Circular 2009/03 - Early childhood education funding

Date: 2 March 2009
To end date: 1 July 2009
Circular number: 2009/03
Category: Funding

Early Childhood Education Funding

This Circular is about: The March 2009 ECE funding payment.

This Circular replaces: 2008/13.

The action required is:

• read this circular in conjunction with the Early Childhood Education Funding Handbook (2007 update); and 
• file this circular and funding advice notice for future reference.

It is intended for: All Early Childhood Education (ECE) services (in particular, the management of these services).

For further information:

• On funding matters (either ECE Funding or Equity Funding), please call the Resourcing Division Contact Centre, Ministry of Education, PO Box 1666, Wellington.
  Phone: 04 463 8383 Fax: 04 463 8374
  Email: resourcing@minedu.govt.nz   
• On licensing or general operational matters contact the local Ministry of Education manager. Refer to Page 10 for contact details.
  You can download copies of this circular at end of this page.

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March 2009 Payment

Date of Payment

Correctly completed RS7 forms returned by Wednesday, 4 February 2009 will be assured of payment overnight on Monday, 2 March 2009. Advice Notices outline how payments were calculated.

Funding months

The recently submitted RS7 Early Childhood Funding Claims form data was used to calculate entitlements for the following months:

February 2009

Advance payments for February 2009 were paid in November 2008. The wash-up payment for February 2009 will be paid in July 2009.

Late claims

Correctly completed claim forms received after Wednesday, 4 February 2009 but before Friday, 6 March 2009 will be paid overnight on Friday, 20 March 2009.

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Return dates of RS7 forms

The Resourcing Division thanks all services who returned their RS7 forms to the ministry by the due date. We understand that meeting this deadline can be difficult and places pressure on services.

These deadlines are in place to allow the Resourcing Division: 

• sufficient time to process RS7 forms, including checking and correcting errors on forms, and contacting services for the correct information (where applicable) 
• to guarantee funding to services who have their forms in on time.

RS7 errors

Any errors made on the RS7 Funding Claim Forms may result in differences between expected and actual payments, or funding delays.

Some specific errors were repeats of errors made in previous funding periods. Please refer to past claim form errors and check all calculations carefully to ensure the same errors are not repeated before submitting the RS7.

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How funding rates are calculated for teacher-led services

Funding rates are calculated on Staff Hour Count figures submitted over the four month period, not on a month-by-month basis.

You may like to calculate the proportion of Registered Teacher Hours in advance of receiving your funding advice notices. The calculation is:

Total ECE Registered Teacher Hours for the four month period (rounded)
_____________________________________________________x 100%
Total ECE Registered Teacher Hours + Other Teacher Hours for the four month period (rounded)

Example:

Formula: Total ECE registered teacher hours (655) divided by Total ECE registered teacher hours + Other teacher hours (1595) = 41%

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Funding changes effective from 1 October 2008

Funding and teacher registration lapses

Where a registered teacher’s registration lapses, they may continue to be counted as registered on the Staff Hour Count from the date they submitted their application for registration renewal to the New Zealand Teachers Council. This period must not exceed three months. Services accessing this provision must keep a copy of the completed application, which must be signed and dated by the centre supervisor or manager. Any teacher applying for registration renewal must provide their employer service with a copy of the completed application.

If, after three months, registration renewal has not been approved the teacher must be counted as ‘other’ on the Staff Hour Count. Should registration renewal be declined, the ministry will recover any associated funding.

Support Grant eligibility changes

The Support Grant for Provisionally Registered Teachers may be claimed by teacher-led services employing provisionally registered teachers in fixed term positions of at least ten consecutive weeks. More information on the Support Grant is available in section 5-2 of the Early Childhood Education Funding Handbook.

Note: In order to claim the Support Grant for Provisionally Registered Teachers, the teacher must be employed with your service from the first working day of the month. In addition, if your service opened part way through the month you may not claim the Support Grant for Provisionally Registered Teachers for that month.

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Early childhood education funding rates

Funding rate

Funding rates for all services have increased as a result of Budget 2008

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Equity funding

General information

For background information on Equity Funding (including guidelines for reporting and expenditure) please refer to the Early Childhood Education Funding Handbook (2007 update).

