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Officials outline child‑care and Head Start funding, eligibility expansion and voucher plans
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Summary
ACUDEN officials described a $151 million request, recent federal approvals that raise center reimbursement rates and expanded eligibility, and a state voucher plan (ShareCare) to reach families not eligible under federal rules.
Administrators from the Administration for Child Care and Early Childhood Development (ACUDEN) briefed the Budget Committee on April 30 about program finances and policy changes affecting early‑childhood care.
ACUDEN Administrator Emidenis Vega Ojeda said the agency requested a consolidated $151 million for the coming year — roughly $137 million from federal funds and $14 million from state funds — and described a recent federal approval of the agency’s state plan that raised reimbursement rates by about 46% for licensed centers and expanded income eligibility (moving the income cutoff for a family of four from roughly $36,000 to around $50,000 in the agency’s example).
Vega Ojeda described two delivery modalities: delegated‑fund centers and a voucher (ShareCare) system. She said ACUDEN is working to expand vouchers to reach an estimated 14,000 working families with children under five who are currently outside federal program eligibility.
The administrator also described Head Start operations: ACUDEN is the largest single recipient in Puerto Rico for Head Start funds, overseeing nine sub‑recipients and serving about 2,100 children across 23 municipalities, and managing state collaboration functions for other Head Start grantees.
Committee members asked about licensing, digitalization and pilot programs to implement statutory licensing amendments (Ley 163‑2016). Officials said a pilot to implement the licensing amendments and related training is underway. The committee requested written budget detail for ACUDEN and documentation of the pilot timeline and expected outcomes.
