March 8, 2023

Meeting Notices:

• The Agenda and Meeting Notice were sent to publisher@ecapitol.net on 2/23/2023. 

Call to Order:           

• Terri Davis called meeting to order at 10:04 am
• Introductions

Approval of Minutes:

12/14/2022 minutes. Peggy Byerly made a motion to approve. Paula Brown seconded the motion and Tammy Maus requested that Carrie Williams’ response during public comments be included. The minutes were approved as corrected.

Standing Subcommittee Reports:

Membership Subcommittee – Gayla Carnagey:

The subcommittee communicated through email that no meeting was needed because all membership positions are full, and no term is due to expire until late summer. The subcommittee nominated Terri Davis to serve for a 3rd and final year as Chairperson. The motion was approved.

No one participated in new member orientation.

Family Child Care Homes Subcommittee – Ari Conner

A ZOOM meeting was held in December of 2022. Issues discussed:

• Grievance policies. Providers have issues with being written up for things that occur outside of licensing hours. Carole Turner reviewed policy and discussed reasonings for this. 
• They would like to see the Peer Review Board’s comments and written decisions. Carole Turner explained that is not allowed.

QRIS Subcommittee – Shaunda Williams

A ZOOM meeting was held March 1, 2023.

• The long wait for CECPD credentials, PDL, etc. is a problem for new programs trying to open and meet all the requirements in time.
• Providers would like to know when the increased DHS rates will be posted.
• National accreditation should count for something – maybe have a 5 Star Plus?
• There is a problem with getting fingerprint results back in a timely manner.

Child Care Facilities (centers) Standing Subcommittee – Tammy Maus:

• A ZOOM meeting was held February 2, 2023.
• There are a lot of problems with background check delays and getting fingerprint results back in a timely manner and that it is a barrier to staff getting the Workforce grant. 
• Some are having problems with CECPD Registry course work – some courses are not accepted even though they are listed on the Registry (they never show up on a transcript).
• Unlicensed and exempt programs are competition for programs that must meet all the licensing requirements.
• There should be recognition for accredited programs.
• Concerned about EBT issues; and echoed the accredited/unaccredited 5 Star issue.

Residential Standing Subcommittee – Terry Owens

They had a meeting yesterday – March 7, 2023 and shared the proposed requirements. 

Legislative Update: 

• Deanna Nichols reviewed the report and is included in the handout.  Deanna pointed out two areas of interest:
  • HB2452 – local governments will not be able to restrict the capacity of licensed family child care homes below the DHS Licensed capacity.
  • SB16 – directs the Board of Education to establish a pilot program to provide grants to public school districts for district employee child care expenses.

 

Licensing Sanctions Report – Carole Turner

A copy of the denials, revocations and changes in status for child care programs from October 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022 was provided.

Carole included the topics of the Peer Review Boards as requested by CCAC members, as well as the number of new programs. There were 78 first six-month permits approved during this period.

Old Business:

• None.

New Business:

• Susan Kimmel from CECP
  • Susan announced that they have received 18,318 applications for Work Force Grants. 14,804 have been processed and received. Some have not moved forward because the person did not list their correct Social Security number or their address has changed
    • Kristina from CECPD said the Registry has had more than 37,000 requests in January and February. They are doing their best to get to them all
    • There will be ten new professional development programs on CECPD this year.

Public Comments:

• Tammy Maus – asking DHS how often the Market Rate Survey is done. She was referred to Charles Pruett. Request that the PDL ladder be changed to allow a person with any bachelor’s degree to count as a MT.  Requested that subsidy be paid by enrollment vs attendance.
• Shane Williams – announced the LCA Conference that will be on March 25th at Gordon Cooper Technology Center.
• Rachel Proper – she would like to know the date the increased DHS subsidy rate will end. Families are already having cuts to their SNAP benefits and Medicaid and it would be helpful if the cuts could happen gradually. Wants DHS to put out a statement to inform parents about copayments beginning again.  Centers are also concerned about this and fear they will not be paid by parents.  Rachel also asked about CPR training – can it still be taken online or has that ended, and shouldn’t it count as approved training on the CECPD Registry every time they renew their CPR certification?
• Ari Conner – family child care providers are now required to have Emergency Preparedness training every year but there aren’t very many choices for that type of training.
• Janell Wheat - A company called Service Oklahoma will be operating in tag agencies and other businesses in the state.  LCCA has approached them about accepting co-payments from families so that centers don’t have to collect these from clients. WAGE supplement program – Request the director level be removed and pay based on the PDL of the program.  R&R Services are unknown to the general child care community.

Next Meetings:

• Wednesday, June 14, 2023, at the Wildlife Conservation Department
• Wednesday, September 13, 2023, at the Wildlife Conservation Department
• Wednesday, December 13, 2023, at the Wildlife Conservation Department

Meeting adjourned at 11:14 am