Hot News!
Our Union’s Provider Input Meetings have resulted in a giant step forward for California’s family child care providers!
The Problem:
Providers have suffered unnecessary and disruptive delays to reimbursements when agencies have questions about time sheet entries or missing entries. Many agencies also fail to pay us on a regular schedule.
The Steps We Took:
SEIU Local 99 took a leadership role in establishing quarterly Provider Input Meetings with the California Department of Education. In our first meeting, held in June, we addressed our concerns regarding delays in reimbursements and unreliable payment schedules.
The Solution:
Because of the strength of our numbers, after just one conversation with us, CDE sent a Management Bulletin notifying APs and Networks that—regardless of accuracy of timesheets—they do not have the authority to:
- Reduce reimbursements for child care services already provided because timesheets are not completed correctly.
- Reduce or withhold reimbursement for records with cross-out corrections, or other marks that might be determined “messy.”
- Try to make providers responsible for the completeness and accuracy of timesheets.
- Return timesheets to the provider for correction.
Timesheets are the responsibility of the parent and the AP or Network.
A 2nd Management Bulletin went out directing agencies to establish regularly-scheduled pay dates for provider reimbursements!
This is major progress in our work to fix the broken system!
Share this with other providers you know! The more who join us, the stronger our voice! Ultimately, we want to win collective bargaining rights with the state and have a full seat at the table when decisions are made about our industry.
Read the full text of the bulletins here:
Management Bulletin on Timely Provider Payments
Management Bulletin on Attendance Records
