Sec. 39.
(1) An eligible applicant receiving funds under section 32d shall submit an application, in a form and manner prescribed by the department, by a date specified by the department in the immediately preceding state fiscal year. The application shall include a comprehensive needs assessment using aggregated data from the applicant's entire service area and a community collaboration plan that is endorsed by the local great start collaborative and is part of the community's great start strategic plan that includes, but is not limited to, great start readiness program and head start providers, and shall identify all of the following:
(a) The estimated total number of children in the community who meet the criteria of section 32d and how that calculation was made.
(b) The estimated number of children in the community who meet the criteria of section 32d and are being served by other early childhood development programs operating in the community, and how that calculation was made.
(c) The number of children the applicant will be able to serve who meet the criteria of section 32d including a verification of physical facility and staff resources capacity.
(d) The estimated number of children who meet the criteria of section 32d who will remain unserved after the applicant and community early childhood programs have met their funded enrollments. The applicant shall maintain a waiting list of identified unserved eligible children who would be served when openings are available.
(2) After notification of funding allocations, an applicant receiving funds under section 32d shall also submit an implementation plan for approval, in a form and manner prescribed by the department, by a date specified by the department, that details how the applicant complies with the program components established by the department pursuant to section 32d.
(3) The number of prekindergarten children construed to be in need of special readiness assistance under section 32d shall be calculated for each applicant in the following manner: 1/2 of the percentage of the applicant's pupils in grades 1 to 5 in all districts served by the applicant who are eligible for free lunch, as determined using the district's pupil membership count as of the pupil membership count day in the school year prior to the fiscal year for which the calculation is made, under the Richard B. Russell national school lunch act, 42 USC 1751 to 1769i, shall be multiplied by the average kindergarten enrollment of the districts served by the applicant on the pupil membership count day of the 2 immediately preceding fiscal years.
(4) The initial allocation for each fiscal year to each eligible applicant under section 32d shall be determined by multiplying the number of children determined by the formula under subsection (3) or the number of children the applicant indicates it will be able to serve under subsection (1)(c), whichever is less, by $3,625.00 and shall be distributed among applicants in decreasing order of concentration of eligible children as determined by the formula under subsection (3). If the number of children an applicant indicates it will be able to serve under subsection (1)(c) includes children able to be served in a school-day program, then the number able to be served in a school-day program shall be doubled for the purposes of making this calculation of the lesser of the number of children determined by the formula under subsection (3) and the number of children the applicant indicates it will be able to serve under subsection (1)(c) and determining the amount of the initial allocation to the applicant under section 32d. A district may contract with a head start agency to serve children enrolled in head start with a school-day program by blending head start funds with a part-day great start readiness program allocation. All head start and great start readiness program policies and regulations apply to the blended program.
(5) If funds allocated for eligible applicants under section 32d remain after the initial allocation under subsection (4), the allocation under this subsection shall be distributed to each eligible applicant under section 32d in decreasing order of concentration of eligible children as determined by the formula under subsection (3). The allocation shall be determined by multiplying the number of children in each district within the applicant's service area served in the immediately preceding fiscal year or the number of children the applicant indicates it will be able to serve under subsection (1)(c), whichever is less, minus the number of children for which the applicant received funding in subsection (4) by $3,625.00.
(6) If funds allocated for eligible applicants under section 32d remain after the allocations under subsections (4) and (5), remaining funds shall be distributed to each eligible applicant under section 32d in decreasing order of concentration of eligible children as determined by the formula under subsection (3). If the number of children the applicant indicates it will be able to serve under subsection (1)(c) exceeds the number of children for which funds have been received under subsections (4) and (5), the allocation under this subsection shall be determined by multiplying the number of children the applicant indicates it will be able to serve under subsection (1)(c) less the number of children for which funds have been received under subsections (4) and (5) by $3,625.00 until the funds allocated for eligible applicants in section 32d are distributed.
(7) An applicant that offers supplementary child care funded by funds other than those received under section 32d and therefore offers full-day programs as part of its early childhood development program shall receive priority in the allocation of funds under section 32d over other eligible applicants. As used in this subsection, "full-day program" means a program that provides supplementary child care that totals at least 10 hours of programming per day.
(8) If, taking into account the total amount to be allocated to the applicant as calculated under this section, an applicant determines that it is able to include additional eligible children in the great start readiness program without additional funds under section 32d, the applicant may include additional eligible children but shall not receive additional funding under section 32d for those children.
History: Add. 1987, Act 128, Eff. Oct. 1, 1987 ;-- Am. 1987, Act 220, Eff. Dec. 28, 1987 ;-- Am. 1988, Act 318, Eff. Oct. 1, 1988 ;-- Am. 1988, Act 509, Imd. Eff. Dec. 29, 1988 ;-- Am. 1989, Act 197, Eff. Oct. 1, 1989 ;-- Am. 1989, Act 235, Imd. Eff. Dec. 21, 1989 ;-- Am. 1990, Act 207, Eff. Oct. 1, 1990 ;-- Am. 1991, Act 118, Imd. Eff. Oct. 11, 1991 ;-- Am. 1992, Act 148, Eff. Oct. 1, 1992 ;-- Am. 1993, Act 175, Eff. Oct. 1, 1993 ;-- Am. 1993, Act 336, Eff. Oct. 1, 1994 ;-- Am. 1995, Act 130, Eff. Oct. 1, 1995 ;-- Am. 1996, Act 300, Eff. Oct. 1, 1996 ;-- Am. 1997, Act 93, Eff. Oct. 1, 1997 ;-- Am. 1997, Act 142, Imd. Eff. Nov. 19, 1997 ;-- Am. 2000, Act 297, Imd. Eff. July 26, 2000 ;-- Am. 2002, Act 191, Imd. Eff. Apr. 26, 2002 ;-- Am. 2005, Act 155, Eff. Oct. 1, 2005 ;-- Am. 2007, Act 137, Imd. Eff. Nov. 8, 2007 ;-- Am. 2008, Act 268, Eff. Oct. 1, 2008 ;-- Am. 2009, Act 121, Imd. Eff. Oct. 19, 2009 ;-- Am. 2010, Act 110, Eff. Oct. 1, 2010 ;-- Am. 2011, Act 62, Eff. Oct. 1, 2011 ;-- Am. 2012, Act 201, Eff. Oct. 1, 2012 ;-- Am. 2013, Act 60, Eff. Oct. 1, 2013 ;-- Am. 2014, Act 196, Eff. Oct. 1, 2014 ;-- Am. 2015, Act 85, Eff. Oct. 1, 2015
Last modified: October 10, 2016