Required Parent Co-payment, Reimbursement-General Provisions Reqarding Reimbursements for Holidays and Absences, Reimbursement During Emergency Closures
Florida’s Office of Early Learning
RULE NOS.:RULE TITLES:
6M-4.400Required Parent Co-payment
6M-4.500Reimbursement-General Provisions Regarding Reimbursements for Holidays and Absences
6M-4.501Reimbursement During Emergency Closures
NOTICE OF CHANGE
Notice is hereby given that the following changes have been made to the proposed rule in accordance with subparagraph 120.54(3)(d)1., F.S., published in Vol. 40, No. 203, October 17, 2014 issue of the Florida Administrative Register.
The changes to the proposed rule are being made in response to comments from the Joint Administrative Procedures Committee.
With respect to Rule 6M-4.400:
Subsection (1) shall be revised to read:
(1) Co-payment Assessment. Each family that receives school readiness services shall be assessed a co-payment based on family size, the hours of care needed, and the family’s income, according to the sliding fee scale approved by the Office. If a child is authorized for part time care, the parent shall be assessed a part time co-payment. If a child is authorized for full time care, the parent shall be assessed a full time co-payment. A parent with two or more children receiving school readiness services may receive a co-payment discount for the second and any subsequent child in their care based on the coalition’s approved sliding fee scale. When a discount is applied, the youngest child must be assessed a full co-payment based on the approved sliding fee scale and the hours of care needed. The sliding fee scale is reviewed and approved by the Office of Early Learning as described in subsection (4).
Subsection (4), shall be revised to read:
(4) A coalition’s sliding fee scale must be set at a level that provides economically disadvantaged families equal access to the care available to families whose income is high enough not to qualify for financial assistance for school readiness services. A coalition must submit their proposed sliding fee scale to the Office of Early Learning for approval. The Office of Early Learning shall review the sliding fee scale to determine that the scale is reflective of the annually released federal poverty level, has an effective date no later than July 1st of that year, and that parent co-payments do not exceed 10 percent of the family’s income, regardless of the number of children in care. The Office of Early Learning shall perform a sampling of different income levels and family size to confirm that the proposed parent co-payments do not exceed the 10 percent level. If the coalition’s proposed sliding fee scale does exceed 10 percent of family income, the coalition must provide justification of how the sliding fee scale meets the federal requirement that the co-payment be affordable, prior to approval of the proposed sliding fee scale by the Office of Early Learning.
With respect to Rule 6M-4.500:
Paragraph (1)(e), the following is added at the end of the existing language: Rule 65C-22.001 is incorporated by reference.
Paragraph (4)(d), the last sentence the word “rule” is changed to “paragraph.”
Paragraph (5)(b), is revised to read:
(b) To receive a special needs rate, in addition to the base rate, it must be requested by the provider and approved by the coalition. A special needs rate may be reimbursed for a school readiness child that has a documented physical, mental, emotional, or behavioral condition that requires a higher level of care in the child care setting. The special need child’s condition must be validated by a licensed health, mental health, education or social service professional other than the child’s parent or person employed by the child care provider.
Subsection (6) shall remove the phrase “s. 402.26(6) and”
With respect to 6M-4.501: No changes are made.
