Florida VPK and Early Learning Providers: Eligibility and Compliance Disputes

The Florida Constitution guarantees a voluntary, universal prekindergarten education for all four-year-olds. We represent Florida VPK providers in disputes with early learning coalitions and with the Division of Early Learning in the Department of Education over continued eligibility to participate in the program, whether the eligibility is threatened by program assessment scores and performance results or by Class I or Class II violations found in site inspections, which can bar you from receiving a good cause exemption (section 1002.68, Florida Statutes).

The time to challenge an inspection finding is short. Call us at 850-567-8445 or fill in the message form on this page.

How Providers Are Measured Now

The readiness rate that used to decide a provider’s standing is gone. Each provider now receives a program assessment that measures teacher-child interactions, and a performance metric that combines the program assessment score with children’s learning gains and outcomes. The metric produces a designation that runs from “unsatisfactory” to “excellent.”

Two consequences follow. A provider whose program assessment composite score is below the minimum the Department has set for contracting cannot take part in the next program year until it meets that score, and it may be reassessed only once in a program year. And a provider that falls below the minimum on the performance measures is placed on probation and must carry out an improvement plan; failing to meet the plan’s requirements means losing the VPK contract for at least two years and as many as five (section 1002.68(4)).

Why Inspection Findings Matter

If you are a VPK provider, you need to be very alert to any inspection report that finds a Class I or Class II violation, because there is a very limited window of time to challenge these findings. The Department may grant a good cause exemption, one year at a time, to a provider that falls short on the performance measures, but not to a provider that has had any Class I violation, or two or more Class II violations, within the two years before the request (section 1002.68(5)). So a finding you did not challenge can cost you the exemption when you need it. Class I and Class II violations are defined by rule of the Department of Children and Families.

The problem is that many providers do not pay attention to the findings in the inspection reports, particularly if no fine is imposed, and then they are surprised when these findings are later used against their eligibility to participate in the program, for as long as five years, after it is too late to challenge the findings.

Please contact us if you are a VPK or early learning provider and have wrongly been found to have committed a Class I or Class II violation and need to challenge that determination, or for any other issue relating to your eligibility as a Florida VPK provider. You can call us at 850-567-8445 or email us at Info@woodringlawfirm.com.