for providers and in individual provider agreements.

The plan must include certain provisions as stated in Education Code (EC) Section 8223.5 and referenced in the Implementation Directives section below.

Implementation Directives

Requirements for a Plan for Timely Payments to Family Childcare Providers

This plan is required to include the following provisions:

• A provision that family childcare providers must be paid within 21 calendar days of the provider’s submission of daily sign-in/sign-out sheets, as referenced in the California Code of Regulations, Title 5 (5 CCR) Section 17818.

• A schedule for the payment of services which is required to be signed by the family childcare provider.

• A provision that if a provider submits attendance records or invoices for multiple children and not all individual records or invoices within the submission are adequate, the contractor must not withhold payments for those individual records or invoices that include adequate information to provide a payment. This may mean that contractors are issuing multiple payments to the provider within the same month to keep to the respective 21-day timeline.

• Procedures that establish clear processes and timelines to resolve overpayment and underpayment issues, which are required to include the provider’s written consent in order to recover any overpayment.

• A provision that if a contractor is unable to issue payments to providers within 21 calendar days of submission due to extenuating circumstances, including, but not limited to, an emergency or payment system malfunction, the impacted provider(s) is/are required to be notified within a reasonable timeframe of the contractor becoming aware of the circumstance causing the delay of reimbursement payment.
  

Contractors are required to publish the timely payment plan/plans for family childcare providers that are affiliated with the CSPP FCCHEN to access and reference. The plans must be published in documents available to providers, such as individual provider agreements, as appropriate.

EC 8223.5 requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to support CSPP contractors with the development and implementation of the plan and to provide guidance for compliance with the requirement for timely payments. If you need assistance in the development of your plan, please reach out to your Program Quality Implementation (PQI) office regional consultant. The Early Education Division (EED) PQI Consultant Regional Assignments directory can be accessed at https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ci/assignments.asp.

If the CDE becomes aware that a CSPP contractor is not complying with the requirements of this section, the CDE may issue a finding of noncompliance, and the contractor may be subject to corrective action.

Background and Authority

Senate Bill (SB) 140 added EC Section 8223.5, which refers to the state requirements for payment timeliness and ratifies the agreement between the state and the Child Care Providers United (CCPU) Union.

The 5 CCR Section 17818 sets forth the requirements for Enrollment and Attendance Accounting around sign-in and sign-out sheets in CSPP.

Resources

To be informed of updated information from the EED, please sign up for the EED's email distribution list at https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ci/emailindex.asp.

If you have any programmatic questions regarding the information in this MB, please contact your assigned EED, PQI Office Regional Consultant. The EED PQI Consultant Regional Assignments directory can be accessed at https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ci/assignments.asp.

If you have any fiscal questions about the information in this MB, please contact your assigned Early Education and Nutrition Fiscal Services (EENFS) fiscal analyst. The fiscal analyst directory web page can be accessed at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/cd/faad.asp.