The Children's Coalition for NELA has been awarded the Guidestar Gold Seal of Transparency 2021! Click the button below to learn more.

The Children’s Coalition for NELA Lead Agency intends to submit the Coordinated Funding Request for the 2021-2022 school year on behalf of the following parishes:

• East Carroll
• Richland
• Morehouse
• Ouachita & City of Monroe

If awarded the funds requested will be used to fund early childhood seats for LA4, NSECD, and Preschool Development Grant Birth-3.

Each publicly funded early childhood program was provided equal opportunity to complete the coordinated funding request application for their network, funds were requested for eligible programs.  

Eligibility requirements are as follows:  

• LA4 - programs must be a public school system, rated proficient or higher on early childhood performance profile, use Tier 1 curriculum and have certified lead teachers. 
• NSECD - program must not be a public school, must be rated proficient or higher on early childhood performance profile, use Tier 1 curriculum and have certified lead teachers. 
• PDG - must be a publicly funded Type III early learning center, serve infants, must be rated proficient or higher on early childhood performance profile, use Tier 1 curriculum and have certified lead teachers. 

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The funding requests have been posted for public comment on Children's Coalition for Northeast Louisiana website as of January 22nd - February 1st, 2021.  

Notice of public comment has been emailed to early childhood program partners and community stakeholders including Ready Start Advisory as appropriate for Morehouse and Richland and Children's Coalition Board of Directors.  

Comments may be submitted via email to Amy Clancy by February 1st, 2021.

The Louisiana Department of Education announced changes to the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), which provides federal funds to help low-income working families pay for child care. The changes, approved during today’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting, enable more Louisiana families to afford and qualify for child care assistance. 

​Effective February 1, 2021:

• CCAP daily reimbursement rates will be increased to reflect the state’s current market rates for child care, significantly reducing out of pocket cost for working families and increasing family choice.
• Income eligibility will be increased to 65% of the State Median Income (SMI) in order to align with other child care programs, allowing families to make more income and still qualify for child care subsidy (CCAP).
• Providers will be reimbursed at the state’s newly established daily reimbursement rate irrespective of their own rates to assist with paying toward the true cost of quality child care.

“To reach our goal of ensuring all students are ready for kindergarten, it’s vital that we increase access to high-quality child care for Louisiana’s most vulnerable children,” said State Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley. “This shift puts higher quality programs within the reach of families who need them.”

Historically, families receiving child care assistance have been limited in their options by what they can afford with the help of child care assistance. Current CCAP reimbursement rates provide access to approximately one in four centers. The rate increase will allow CCAP-eligible families to choose between three in every four centers. This change will help ensure that more low-income families that are working, in school or actively seeking work can access high-quality child care for their children.

This will expand options for families who couldn’t previously afford the gap between what a provider charged and what the state pays, and thereby, open the door to families who could not previously afford child care at all.

“These necessary updates to the CCAP program help to address the real financial needs of low-income families regarding child care,” said BESE President Sandy Holloway. “Raising the reimbursement rates and expanding income eligibility will greatly increase the number of quality child care options for more families across the state that need assistance, and that ultimately leads to more children being prepared to learn on day one of kindergarten.”

“The proposed changes to the CCAP rates are one of the most significant and impactful measures we can take that will have lifelong impacts on our youngest learners,” said Alan Young, Owner of Southland Park Learning Center and Early Childhood Advisory Council Member. “These proposed changes will provide families access to additional high-quality early learning centers,ensuring every child is ready to learn when they enter kindergarten.”  

"The Louisiana Policy Institute for Children applauds the Louisiana Department of Education and BESE for making the necessary changes to both the reimbursement rates and eligibility criteria of the Child Care Assistance Program,” said Louisiana Policy Institute for Children Executive Director Dr. Libbie Sonnier. “These changes will help more Louisiana families get back to work to support our economy as well as support the growth and development of young children entering kindergarten ready to learn.” 

The income eligibility for CCAP is being increased to approximately 200% of the federal poverty level or $43,440 for a family of three. Along with making child care affordable for more families, this change also better aligns CCAP’s income eligibility with other early childhood programs like LA 4. 

​The policy changes are part of a broader effort by the Department — in collaboration with BESE, child care providers, advocates and families — to unify the system of early childhood education and to prepare all children for kindergarten by increasing access to and affordability of child care statewide.

Louisiana’s annual education conference is returning in 2021 with in-person and virtual options for educators from across the state. Registration is now open for the Louisiana Department of Education’s 2021 Teacher Leader Summit. The theme of this year’s event is Inspire. Innovate. Impact. The in-person Summit will be held May 25-27 at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. The Teacher Leader Summit: The Virtual Series will take place June 1-3.

The current registration is for the in-person Summit. Information will be released at a later date for the virtual event. In-person registration information is as follows:
Early Bird Registration (January 8 - March 1) 

• One Day Ticket: $55 
• Two Day Ticket: $108

Regular Registration (March 2 - April 12) 

• One Day Ticket: $71 
• Two Day Ticket: $140

Regular Registration (March 2 - April 12) 

• One Day Ticket: $71 
• Two Day Ticket: $140

Both the Department and the Morial Convention Center are taking measures to promote the health and safety of all participants. As a result, overall capacity will be reduced. Due to social distancing parameters, the Department has allocated a specific allotment of seats to each school system and early childhood lead agency for the in-person event. There will be no onsite registration this year. All registrations must be completed in advance of arriving at the event.

The Department has notified each system of their total number of seats and each school system has been issued a unique registration code for all tickets during the registration process. It is up to each school system or each early childhood lead agency to determine the best path for disbursing seats across their schools, sites and educators. 

Additionally, the Department will host the Teacher Leader Summit: The Virtual Series on June 1-3. The Virtual Series allows the Department to reach more Louisiana educators and deliver even more content.

To best assist schools systems and school leaders in determining to whom they should distribute their allocated seats, the Department has released a one-pager outlining which content will be delivered in-person and which content to expect to be delivered virtually. General Summit information can be found in the 
overview document posted to the Teacher Leader Library. Please contact [email protected] with questions. 

In addition to in-person registration, the Department is also accepting exhibitor applications for the resource fair and design concepts for the annual Summit t-shirt.