Equity funding calculations

The March 2009 payment will include Equity Funding based on the early childhood service’s actual entitlement for October 2008 to January 2009.

Equity rates

The current Equity Funding rates per funded child hour are:

The current Equity Funding monthly grants are:

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Annual review of Equity Index (EQI)

Chartered, community-based services may apply to have their EQI reviewed in October each year. All review applicants for 2008 will receive a letter to confirm the outcome of their review. Successful review applicants will receive their new rate of equity funding in the March 2009 ECE funding payment. Further information on this process can be found on: www.lead.ece.govt.nz (keywords: equity funding).

New services and the Equity Index (EQI)

If you are a community-based service that opened between 1 October 2007 and 31 March 2008 then the children’s address information collected in October 2008 will be used to calculate your service’s EQI which will be applied to your March 2009 ECE funding payment. Funding will be back-dated to when your service opened.

If you are a community-based service that opened between 1 April 2008 and 30 September 2008, your service will receive an address collection pack during March 2009.

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Computer software programmes that produce electronic RS7 bulk funding forms

Information for services

Recent funding rounds have shown a number of services submitting incorrect computer-generated RS7 information.

In response the ministry has: 

• contacted providers of the computer software programmes used to generate these RS7 reports. Each provider contacted has assured the ministry that the systems issues have been rectified. 
• notified services that submitted a computer-generated RS7 report with incorrect data to advise them of this issue, requesting the service ensure correct data is provided in future.

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Process

Please ensure all RS7 applications have been fully checked before submission.

All RS7 forms received with system-generated errors will be returned to the service for correction.

Types of system generated errors

The types of system-generated errors that were most prevalent in the RS7s over the last three payments were: 

• wrong months advised for Advance Days section 
• wrong months advised for Support Grant section 
• wrong months advised for Entitlement Period 
• Funded child hours were provided without Staff Hour Count (SHC) because the service in fact did not operate on that day 
• applicants were not named and numbered when applying for support grants for provisionally registered teachers for the appropriate months 
• all months must be submitted in full, leaving no days the service operated without data in any of the required sections.

Please ensure the above sections, in particular, are checked to ensure the information is correct.

Note: As in the past, the ministry is unable to guarantee funding will be paid on 1 March 2009 where a service has submitted an RS7 with incorrect or missing data. Only services that have provided a fully completed and correct or corrected RS7 by Wednesday, 4 February 2009 will be assured of payment on the due date.

Where RS7s have been returned to services for correction and the corrected RS7 is received by the ministry between Wednesday, 4 February 2009 and Friday, 6 March 2009, payment will be made overnight on Friday, 20 March 2009.

It is the responsibility of each service to ensure that their RS7 returns are fully and accurately completed and returned within the timeframes notified.

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Emergency closure

Introduction

From time to time an Early Childhood Centre may need to close because of an emergency. Such closures are normally for one or two days only.

The last funding round saw a high number of issues around services claiming emergency closure dates. Please refer to the following information to ensure any future RS7s that include emergency closure days are completed correctly.

Example - emergency:
The following are examples of emergencies where funding will continue:

• extreme weather conditions 
• interruptions to essential services 
• non-controllable health and safety issues 
• civil defence emergencies.

Example - non-emergency:
The following examples are not emergencies: 

• lack of staff 
• person responsible is absent 
• funerals in the community 
• A&P Show.

The Ministry will not fund closures caused by these circumstances.
Note: There may be exceptions to this. Contact your local Ministry of Education office for further details.

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Contacting the ministry

If your service is forced to close in an emergency contact your local Ministry of Education office at the first available opportunity.

Record keeping requirements - emergency closure

Emergency closure APPROVED by local office

1. Note the emergency closure on your RS7 using the code ‘EC’ on the day of the emergency closure. 
2. Record the same funded child hour (FCH) enrolment pattern on the RS7 for the days of closure as for the previous month. Please note: staff hour count (SHC) cannot be claimed on emergency closure days. 
3. Attach a copy of the approval letter from your ministry local office confirming your service was closed due to an emergency, to the RS7 form. Keep the original approval for your records.

