Code of Maine Rules › 10 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES › 148 - OFFICE OF CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES › Chapter 30 - EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR WORKFORCE SALARY SUPPLEMENT SYSTEM RULES › Section 148-30-1 - PURPOSE AND DEFINITIONS

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A.
Purpose
Maine's Early Childhood Educator Workforce Salary Supplement
				  System is designed to:
Increase early childhood educators' regular pay through
					 monthly salary supplements;
										Incentivize continuing education of the early childhood
					 workforce; and
										Raise the overall quality of care for young
					 children.
The Early Childhood Educator Workforce Salary Supplement
				  System is funded and administered by Maine's Department of Health and Human
				  Services, Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS). The Early Childhood
				  Educator Workforce Salary Supplement program is a system that provides salary
				  supplements to early childhood educators who provide direct services to
				  children in a child care facility licensed under 22 M.R.S. § 8301-A (2) or
				  a family child care provider licensed under 22 M.R.S. § 8301-A (3). Any
				  salary supplement funding provided by the department under this Rule to a child
				  care facility or family child care provider must be paid by that child care
				  facility or family child care provider to eligible facility or provider
				  employees in order to increase salaries for any early childhood educator who
				  provides direct child care services to children.
This rule applies to any child care program licensed under 22
				  M.R.S. § 8301-A. This is not a licensing rule. This rule:
Outlines procedures for Early Childhood Educator
					 Workforce Salary Supplements, including 3 tiers based on education and
					 experience;
										Explains how a licensed program must enroll in the
					 Early Childhood Educator Workforce Salary Supplement System; and
										Describes how licensed programs can appeal from
					 Department decisions regarding Overpayments and Underpayments.
B.
Definitions
For purposes of this rule, the following terms have the
				  following meanings:
1.
Administrative Errors
means errors caused solely by the
				Department.
2.
Career
				Lattice
means Maine Roads to Quality Professional Development Network's
				Career Lattice which awards levels of achievements to persons based on training
				and employment history or earned credentials. Refer to:
https://mrtq.org/registry/
3.
Child or Children
means a
				person or persons under the age of thirteen (13).
4.
Child Care and Development Fund
				(CCDF)
means the federally funded, State-administered program that
				provides assistance to low-income families who need child care due to work,
				work-related training, and/or attending school.
5.
Child Care Facility
as
				defined at 22 M.R.S. § 8301-A(1-A) (B).
6.
Compliance Monitoring
means
				the Department's review of required documentation, including Payroll Records,
				for compliance with this rule.
7.
Department
means the Maine Department of Health and Human
				Services, Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS).
8.
Department-approved
means
				consent by the CCDF State Child Care Administrator or his/her
				designee.
9.
Direct Services
				to Children
means the providing of care, education, protection,
				supervision, or guidance to children.
10.
Director
means a person with
				primary responsibility for administering an Early Care and Education Program
				and ultimate supervisory authority over any Child Care Staff Members. A
				Director may or may not be a Program Owner.
11.
Early Care and Education
means the care, education, protection, supervision, and guidance of Children
				from birth through school age.
12.
Early Care and Education Program (Program)
means, for purposes of
				this rule, a licensed Family Child Care Provider, or licensed Child Care
				Facility.
13.
Early Childhood
				Educator (Educator)
means an individual:
a. Who is employed by a Child Care Facility
				or Family Child Care for compensation, including an owner, a contract employee,
				or self-employed individual; and
b.
				Whose activities involve Direct Services to Children.
14.
Early Childhood Educator Workforce
				Salary Supplement Payment (Salary Supplement)
means the individual
				salary supplement paid monthly to each Early Childhood Educator by a Program
				Owner from the Salary Supplement Funding provided by the Department under this
				rule.
15.
Early Childhood
				Educator Workforce Salary Supplement System
means the program
				established in 22 M.R.S. § 3737-A and implemented by this rule.
16.
Family Child Care Provider
as defined at 22 M.R.S. § 8301-A(1-A) (C).
17.
License
means written
				permission by the Department, whether initial, renewal, temporary, or
				conditional, that authorizes a person to be a Family Child Care Provider or
				operate a Child Care Facility.
18.
Maine Roads to Quality (MRTQ) Professional Development Network (PDN)
				Registry
means an on-line portal that uses a member's work, education,
				and training histories, along with any professional credentials, to assign a
				level on the appropriate Career Lattice. MRTQ PDN Registry consists of a
				partnership between the Cutler Institute at the University of Southern Maine,
				the University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies,
				and the Maine Afterschool Network.
19.
Overpayment
means when the
				amount paid exceeds the amount that would have been paid if the Early Care
				Educator Workforce Salary Supplement Payment had been calculated correctly
				based on information submitted in the Registry Portal, verified, and acted on
				in a timely manner.
20.
Payroll Records
means documentation associated with paying
				individual employees. Payroll Records includes, but is not limited to, direct
				deposit authorization forms and paystubs that shows itemization of the Early
				Childhood Educator Workforce Salary Supplement Payment being paid to individual
				Early Childhood Educators.
21.
Program Owner
means a person with any ownership interest in a
				licensed Family Child Care or Child Care Facility or whose name appears on any
				license issued by the Department for the Program.
22.
Registration Portal
means
				the website that provides registration information for individual Early Care
				and Education Program's Salary Supplement Funding details.
23.
Salary Supplement Funding
means a monthly payment by the Department to an Early Care and Education
				Program equal to each of the Program's employees' Salary Supplement Payment for
				the previous month, and which must be paid by the Program to increase wages for
				each employee who provides direct services to children.
24.
State Child Care
				Administrator
means the person in the Department responsible for
				administering the CCDF grant.
25.
Underpayment
means when the amount paid is less than the amount
				that would have been paid if the Early Care Educator Workforce Salary
				Supplement Payment had been calculated correctly based on information submitted
				in the Registration Portal, verified, and acted on in a timely
				manner.
26.
Volunteer
means a person who helps or provides services without compensation in an Early
				Care and Education Program.