Head Start Alachua County Continuous Application
Contract with ELCAC for the VPK Program
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. ELCAC serves as a resource for families and providers regarding the School Readiness (SR) and Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) Programs.
The VPK Program lays the steppingstones to Kindergarten success by following FL developmental standards: http://www.floridaearlylearning.com/vpk/vpk-providers/the-vpk-class. Although it is FREE for families, approved VPK providers in Alachua County are reimbursed $4.51 per VPK instructional hour per VPK child enrollment in the School Year Program and $6.93 per VPK instructional hour per VPK child enrollment in the Summer Program. 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 a VPK program at your childcare business, you must first request and receive a license or license exemption letter from the Department of Child and Families (DCF): https://www.myflfamilies.com/service-programs/child-care/child-care-licensure.shtml. Once you're registered through DCF, you may start the contracting process with ELCAC.
The contracting process is now entirely online through the statewide Provider Portal. This website was deployed by the Florida Office of Early Learning (OEL) in 2017 to streamline the exchange and verification of required forms and supporting documents. It has gone through many data fixes and feature releases throughout its first few years. We appreciate your patience and understanding as it continues to be developed. Furthermore, please be aware that you are welcome to use the shared resources (internet, computers, scanners, printers, etc.) in our main lobby during normal business hours.
To start the contracting process with ELCAC, create an account in the Provider Portal by clicking the blue "here" on the righthand side of the log-in page: https://providerservices.floridaearlylearning.com/Account/Login. The account must be created by an individual authorized as a contract representative for your childcare business such as the owner or director. After you have successfully registered for an account, email the ELCAC Provider Contracts Coordinator, Brandi Thomas (bthomas@elcalachua.org), to request activation. Please keep in mind that each step in the contracting process requires approval before the next step is available so don't be discouraged if you can't move forward right away.
Once your account is activated by ELCAC, Brandi Thomas (bthomas@elcalachua.org) will email you a locally created instructional packet to help you create a profile in the Provider Portal. Profiles contain both Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) and contract information. The CCR&R data will be shared with the governor's office, legislature, state officials, agencies, and families seeking childcare. It's a wonderful opportunity to market your program to a wide range of families at no cost! The contract data will be auto-populated into fixed fields of the VPK Contract later in the contracting process. For these reasons, it is imperative that your profile is entirely accurate.
All status changes within the Provider Portal trigger an automatic email notification from DONOTREPLY@oel.myflorida.com. Profiles are often rejected multiple times before approval due to inconsistent or missing information. If your profile is rejected, you will find a list of corrections needed written by ELCAC in the "Additional Comments" section at the bottom of the email from DONOTREPLY@oel.myflorida.com. It is recommended that you check your email inbox daily as email is ELCAC's main form of communication.
After your profile is changed to an "Active" status by ELCAC, Brandi Thomas will email you another locally created instructional packet to help you complete a VPK Application and VPK Contract. The VPK Application will consist of your VPK attendance policy, director, instructors, calendars, and classes. The VPK Contract will consist of auto-populated business information, FL Rule/Statute dictating the responsibilities of each party, and some additional voluntary options. The contracting process is complete when your VPK Contract is set to a "Certified" status by ELCAC. Then, you will be considered an approved VPK provider for Alachua County!
If you have questions regarding VPK provider eligibility, general information, or the contracting process, please email Brandi Thomas (bthomas@elcalachua.org). You can also browse OEL's website for more details about the VPK Program: http://www.floridaearlylearning.com/vpk/families/finding-local-vpk-programs.
Thank you for your interest and efforts towards serving the children of Alachua County!
Additional Resources:
Profile Supporting Documents
VPK School Year Staff Requirements
VPK Summer Staff Requirements
VPK-Endorsement Guide for Director Credentials
Source: https://elcalachua.org/vpk/
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