State Funding of VPK
As the director of an early education and care program, one of your major tasks is dealing with the financial obligations of running a facility. When adding a VPK program, it is important to manage all financial resources for the program by first accurately predicting program payment. As determined by the Florida Legislature, the VPK full-time equivalent (FTE) rate for fiscal year 2006-07 is $2560. In addition, the rate will differ across counties based on the school district cost differential (DCD). Depending on the DCD for each county, the FTE rate may fluctuate up or down slightly.
Section
1002.71(3)(a), F.S.(a), states that "[e]ach county's
allocation per full-time equivalent student in the Voluntary Prekindergarten
Education Program shall be calculated annually by multiplying the
base student allocation provided in the General Appropriations Act
by the county's district cost differential provided in section 1011.62(2).
Each private prekindergarten provider and public school shall be
paid in accordance with the county's allocation per full-time equivalent
student.
Once your facility has established its daily instructional hour schedule, you are then able to determine the payment/reimbursement. When predicting program payment/reimbursement, you must first understand that VPK programs receive payment based on:
- the number of children enrolled in a class
- the number of daily instructional hours
- the number of days in a month
- the length of the program (540 hours vs. 300 hours).
For example, during the school year 540-hour program, a facility in Alachua County opens a VPK classroom with 18 children. This program offers 3 VPK instructional hours per day. During the month, there are 20 VPK class days. Based on a BSA of $2560 x DCD of .9867, this class would receive $5054.40 for the month.
| $2,560 | x | .9867 | = | 2525.95 | = $4.68 per hr. |
| 540 |
| Child | day | hrs/day | ||||
| 18 | X | 20 | X | 3 | = | 1,080 hrs. |
| $4.68 per hr. X 1,080 hrs = $5,054.40 |
