Management Bulletin 25-04

Early Education Division

Subject: Flexibilities for California State Preschool Programs in Los Angeles (LA) and Ventura Counties Related to Wildfires

Number: 25-04

Date: May 2025

Expires: June 30, 2025

Authority: Executive Order N-17-25

Attention: Executive Directors and Program Directors of all California State Preschool Programs

Purpose

This Management Bulletin (MB) notifies and provides guidance to California State Preschool Program (CSPP) contractors of flexibilities that were granted through Executive Order (EO) N-17-25 regarding the wildfires in Los Angeles (LA) and Ventura Counties.

Policy

The Executive Order is extending this requirement:

Any applicable deadline to complete a Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP), as specified in the California Code of Regulations, Title 5 (5 CCR), Section 17702, is extended until June 30, 2025, for CSPP contractors impacted by the emergency in LA and Ventura Counties.

The Executive Order is suspending these requirements:

• The requirement limiting administrative costs for CSPP to 15 percent has been suspended for costs incurred prior to June 30, 2025, for CSPP contractors directly impacted by the fires.
  
  
• The requirement for families in LA and Ventura counties experiencing homelessness to provide applicable documentation within 30 days, as specified in 5 CCR Section 17771(e), is suspended for an additional 60 days.
  
  
• The requirement to complete the annual Program Self-Evaluation (PSE) for impacted CSPP contractors in LA and Ventura counties is suspended for the 2024–25 program year.
  
  
• The requirement to complete the Parent Survey for CSPP contractors impacted by the fires in LA and Ventura counties is suspended for the 2024–25 program year.

Directives for Implementation

Suspension of Limited Administrative Costs

Pursuant to 5 CCR Section 17700(e), administrative costs are defined as costs incurred for administrative activities where neither the family, the child, nor the service providers operating family childcare homes directly benefit from the activity. Education Code (EC) Section 8258 and 5 CCR Section 17805(b) limits administrative costs for state-funded preschool programs to fifteen percent of net reimbursable costs. The requirement imposed by EC Section 8258 limiting administrative costs for state-funded preschool programs to 15 percent of net reimbursable costs is suspended for contracting agencies directly impacted by the emergency in LA and Ventura counties. This means that the California Department of Education (CDE) may reimburse approvable administrative costs that exceed the 15 percent limitations for CSPP contractors directly impacted by the wildfires in LA and Ventura Counties. All administrative costs beyond the 15 percent limit must be incurred prior to June 30, 2025, to be considered reimbursable. Contractors must follow the process for emergency closures in MB 21-10 to ensure the contract maximum reimbursable amount (MRA) is not impacted.

Contractor Reporting and Reimbursement

The Enrollment, Attendance, and Fiscal Reports in the California Preschool Accounting Reporting Information System (CPARIS) have remained unchanged. Contractors are required to report all expenses related to the CSPP program in the Enrollment, Attendance, and Fiscal Report. All administrative costs will continue to be reported in expense categories 1000–5000 and on the indirect cost line (if applicable) and identify the amount of administrative costs reported in these expense categories on the Total Administrative Costs line.

The CDE uses data from the Enrollment, Attendance and Fiscal Report to calculate contract earnings. When the amount identified on the Total Administrative Costs line exceeds 15 percent of net reimbursable costs, the contract earnings calculation will remove the excess from contract reimbursement. Therefore, contractors with administrative costs projected to exceed the 15 percent limit will need to contact their assigned Early Education and Nutrition Fiscal Services (EENFS) fiscal analyst in order to adjust their reporting to ensure the contractor reimbursement will reflect the allowed additional administrative costs The EENFS fiscal analyst will review the most recent contract earnings calculation and work with the contractor to determine how the most recent report should be revised to allow excess administrative expenses to be reimbursed.

