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Commissioners press for clarity on inclusion supports, workforce costs in Preschool for All model
Summary
At a Multnomah County briefing on the PFA cost model, commissioners pressed consultants and staff on how the tool models inclusion supports (the presented scenarios used a 10% baseline) and on what it would take to meet 2030 workforce credential goals; staff said the model can run scenarios for incentives, and a written report will detail assumptions.
During a question‑and‑answer session at the Multnomah County PFA briefing, commissioners focused on two closely related policy concerns: how inclusion supports are represented in the model and what it would cost to meet the program's workforce education goals.
Commissioner Singleton asked whether the provider engagement and data were representative and urged the county to "close the loop" with providers and advisory groups. P5 and PEL staff said 65 distinct providers participated in input sessions and interviews (in addition to the administrative payroll dataset) and that the report will include further documentation of engagement and assumptions. "We did do a number of sessions in Spanish," P5 said, citing intentional outreach to multilingual providers.
On inclusion supports, commissioners expressed concern that a baseline assumption included in the modeled scenarios — P5 noted a 10% assumption for baseline inclusion supports in the examples shown — could be misread by the public as covering all inclusion needs. P5 explained the 10% figure in the presented scenarios was intended to cover baseline, welcome‑oriented supports that many sites need immediately (for example, some substitute coverage or modest staff time for family engagement), while emphasizing that separate, higher‑cost inclusion funds would remain available for children who require intensive supports. Commissioner Singleton said she was "not sure that we're actually where we need to be on inclusion supports" and urged clearer public messaging to distinguish baseline rate components from additional inclusion funding streams.
Commissioner Moyer raised workforce questions tied to the PFA 2030 credential and salary goals: she noted that roughly 60% of lead teachers currently hold the AA the policy targets for 2030, and asked what the county would need to invest to reach the goal within the stated timeframe. P5 and county staff said the model can incorporate incentives and pathways — for example, budgeting annual cohorts of staff to receive educational support — and that the tool can be used to estimate costs for different ramp‑up strategies and retention scenarios.
Staff and consultants highlighted system‑level approaches to inclusion and other supports, noting that pooling resources (for example, shared trainings, third‑party billing for Medicaid, or a centralized system manager) can be more efficient than expecting individual providers to procure complex services alone. PEL director Denisa McLean added that PEL established a shared insurance pool this year to help address rising liability insurance costs reported by providers.
Board members asked staff to supply follow‑up materials that include detailed assumptions, clearer definitions of "inclusion" as used in model outputs, disaggregated demographic and geographic participation data for engaged providers, and scenario runs showing the cost of targeted workforce education incentives. PEL and P5 agreed to provide those materials and to demonstrate the tool at the July 21 PFA work session.
