Quality Expansion Activities

Please note, this policy guidance is no longer relevant and is currently archived content available for historical reference.

1. Log No: ACYF-PI-CC-99-05
2. Issuance Date: May 19, 1999 for Children
3. Originating Office: Office of Child Care and Families
4. Key Words: Earmarks, FY 2000 Discretionary Fund, Quality expansion activities 

To

State and Territorial Lead Agencies administering child care programs under the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 as amended, and other interested parties.    

References

The Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 as amended (Child Care Development Block Grant Act); section 418 of the Social Security Act; Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Appropriations Bill for FY 1999 (PL 105-277) and ACYF-IM-CC-99-01 (dated January 22, 1999).    

Purpose

This Program Instruction (PI) conveys for the FY 2000 Discretion Fund:

• guidance on non-supplantation with earmarked funds 
• examples of activities for a new additional quality expansion earmark 

Background: earmarks created in PL 105-277

In PL 105-277 Congress specifically earmarked FY 2000 Discretionary Fund amounts for:

• child care resource and referral and school-aged child care activities 
• improving the quality of infant and toddler child care 
• additional quality expansion activities

The amount of each of these earmarks is above the amounts required to be spent on quality and availability activities by section 658G of the Child Care Development Block Grant Act (i.e., "not less than 4%"). Information Memorandum ACYF-IM-CC-99-01, issued January 22, 1999, conveyed the estimated amount of each earmark.     

Earmark for R&R and school aged child care

PL 105-277 provides $19,120,000 for child care resource and referral and school-aged child care activities. This is the fourth year that Congress earmarked CCDF Discretionary funds for these purposes. As with all the earmarks, these funds are to be used in addition to the "not less than 4%" required to be spent on activities that improve the quality and availability of child care.

Non-supplant requirement for R&R and school aged child care:

Senate Report 105-300 states that the Committee "expects that these funds will not supplant current funding dedicated to resources and referral and school age activities provided by the child care and development block grant." This language continues the expectation expressed by the Committee throughout the history of this earmark.

In using these earmarked funds, therefore, the State must assure that the funds will supplement, not supplant those Federal, State and local funds that are currently being used or planned to be used for resource and referral and school-age child care activities. The "Terms and Conditions" of the grant will reflect this.

Earmark for infant and toddler quality improvements

The Conference Agreement continues the $50,000,000 earmark for improving the quality of infant and toddler child care. As with all the earmarks, these funds are to be used in addition to the "not less than 4%" required to be spent on activities that improve the quality and availability of child care.

On March 20, 1998, we sent child care Lead Agency administrators a list of suggested activities for the infant and toddler child care quality improvement earmark for FY 1998.   

Guidance on the additional quality expansion earmark

PL 105-277 provides a new earmark of $172,672,000 for additional quality activities. This earmark represents new, additional funding that Congress appropriated above the basic $1,000,000,000 authorized in the Child Care Development Block Grant Act. As this is new funding, we believe that this earmark represents an opportunity for Lead Agencies to expand into quality improvement activities that they may not have been able to address in the past. The attachment to this PI is a compilation of examples of quality improvement activities as undertaken by some Lead Agencies. You may wish to consider them when planning activities for the funds being made available through the new additional quality expansion earmark.

As with all the earmarks, the additional quality expansion earmarked funds are to be used in addition to the "not less than 4%" required to be spent on activities that improve the quality and availability of child care. 

This earmark is also above the quality requirement of the Child Care Development Block Grant Act, and the new earmark is created with new funds. Expenditures of this new earmark of additional quality expansion funds cannot be counted towards meeting the "not less that 4%" quality expenditure requirement. We encourage States to use these additional dollars to enhance, not supplant, previous CCDF expenditures for quality that exceeded the four percent minimum, and expenditures for quality from other Federal, State and local funds. 

Describing and reporting earmarks

Activities undertaken using earmarked funds should be included in the CCDF State Plan due to ACF in July. It is not necessary to separately identify activities in the Plan as being funded with earmarked funds. However, it should be noted that the ACF 696 requires the separate reporting of earmarked funds.    

Questions

Questions should be directed to your ACF Regional Office.  

Download PDF version of this program instruction below.