PLEASE NOTE: Legislative Information cannot perform research, provide legal advice, or interpret Maine law. For legal assistance, please contact a qualified attorney.
An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Government Oversight Committee and the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability Regarding Child Development Services
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 3 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.