An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Government Oversight Committee and the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability Regarding Child Development Services
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0034
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Amends: 20-A MRSA §7209

Legislative Document 
No. 34 
H.P. 27 
House of Representatives, January 15, 2013 
An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Government 
Oversight Committee and the Office of Program Evaluation and 
Government Accountability Regarding Child Development Services 
Reported by Representative MacDONALD of Boothbay for the Office of Program 
Evaluation and Government Accountability pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 3, 
section 997, subsection 2. 
Reference to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs suggested and ordered 
printed pursuant to Joint Rule 218. 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA §7209, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2011, c. 655, Pt. OO, §4, 
is further amended to read: 
4.  Director of early childhood special education.  The commissioner shall appoint 
and supervise a director of early childhood special education.  The director has the 
following powers and duties: 
A.  To administer the state intermediate educational unit established under subsection 
and programs established pursuant to subsection 3-A.  The director shall develop 
operating policies and establish organizational and operational procedures that 
include supervision, monitoring, data and accountability structures; 
A-1.  To oversee the operation of the regional sites; 
B.  To develop statewide policies and procedures for carrying out federal and state 
laws and rules relating to child find, early intervention services and the provision of a 
free, appropriate public education to children from birth to under 6 years of age;  
C.  To provide training in federal and state laws, regulations, rules and policies 
relating to child find as provided in 20 United States Code, Section 1412 (a) (3), early 
intervention services and the provision of a free, appropriate public education to 
children from birth to under 6 years of age and to conduct regular file reviews to 
determine compliance with federal and state laws, regulations, rules and policies and 
conduct training and provide technical assistance where deficiencies are found; and 
D.  To report annually to the council and to the joint standing committee of the 
Legislature having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs on the performance 
of the Child Development Services System.  This report may include information on 
any expansions of the connections of child find and service delivery with school 
administrative units, with the Department of Health and Human Services and with 
medical providers.  This report may include information on any expansion of the 
connection of child find with nurse midwives.  This report may include information 
on the number of children screened in the programs in Title 22, sections 1532, 8824 
and 8943, the number of such children referred to the Child Development Services 
System who were found eligible for early intervention and the number of such 
children referred to the Child Development Services System who were found 
ineligible for early intervention.  This report may also include information on annual 
performance over at least a 5-year period of each individual regional site and of the 
entire Child Development Services System; may benchmark performance against 
state and national standards; may include information about performance in child 
find, service delivery, service coordination, eligibility and exit data for children 
leaving the Child Development Services System; and may describe strategies that the 
Child Development Services System has undertaken to maximize the usage of a 
broad base of community resources including private providers, public schools, 
resources from other agencies and other available resources serving children and 
families.  The report must be publicly posted on the website of the department. 
E.  To report annually by February 15th to the joint standing committee of the 
Legislature having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs and the joint 
standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over appropriations and 
financial affairs on the performance of the Child Development Services System.  This 
report must be posted on the publicly accessible website of the department.  The 
report must include: 
(1)  The following financial information for the Child Development Services 
System in total and separately for the services provided to eligible children from 
birth to under 3 years of age and at least 3 years of age and under 6 years of age 
when the information can be separated for these age categories: 
(a)  Actual expenditures compared to the budget for each of the last 3 fiscal 
years for each regional site, the central office and the total Child 
Development Services System by function, including case management, 
direct services and administration; 
(b)  Actual expenditures compared to the budget for each of the last 3 fiscal 
years for each regional site, the central office and the total Child 
Development Services System by expense type, including salaries, benefits, 
contracted services and transportation; 
(c)  Actual revenues received compared to the budget for each of the last 3 
fiscal years by revenue source; and 
(d)  The total dollar value of MaineCare claims paid through the Department 
of Health and Human Services for each of the last 3 fiscal years for services 
provided pursuant to children's individualized education programs or 
individualized family service plans that were billed directly to the MaineCare 
program by contracted service providers; 
(2)  The following data for the Child Development Services System in total and 
separately for the services provided to eligible children from birth to under 3 
years of age and at least 3 years of age and under 6 years of age, including 
descriptions of any notable variations in these data among regional sites and any 
notable year-to-year trends over the past 5 years: 
(a)  The number of children referred to the Child Development Services 
System in the prior year by referral source, including the screening programs 
in Title 22, sections 1532, 8824 and 8943, and the percentage of children 
referred found eligible for services; 
(b)  The number of children who entered the Child Development Services 
