Care vouchers for school-age children

It is a subsidy in voucher form to pay for care services for school-age children, designed above all for extended hours — the stretch between when school ends and the parent’s working day ends. It is administered by the Families and Children Administration of the Department of the Family, and it is not the same care programme ACUDEN administers, which has its own waiting list and its own route.

The statement of motives aims the programme at low-income families in which the custodial parent or both work, study or train to get employment or better pay, with emphasis on extended-hours care for children between five and twelve years old. Article 7 conditions the award on the availability of funds and on meeting the family income, employment or study requirements, and any others set by regulation. The Act publishes no income threshold in dollars and no exact criteria: Article 11 entrusts those to the Secretary of the Department of the Family by regulation, and we did not read that regulation.

• The award is subject to the availability of funds and to participating parents meeting the family income, employment or study requirements, and any others set by regulation (Article 7).Verified against the official source
• The provider must be licensed by the Department of the Family’s Licensing Division, or comply with the Provider Registry if they hold no State licence (Article 8(A)).Verified against the official source
• The provider must maintain an admission policy free of discrimination by race, sex, colour, origin or social condition, physical disability, political ideas or religious beliefs (Article 8(B)).Verified against the official source

• The forms and procedures the Programme itself prepares with the resources of the Families and Children Administration to guarantee its implementation and the provision of services (Article 2).

1. 1

   Step 1: First, do not confuse it with the other care programme

   This voucher is not administered by ACUDEN. Article 2 creates the Special Voucher Programme for the Care and Development of School-Age Children attached to the Families and Children Administration of the Department of the Family. It is a distinct programme from the care one ACUDEN administers with its waiting list, and it is designed for a different age and a different schedule: school-age and extended hours. The Act charges the Programme itself with using the Administration’s resources to prepare the necessary procedures, forms and processes, and to establish a non-discriminatory, fair and equitable procedure for awarding the vouchers.

2. 2

   Step 2: Who it is for, per the Act itself

   The statement of motives says it plainly: the Legislative Assembly considered it necessary to create a special voucher programme to defray the payment of care services for school-age children, with emphasis on extended-hours care for children between five and twelve years old, with the aim of helping low-income families in which the custodial parent or both work, study or train to get employment or better pay. An honest precision is due: that five-to-twelve range appears in the statement of motives, which explains the Act’s purpose; the operative articles set no age themselves and leave the concrete requirements to regulation.

3. 3

   Step 3: How much the voucher gives and how it is calculated

   Article 7 is the one with the figure. The monthly subsidy paid through the vouchers shall be calculated according to three things: the child’s age, the family nucleus’s income and the classification of the approved service, per the regulation established for that purpose. And then the cap, written without margin: “The amount granted for such special vouchers shall not in any case exceed the sum of two hundred (200) dollars monthly per family nucleus.” Note the unit, which is what confuses most: two hundred dollars per family nucleus per month, not per child. The award is also subject to the availability of funds.

4. 4

   Step 4: Who may be the care provider

   Article 8 sets two requirements for providers of services under the Programme. The first: to be licensed by the Department of the Family’s Licensing Division, or to comply with the Provider Registry if they hold no State licence. That alternative matters, because it opens the door to providers without a formal licence provided they are on the registry. The second: to maintain an admission policy free of discrimination by race, sex, colour, origin or social condition, physical disability, political ideas or religious beliefs. Article 14 adds that the Comptroller’s Office may examine, review, audit or inspect the documents, files or papers of participating providers, to confirm the resources were used per applicable laws and regulations.

5. 5

   Step 5: The public school can also be the provider

   Article 9 authorises the Department of Education to become a provider of child care and development services in those schools or facilities with the infrastructure required to deliver this type of service. And it imposes a planning task: the Department of Education shall evaluate and prepare an inventory of the need for child care services for each School District under its jurisdiction, and share that information with the Department of the Family so it can project the need for the service in the short, medium and long term, as well as fund allocation and distribution. That is, the Act contemplates extended-hours care happening in the school itself.

6. 6

   Step 6: The voucher can stack with other aid

   This is the most overlooked point and the one that can be worth money. Article 10 provides that the scholarships, vouchers or educational aid conferred under this Act may be supplementary to any other scholarship or educational aid, whether based on economic need or on the participant’s academic achievement, or coming from federal, state, municipal or private funds. In other words: receiving this voucher does not automatically disqualify you from other aid, nor the other way round. The Act does not say they stack without limit, it says they may be supplementary; the details are left to regulation.

7. 7

   Step 7: How it accounts for itself, and the figure worth asking for

   Article 15 obliges the Families and Children Administration to submit to the Legislative Assembly, no later than sixty days after each fiscal year closes, a report on the Programme’s development and progress including funds used, beneficiaries served, applicants left unattended and recommendations on measures to be adopted. That third figure — applicants left unattended — is the one that says whether the programme meets demand, and it is public by statutory mandate. Article 16 closes with the sanction: the Secretary of the Department of the Family may impose administrative fines of no more than five thousand dollars for each violation of the Act or its regulations.

8. 8

   Step 8: What the Act does not tell you about the procedure

   Worth saying before you go looking. Act 266-2000 publishes no place to apply, creates no named form, sets no application period, gives no income threshold in dollars, lists no approved providers, sets no term for an answer, and creates no appeal route if you are denied. Article 11 charges the Secretary of the Department of the Family with issuing the rules and regulations, and provides that this regulation shall establish the reasonable eligibility and fund distribution requirements; that is where all that detail lives, and we did not read it. A note on the programme’s money: Article 12 assigned ten million dollars against the Special Educational Opportunities Fund for fiscal year 2000-2001, and provided that successive years be consigned under the same fund. That figure is from a fiscal year in 2000; it does not describe today’s budget and we do not present it as such.

Before the Families and Children Administration of the Department of the Family, the agency to which the Act attaches the Programme. Providers are licensed by the Department of the Family’s Licensing Division or appear on the Provider Registry. The Department of Education may be a provider in schools with the required infrastructure. The Act publishes no addresses, telephones, forms or portals, and we do not guess government internet addresses.

• Looking for this voucher at ACUDEN: the Programme is attached to the Families and Children Administration of the Department of the Family.
• Believing the $200 is per child: the Act says it shall not in any case exceed that monthly sum per family nucleus.
• Thinking the voucher covers all the care: it is a subsidy ceiling, not the price of the service, and the Act does not say what the family pays above it.
• Taking approval for granted if you qualify: the award is also subject to the availability of funds.
• Ruling out a provider for lacking a State licence: the Act accepts compliance with the Provider Registry in that case.
• Giving up another scholarship for fear of losing the voucher: Article 10 allows this aid to be supplementary to others, including federal and private ones.
• Assuming the care must be outside the school: Article 9 authorises the Department of Education to be a provider in schools with the required infrastructure.
• Taking the five-to-twelve range as a statutory requirement: it appears in the statement of motives, and the concrete requirements are set by regulation.
• Citing the ten million as the current budget: it was the fiscal year 2000-2001 appropriation.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de la Familia

  Familia

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov