The Early Learning Coalition of Alachua County (ELCAC) would like to welcome all prospective childcare providers to this community of hardworking people dedicated to early childhood education. We are 1 of 30 non-profit organizations across Florida that serve as a resource for families and providers regarding the School Readiness (SR) and Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) Programs.

The Division of Early Learning (DEL) is responsible for creating the rules, forms, and databases for the SR and VPK Programs. They partner with all 30 Early Learning Coalitions for implementation. You can find more information on their website (https://www.fldoe.org/schools/early-learning/).

In short, the VPK Program lays the steppingstones to Kindergarten success by following FL developmental standards (https://flbt5.floridaearlylearning.com/). Although VPK is free for families, contracted providers are reimbursed $5.51 per VPK instructional hour for each VPK student in the school year and $8.46 in the summer. The VPK School Year Program consists of 540 total instructional hours and the VPK Summer Program consists of 300 total instructional hours.

If you are interested in offering the VPK Program at your childcare business, you must first complete the following prerequisites before you start the contracting process with ELCAC:

• Obtain a license certificate or license-exemption letter from the Department of Children & Families (DCF). You can find more information on their website (https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/licensing/child-care-licensure). It has many helpful resources for new providers such as operational requirements, budget planning, teacher training, etc. If you are deemed license-exempt, you must also have a Gold Seal certificate or be accredited by an association acknowledged in FL Statute 1002.55 to be eligible to contract with ELCAC (http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=1000-1099/1002/Sections/1002.55.html).

• Obtain a commercial general liability insurance policy for your childcare business from an insurance carrier of your choice. You must have our organization listed as both a certificate holder and additionally insured to be eligible to contract with ELCAC.

• Prepare your VPK staff. Your VPK Program must have a qualified VPK director, a qualified lead teacher for each VPK classroom, an aide for each VPK classroom with more than 11 students, and at least one substitute. Click the “VPK School Year Staff Requirements” link in the “Links & Additional Resources” section below for more details.

• Enroll in the E-Verify government database system to confirm eligibility for new hires to work in the United States (https://www.e-verify.gov/). You will be provided with an E-Verify Affidavit to complete during the contracting process.

Once all prerequisites are complete, you can begin the VPK contracting process with ELCAC which is entirely online through the statewide Provider Portal (https://providerservices.floridaearlylearning.com/Account/Login). This website was deployed by DEL in 2017 to streamline the exchange and verification of required forms and supporting documents. It involves 4 phases in the following order:

• Register for an account. You will need your taxpayer ID and DCF license or license-exemption number to begin the registration. It will then require basic business information regarding the ownership, facility name, physical address, and email address.

• Create a profile. The profile is separated by category into 10 tabs. You will enter the director’s name, contact information, ages served, additional services offered, curriculum, fees and discounts, hours of operation, capacity, private pay rates, planned holiday closures, and various supporting documents. This is the longest phase in the process of becoming a contracted provider. It is pertinent that the profile information is complete and accurate because it feeds into the VPK Contract, and it is used in provider listings for inquiring families.

• Complete a VPK Application. The VPK Application is separated by category into 5 tabs. You will enter the VPK attendance policy, director information with supporting documents, instructors with supporting documents, calendars, and classes.

• Sign a VPK Contract. It is recommended to read the VPK Contract before you decide to move forward as it outlines the responsibilities of both parties during and after contracting. You can find a PDF version of the VPK Contract to read, also known as Form DEL-VPK 20, by clicking the following link: https://www.flrules.org/gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-15166.

Each phase of the VPK contracting process comes with its own instructional packet created and distributed by the Provider Contracts Coordinator, Brandi Thomas. To request the first instructional packet or to ask questions about the information on this page, please email bthomas@elcalachua.org.

Thank you for your interest and efforts towards serving the children of Alachua County!

Links & Additional Resources:

DEL https://www.fldoe.org/schools/early-learning/

DCF https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/licensing/child-care-licensure

ELCAC Provider Contracts Coordinator bthomas@elcalachua.org

VPK School Year Staff Requirements