News

Legislative Update

August 2017

Below is an updated table summarizing the provisions impacting early childhood programs included in the FINAL FY2017-2019 compromise budget.

Smart Start / North Carolina Partnership for Children (NCPC) * Adds $3.5 million in FY17-18 and $7 million in FY18-19 recurring to fund the Dolly Parton Imagination Library statewide (funding would be exempt from admin, match, and child care % requirements)

 

* Match requirement stays at 19% for FY17-18 and FY18-19.

* Adds $125K in one-time funds for non-Smart Start activities to the Cabarrus Partnership for Children
NC Pre-K Eliminates 75% of the NC Pre-K waitlist by FY18-19. Provides a total of $9m in FY17-18 and $18.3m in FY18-19, with $6m and $12.2m coming from TANF. An estimated 1,725 children would be served in FY17-18 and 3,525 in FY18-19
Subsidy Provides additional TANF funds and adjusts CCDF Block Grant funds to increase the subsidy market rate to the level in the 2015 rate study for children 0-2 in Tier 3 counties beginning October 1, 2017. Funding of $10 million in FY17-18 and $13 million in FY18-19 is provided for this rate increase.
The Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE)
 Provides CCDF Block Grant funding of $913k to establish 12 FTEs:

 

  • 1: Oversee infant-toddler programs
  • 4: Subsidized Child Care program
  • 3: Program compliance and fraud detection
  • 4: Support early childhood workforce in licensing, professional development, and educational assessment
Department of Public Health (DPH) * $2m additional recurring for NFP bringing funding to $3.7 million each year of the biennium.

 

* Provides $690k to address staffing deficiencies in the 2 CDSAs remaining subject to a federal corrective action plan: New Bern and Blue Ridge.
Other Provisions * Includes language from SB 429, which would provide Medicaid coverage for evidence-based home visits consistent with the model used by NFP.

 

* Includes language from SB 168 that would require DCDEE to implement a one-year statewide demonstration project in 3-6 counties requiring parents receiving child care subsidy payments to cooperate with the county child support services program as a condition of receiving payments.

* Includes language creating a "B-3 Interagency Council," led by DHHS and DPI with 12 voting members (including one representative from Smart Start and one from NCPC). The Council is charged with establishing a vision and accountability for a birth through grade three system of early education.