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Lawmakers and DOE staff debate early‑childhood access, ECAP vs. purchase‑of‑care and federal grant timing
Summary
Delaware education officials described ECAP seats, purchase‑of‑care subsidies, STARS quality work and the state's use of a federal Preschool Development Grant to fund infant and toddler seats, and they promised follow‑up data on seat counts and funding gaps.
Department officials described Delaware's early‑childhood portfolio, including the Early Childhood Assistance Program (ECAP), the purchase‑of‑care subsidy, STARS quality improvement work, and federal grants that currently fund infant and toddler seats. Associate Secretary Caitlin Gleason and the Office of Early Learning staff told lawmakers the state funds roughly 1,473 three‑ and four‑year‑old ECAP seats and additional funded infant and toddler seats through a federal Preschool Development Grant. Staff said those federal funds are being used this year to fund younger seats and that the department has not requested additional state general‑fund dollars for ECAP in the current budget proposal.
Gleason explained program distinctions to the committee. ECAP is a Department of Education initiative that funds contracted seats for birth‑to‑five care focused on high‑quality instructional standards and is modeled on Head Start performance expectations. Purchase‑of‑care is a subsidy program administered by the Department of Health and Social Services that helps income‑eligible families pay for childcare; eligibility and co‑payment thresholds differ between the two programs. Gleason said the department models eligibility for ECAP on Head Start but noted the department raised its Head Start‑modeled threshold to 150 percent of the federal poverty level at the start of the fiscal year to align with purchase‑of‑care co‑payment thresholds.
Committee members pressed staff for more granular data. Senator Sturgeon and Representative Short asked whether the department tracks children who go through ECAP or purchase‑of‑care and then later appear in statewide K‑12 assessments; staff said the state has started a tracking project but that tracking to third grade will take additional years to yield results. Representative Williams asked about a state effort to move licensing monitoring online; Caitlin Gleason said the office had issued a request for proposals and received bids that exceeded initial one‑time allocations, and that the department planned to use a combination of federal Preschool Development Grant funds and reallocated monies but would provide a detailed cost follow‑up to the committee.
The department explained that Delaware STARS had been simplified into three levels — licensed, working on high quality and maintaining high quality — and that quality‑improvement specialists were working with licensed programs to create quality‑improvement plans tied to observed teacher‑child interactions. Staff said they are working to publish program profiles on the state public childcare search site once the online licensing migration is completed.
Lawmakers asked about expanding eligibility to serve more families; staff acknowledged other states use broader eligibility bands, noted fiscal impacts would be substantial, and said such changes would require additional analysis and funding.
No formal decisions were made during the hearing; staff committed to providing the committee more detailed seat counts, federal funding status and the estimated shortfall for the online licensing system.
