Item 08 - Informational Report for the California Department of Social Services Child Care Grant

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Informational Report for the California Department of Social Services Child Care Grant September 16, 2025 Page 3 5 3 3 9 •Specific requirements for enrollment, attendance tracking, and determining student eligibility. Without implementing a specialized software system, these requirements would be difficult to comply with and regular state audits come with a high level of scrutiny. As part of the initial application (Exhibit 3), PRCSA planned to serve 515 school-aged children at seven (7) different City facilities with a staff to child ratio of 1:10 resulting in a plan for 52 qualified staff members. Title 22 Regulations only require a ratio of 1:14 for school-aged children, resulting in a need for 37 qualified staff members. PRCSA staff planned to hire an experienced Site Director to subsequently hire certified teaching staff and to develop a curriculum and a plan to comply with Title 5 and Title 22 Regulations. This would place significant risk of City liability in one new employee’s hands. The City currently lacks the institutional experience, resources, and capacity to effectively and successfully implement a program compliant with all applicable regulations within the initial contract period. Grantee Agencies City Management was able to find recent CDSS award information for the child care program. •FY21-22 – only 3 of 113 awardees were cities (Colton, Los Angeles, and Oakland) •FY22-23 – only 1 of 108 awardees was a city (Santa Ana) •FY23-24 – no award information posted •FY24-25 – no cities were among the 108 awardees The overwhelming majority of awardees were non-profit organizations and educational agencies that have existing resources and facilities to provide education and childcare. PRCSA staff advised City Management that Santa Ana was the last applicant accepted to the program before CDSS stopped accepting new applications citing projected future state budget shortfalls. Fiscal Review The City has an internal requirement for departments to submit grant information to Finance for a fiscal review before a grant award is accepted. PRCSA staff did not submit the grant information for a fiscal review as they saw the award as “contract funds” as opposed to a grant, even though the proposed resolution for City Council on November 19 included an authorization to execute any documents “necessary to accept the grant award.” The program does not provide assurances for future reimbursements of the City’s total costs associated with the program. For example, the City would not be reimbursed for charges that are not in full compliance with the Funding Terms and Conditions. As another example, the City would be required to enter into contracts with families served