Enrolling Families Experiencing Homelessness

The requirement to submit required documentation for families in LA and Ventura counties experiencing homelessness and enrolling in a CSPP, as specified in 5 CCR Section 17771(e), is suspended for 60 days. This means that families impacted by the emergency and enrolling in CSPP under this eligibility category through January 1, 2026, will have a total of 90 days from the date the application for services is signed to provide all applicable documentation.

As a reminder, when the basis of eligibility is family experiencing homelessness, the contractor shall permit the enrollment of children to begin immediately upon the parent signing the application for services. The parent shall provide all required documentation, including immunization records, within 90 days (30 days allowed from 5 CCR Section 17771 and additional 60 days allowed from the EO from the date the application for services is signed.

Program Self Evaluation

The requirement to conduct the PSE, as specified in 5 CCR Section 17709, is suspended for CSPP contractors impacted by the emergency in LA and Ventura counties through June 30, 2025. As a reminder, the summary of findings of the PSE is typically due to the CDE by June 1; therefore, because this requirement is suspended through June 30, 2025, contractors impacted by the fires will not be required to submit this requirement for the 2024–25 program year.

Parent Survey

The requirement to conduct the parent survey, as specified in 5 CCR Section 17710, is suspended for CSPP contractors impacted by the emergency in LA and Ventura counties through June 30, 2025. The results of the parent survey are typically collected through the PSE process; therefore, contractors impacted by the emergency in LA and Ventura counties are not required to complete the parent survey requirements for the 2024–25 program year.

Desired Results Developmental Profile

Any applicable due dates to complete the DRDP for all enrolled children are extended until June 30, 2025, for CSPP contractors impacted by the emergency in LA and Ventura counties. This does not waive the requirement to complete the DRDP, it just extends the timeline in which the assessment needs to be completed. If the program year ends before June 30, 2025, then the contractor must complete all DRDPs before the end of the program year.

Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) providing special education services to children birth through five years of age with Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSPs) or Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) may indicate their requirement to complete the DRDP sooner than June 30, 2025 deadline, and CSPP Contractors shall collaborate with the special education program staff, where possible, to support the completion of the DRDP to meet their requirement.

Background and Authority

On January 7, 2025, Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency to help ensure the availability of critical resources to address the fire related evacuation orders, destruction of and ongoing threats to homes, structures, critical infrastructure, transportation, communication sites, and transmission lines.

In response to the disastrous fires in LA and Ventura counties, the CDE, Early Education Division (EED), sent out an email to CSPP contracting agencies to provide some available flexibilities that may be utilized during this emergency.

On February 4, 2025, Governor Newsom signed Executive Order N-17-25 (PDF), which suspends and extends specific requirements for CSPP.

Resources

Resources to Support Contractors

For help and information for people affected by the wildfires, information on disaster assistance and temporary housing, disaster recovery, social programs, local and federal resources, emergency alerts and real time updates, please refer to the 2025 LA Fires help and information web page .

For information on the CDE Disaster and Emergency Resources, please refer to the CDE Resources for Natural Disaster and Severe Weather web page.

For information on disaster assistance and resources in California, please refer to the CDE Disaster and Emergency Resources web page.

For resources related to wildfires, including what to do before, during and after a wildfire, please refer to the CDE Wildfires web page.

For information on emergency resources from federal, state, and local agencies, please refer to the California Office of Emergency Services website .

Additional Resources to Support Children and Families

Information on the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) Community Care Licensing Division, including CDSS Community Care Licensing Regional Offices can be found at the CDSS website .

California Resource and Referral (R&R) programs provide training and technical assistance, as well as resources for Early Education programs. Please contact your local R&R for information on available resources.

If you have programmatic questions related to this MB, please contact your assigned EED, Program Quality Implementation (PQI) office regional consultant. This can be found at the EED, PQI regional consultant directory web page.

If you have fiscal questions about the information in this email, please contact your assigned CDE EENFS fiscal analyst by accessing the fiscal analyst directory.

Pursuant to authority provided in EO N-17-25, this MB constitutes official guidance, and thus the directives in this MB are mandatory.