The state has secured private money to launch its first public childcare rating system, though questions remain about how effective it will be.
The Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation and United Way of Metro Atlanta have together donated $2.4 million, enough to see the voluntary rating system through its first year, said Bobby Cagle, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.
"We're still fundraising, and we're very optimistic that we will be able to raise the money that we need," Cagle told The AJC in an exclusive interview Monday.
State officials had hoped to create a quality rating system similar to the star ratings given to hotels and restaurants, using $10 million in federal grant money. But the state lost out on the grant money last December, leading Cagle to begin a campaign for private contributions.
The need for a childcare rating system has been well-documented.
A series of investigative reports by the AJC during the past 10 months showed that nearly 2,500 day care programs have failed to meet the state's standards for children's health and safety at least once in the past four years, and hundreds of those providers fell short in more than one year.
The newspaper also found that, during those four years, the state paid $355 million in subsidies – for pre-K programs and for low-income children – to daycare providers that DECAL ruled “noncompliant” with its basic standards. In addition, DECAL chose not to make that public, so parents – and even some day care providers – didn’t know.
Most states already have quality childcare rating systems. Many, like the one Georgia's developing, are voluntary and offer childcare centers financial incentives to participate.
Some have found centers slow to sign up. Cagle defended the decision to have a voluntary, rather than mandatory rating system.
"If we mandated it, we wouldn't have the resources to staff it," he said.
Cagle said, in many cases, the consequences could be bad for children.
Many of the centers that aren't in compliance with state rules are not well-funded and are in areas of the state where they can't demand higher prices from parents, he said.
"So to require participation of those centers would probably run them out business and children into unlicensed centers," Cagle said.
The financial incentives offered through the voluntary program should be an inducement for centers to participate, he said.
His department also plans a big publicity campaign, which should have parents looking for the quality rating and more centers signing up, Cagle said.
The state set a goal of getting 700 centers on board this year and has already signed up 600 out of a potential 6,315 providers.
By July 2013, participating centers will have their ratings on public display in their windows and on the state's website. The agency initially planned to rate all participating centers as "good," "very good" or "excellent." But that idea has since been scrapped and a new rating symbol is under development.
"Georgia needs the Quality-Rated system so parents can go to work knowing their children are being properly educated and cared for, and we can all be assured our children are being prepared for our future workforce,” said Mindy Binderman, executive director of the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students.
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