Board of Early Education and Care
Policy and Fiscal Committee
State Advisory Council
September 13, 2010
12:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Summary of Meeting
Members of the Committee/Board Present:
Elizabeth Childs, M.D, Chair
J.D. Chesloff (by phone)
Mary Pat Messmer (by phone)
Sherri Killins, Ed.D, EEC Commissioner (ex officio) (participated by phone)
Joan Wasser Gish
Members of the State Advisory Council Present:
Nancy Topping-Tailby
Kate Roper
EEC Staff Present:
Dena Papanikolaou
Nicole Lessard
Kelly Schaffer
Sean Reynolds
Bill Concannon
Janet McKeon
Phil Baimas
Jennifer Amaya Thompson
Andrea Gilmore
Public Present:
Strategies from Children Representative
Bill Haddad, ANF Analyst
Review of June Minutes (ok as presented)
Disclosures:
- Mary Pat Messmer disclosed that her agency receives EEC funding and may apply for future EEC funding.
Agenda Items for Discussion
I.
Budget / Caseload
Bill Concannon provided an update including the following:
 Overview of spending; highlights includes an overview of reversions and the possibility of a PAC
 Review of the FY2010 caseload
 Review of the FY2011 budget by line item
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II.
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Review of the admin account (which was noted to be tight and EEC is currently being careful on
backfilling positions)
Review of FY2011 projected caseload accounts
o The DTA account appears to have a $5M deficit based on current projections, but it is in the
spending plan and the legislature is aware of this issue – also 3% can be transferred among
accounts)
o The Income Eligible account appears to have a projected deficit and the Department will closely
monitor the account
o The Supportive account appears to have a projected $3M surplus (Commissioner Killins noted
she would check but does not think this funding can be used to cover the deficiencies in the
other caseload accounts)
Committee Discussion:
The Committee asked if limitations exists to how FMAP funding could be spent if it were allocated and would the
agency want to spend funds on administration; Commissioner Killins responded that if these funds were
allocated, they would come in January and are not a sustainable source.
The Committee discussed the implications of potential FMAP and PAC funding and the potential impact on
caseload accounts.
ARRA Update
Bill Concannon reviewed the ARRA initiatives that EEC implemented that are complete as well as initiatives the
Department is seeking flexibility for (by Board vote at the September meeting), within the ARRA funding, in
order to fully plan for the allocation of all ARRA funds by the encumbrance deadline of September 30, 2010. Mr.
Concannon also noted that the Department is closely tracking spending.
Committee Discussion:
The Committee discussed the balance between ensuring a limited cliff exists for ARRA funds and providing
services for children and families and not reverting this funding. The Committee focused on the income eligible
account and the impact of potentially absorbing the cost of financial assistance for children that were originally
ARRA funded after that funding source ends. The Commissioner noted that strategies can be employed to
mitigate and plan for these children and families affected by the “cliff” issue – such as asking contract providers
to fill contract slots that open up with these implicated children and some will be taken care of due to natural
attrition.
The Committee discussed that a helpful frame for proposed ARRA funded initiatives would be for the
Department to present: 1. Plan for getting funds out 2. the value to children and families and 3. the related
sustainability plan.
Commissioner Killins clarified that it is a priority to get preschoolers into programs and in the case that those
numbers are low, the Department is seeking flexibility to serve children 2.9-K eligible.
The Committee was supportive of the proposals for spending ARRA funds.
(JD Chesloff left the meeting)
III.
State Advisory Council (SAC): Dual Language Learners (DLL) Policy
Commissioner Killins welcomed Kate Roper, from MA DPH, as a new member of the SAC responsible for a focus
on early childhood comprehensive services systems. Jennifer Amaya-Thompson presented the Committee with
a review of the Dual Language Learner’s policy including the vision, background of the initiative, statement of
need, issues that were considered in the development of the process, effective models for working with the DLL
population, common themes revealed through surveys and site visits, and plans to engage stakeholders in the
development of the final policy.
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IV.
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Committee Discussion:
The Committee discussed that the Report included effective models that appeared to have a K-12 focus and the
way infants and toddlers learn is sometimes different and so the Committee suggested citing research relevant
to infants and toddlers in order to balance that area of the report. It was noted that the rest of the report does
have a more balanced infant toddler focus but this area could be built upon.
The Committee expressed the hoped that the final report has two prongs; language acquisition for families and
instructional strategies for Dual Language Learners.
QRIS Evaluation
The FY2011 QRIS Evaluator, Education Development Center (EDC) presented the Committee with:
findings from the FY2010 QRIS Pilot Study
Recommendations derived from the Pilot
The logic model to frame the FY2011 Provisional QRIS Study
Activities moving forward leading to the launch of the FY2011 QRIS (including researching each standard for its
strength of an evidence base, crosswalk with multiple systems to streamline and reduce duplication and work
for participants, and plans to gather stakeholder feedback through a survey and regional forums.)
Commissioner Killins noted that the Department is working to revise the QRIS Standards and does not want
anyone to be surprised when a new system in launched in January. There are regional forums being held and
conference calls and stakeholders are being encouraged to attend and learn about the processes for revising the
System.
V.
Universal Pre-Kindergarten
Kelly Schaffer provided a brief update on the UPK program.
VI.
Infant and Toddler Learning Guidelines
Janet McKeon provided a brief update on the Guidelines and it was noted that the Department is in the process
of seeking feedback on these Guidelines and will present to the Board at its October and November meetings.
VII.
Birth to School Age Task Force
Nicole Lessard briefly reviewed the Task Force’s goal and components of a final report that the Board will be
asked to review and adopt at its October and November meetings.
VIII.
Committee Agenda Planning
The Committee was presented with a list of preliminary agenda items for the coming year.
IX.
Annual Planning
Commissioner Killins presented the Committee with the preliminary list of action agenda items for the Board
discussion and vote in FY2011 along with their alignment to the Board’s priorities which were identified at their
retreat.
X.
Infant Toddler Rate Increase
Commissioner Killins reviewed the increased expectations for programs serving infants and toddlers (including
the new Guidelines to be released upon finalization, QRIS and the Birth to School Age Task Force
recommendations) and noted that programs are losing money to take infants and toddlers into their programs.
This is a future agenda item for more in depth discussion at future Board meetings.
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XI.
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XII.
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Committee Discussion:
The Committee discussed whether this could be linked to quality and potentially looking at how other states
think about the nexus between access to resources and the quality of programs
FY2012 State Budget
Bill Concannon presented the Committee with a plan for the FY2012 spending plan and FY2013 expansion plan
to be submitted to ANF.
Committee Discussion:
The Committee discussed the implications of submitted an expansion plan which would outline how additional
funds would be spent if allocated to the Department; the Department will seek ANF guidance.
ARRA Update (revisited agenda item)
Committee Discussion:
The Committee continued to discuss the ARRA agenda item and discussed ensuring the full Board understood
the “cliff” issue for each initiative and asked that the Department report back to the Board in six months with an
update on how the “cliff” was minimized.
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