For grants to support and stabilize the early education and care workforce and address varied operational costs at state child care programs supervised by the department of early education and care; provided, that the distribution of stabilization grants shall prioritize equity and early education programs with higher percentages of state subsidized enrollment; provided further, that the department shall collect data from participating programs, including, but not limited to, the: (i) number of enrolled children; (ii) number of educators employed; (iii) efforts to recruit and retain employees; (iv) available demographic data of the families served by participating providers; and (v) percentage of grant funding spent on salaries, compensation, workforce training and facilities improvements; provided further, that programs shall respond to all data collection requests and surveys from the department to be eligible for said stabilization grants; provided further, that the department shall submit quarterly reports on the distribution of funds from this item to the executive office for administration and finance, the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on education; provided further, that each report shall include, but not be limited to: (a) a description of the formula through which funding is allocated to providers; (b) an analysis of the incorporation of equity into said formula, including the projected disbursement of funding to state subsidized and non-state subsidized childcare programs; (c) an analysis of the demographic data of the families served by participating programs including, but not limited to, the number of children served in: (1) communities with a high social vulnerability index; and (2) communities with an area median income of up to 85 per cent of the state median income; and (d) a description of the efforts undertaken to improve the distribution of funds to providers serving high-needs populations; provided further, that funds may be expended for departmental technical assistance related to the administration and distribution of funding; provided further, that the department shall provide technical assistance to providers to assist them in planning for sustainable expenditures; and provided further, that funds may be expended to support data collection technology, personnel and supports related to this item
| | General Fund | ............... | 52.63% |
| | High-Quality Early Education & Care Affordability Fund | ............... | 47.37% |