System in the prior year, categorized by primary disability; 
(c)  The number of children who exited the Child Development Services 
System in the prior year, categorized by primary disability and the reason for 
exit; 
(d)  The number of children who transitioned in the prior year from early 
intervention services for children from birth to under 3 years of age to special 
education and related services for children at least 3 years of age and under 6 
years of age; 
(e)  The unduplicated count of children who received direct services as of 
December 1st in the prior year; 
(f)  The number of children who received direct services in the prior year by 
regional site and in total for the Child Development Services System, 
categorized by primary disability; 
(g)  For each primary disability category, the number of children who 
received, in the prior year, each primary type of therapy or service; and 
(h)  The percentage of children who received direct services in the prior year 
who had MaineCare coverage for all or some of the services specified in their 
individualized education programs or individualized family service plans and 
the percentage of children who received direct services in the prior year who 
had private insurance coverage for all or some of the services specified in 
their individualized education programs or individualized family service 
plans; 
(3)  A listing of the regional sites and their locations and the following data for 
the Child Development Services System in total and by regional site, including 
descriptions of any notable variations in these statistics among regional sites and 
any notable year-to-year trends over the past 5 fiscal years: 
(a)  The total number of employees by function and the number of new 
employees hired in the prior fiscal year by function; 
(b)  The number of private providers that contracted with the Child 
Development Services System to provide direct services, including 
transportation services, and the number of contracted providers delivering 
each type of service in the prior fiscal year; 
(c)  The number of children who received direct services provided by Child 
Development Services System employees in the prior fiscal year and the 
number of children who received direct services provided by contracted 
private providers in the prior fiscal year; 
(d)  The number of preschool or day care programs operated by each regional 
site, the average enrollment in each program, the percentage of enrollees that 
are children receiving services under individualized education programs or 
individualized family service plans and expenses and revenues for the prior 
fiscal year associated with the programs in each site; and 
(e)  The number of children who received direct services in the prior fiscal 
year while placed in preschool programs operated by public school systems; 
(4)  Statistics and analysis of the following Child Development Services System 
performance measures for the prior fiscal year, including descriptions of any 
notable variations in these measures among regional sites and any notable year-
to-year trends over the past 5 fiscal years: 
(a)  Measures of compliance with key federal requirements related to 
timeliness, quality and effectiveness of service as set out in required annual 
federal reporting under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education 
Act; 
(b)  Measures of compliance with key state requirements related to 
timeliness, quality and effectiveness of service as set out in statute and rules; 
(c)  Measures of productivity for Child Development Services System 
employees providing case management and direct services to children; 
(d)  Measures of per unit costs, including the average cost of delivered 
services per child by primary disability type, the average cost per unit of each 
type of therapy or service delivered by Child Development Services System 
staff and the average cost per unit of each type of therapy or service delivered 
by contracted providers; and 
(e)  Any other performance goals and measures established by the Child 
Development Services System to monitor effectiveness, efficiency and the 
cost of the Child Development Services System, which may include results 
of surveys of parents and guardians on the quality and effectiveness of 
services; 
(5)  A description of efforts the Child Development Services System has 
undertaken to coordinate with other entities and maximize the use of a broad base 
of community resources, including private providers and public schools, 
resources from other agencies and other resources serving families and children 
from birth to under 6 years of age; and 
(6)  A description of current and emerging trends and challenges that are having 
an effect on or are expected to have an effect on costs, services or service 
delivery methods of the Child Development Services System; and 
F.  To provide the following data by the 20th day of each month to the Office of 
Fiscal and Program Review, either in a monthly report or by providing the office 
electronic access to the computer systems and applications by which the raw data are 
stored, for each regional site and the central office: 
(1)  Monthly actual and budgeted revenue by funding source for the prior month; 
and 
(2)  Monthly actual and budgeted expenditures by funding source and by 
expenditure category for the prior month. 
For the purposes of this subsection, "direct services" includes evaluations; therapies; 
special instruction; the use of specially designed materials for instruction, screening and 
testing; the use of assistive technology devices; and transportation and use of physical 
space associated with providing other direct services. 
SUMMARY 
This bill implements recommendations of the Government Oversight Committee 
stemming from the report on child development services issued by the Office of Program 
Evaluation and Government Accountability in July 2012.  The purpose of this bill is to 
require improved reporting to the Legislature on key financial and performance aspects of 
the Child Development Services System and the programs it administers, in order to 
enhance transparency, accountability and legislative oversight.  The system is an entity 
established in statute with responsibility for administering federal programs for eligible 
children from birth to under 6 years of age under the federal Individuals with Disabilities 
Education Act.  The system and its programs receive some federal funding but are 
primarily supported by the General Fund.