Emergency closure NOT APPROVED by local office

• Record the days of closure as days of non-operation on your RS7 form.

Services will not receive funding for an emergency closure day without an approval letter from their local Ministry of Education office.

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Further advice

Key contacts

ECE regulatory requirements

For further information or guidance on the early childhood education regulatory requirements, please contact your local Ministry of Education office. Please see below for contact details.

ECE Funding

For further information on the changes to the early childhood education funding system, please call the Ministry of Education’s Resourcing contact centre:
Phone (04) 463 8383
Fax (04) 463 8374
Email resourcing@minedu.govt.nz  
Postal address PO Box 1666, Wellington, New Zealand

Children with special education needs

The Early Intervention Service within the Ministry of Education’s Special Education group works with young children with special education needs, their families, and early childhood services. This service is available to children from birth until they are settled into school.

Teacher registration

For further information or guidance about Teacher Registration, contact the:

New Zealand Teachers’ Council
Phone (04) 471 0852
Fax (04) 471 0870
Email inquiries@teacherscouncil.govt.nz
Physical address 93 The Terrace, Wellington, New Zealand
Postal address PO Box 5326, Wellington, New Zealand

Inland Revenue Business and Tax Advice Services

For advice on business matters, tax and/or record-keeping, contact:
Inland Revenue
Business and Tax Advice Services 
Phone 0800 377 774

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Issued by

John Clark - Group Manager Resourcing
Resourcing Division
Te Wāhanga Whakrato Rawa
National Office
Physical address 45 - 47 Pipitea Street, Thorndon, Wellington, New Zealand
Postal address PO Box 1666, Wellington, New Zealand
Phone (04) 463 8383
Fax (04) 463 8374

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Local office contact details

Whangarei

Bronwyn Ward - ECE Development Officer
Physical address The Money Factory, Awaroa River Road
Postal address Private Bag 911, Whangarei 0140
Phone (09) 436 8900
Fax (09) 436 8901

Auckland

Jilly Tyler - Manager
Physical address Eden 5 Bldg, 12-18 Normanby Road, Mt Eden
Postal address Private Bag 92644, Symonds Street, Auckland
Phone (09) 632 9400
Fax (09) 632 9401

Hamilton

Christine Dew - Manager
Physical address 150 Victoria Street
Postal address Private Bag 3011, Hamilton
Phone (07) 858 7130
Fax (07) 858 7131

Rotorua

Pauline Cleaver - Manager
Physical address Level 4, 1144 Pukaki Street
Postal address P O Box 1749, Rotorua 3040
Phone (07) 349 7399
Fax (07) 349 7398

Napier

Melissa O’Carroll - Manager
Physical address Bower Building, 19 Bower Street
Postal address P O Box 147, Napier 4140
Phone (06) 833 6730
Fax (06) 833 6731

Wanganui

Anne Devonshire - Manager
Physical address Wanganui Office, 93 Ingestre Street
Postal address Private Bag 3012, Wanganui
Phone (06) 349 6300
Fax (06) 349 6301

Lower Hutt

Merren Dobson - Manager
Physical address Level 3, 19 Market Grove, Lower Hutt
Postal address PO Box 30177, Lower Hutt
Phone (04) 463 8699
Fax: (04) 463 8698

Nelson

Liz Brown - Manager
Phsyical address 19 Haven Road, Nelson
Postal address P O Box 282, Nelson
Phone (03) 546 3470
Fax (03) 539 1501

Christchurch

Coralanne Child - Manager
Physical address 39 Princess Street
Postal address P O Box 2522, Christchurch
Phone (03) 378 7300
Fax (03) 378 7308

Dunedin

Kathryn Palmer - Manager
Physical address 414 Moray Place,
Postal address Private Bag 1971, Dunedin 9054
Phone (03) 471 5200
Fax (03) 471 5201

Invercargill

Kathryn Palmer - Manager
Physical address 78 Doon St
Postal address Private Bag 90 122, Invercargill
Phone (03) 211 3610
Fax (03) 211 3611