The Office of Children’s Services (OCS) recently announced a proposal to streamline the process of providing reimbursements to localities from state pool funding. Under current budget language, the state allocates an initial distribution of funds to each locality based on the greater of (i) that locality’s percentage of 1997 CSA pool fund program expenditures (relative to total 1997 pool fund expenditures) or (ii) the latest available three-year average of actual pool fund program expenditures. When a locality exhausts that initial allocation, it must request a supplemental allocation from OCS, a process that can be cumbersome for both the locality and OCS.
OCS is proposing to consolidate the base and supplemental allocations into a single funding pool, and to reimburse localities based on their eligible CSA expenditures as submitted to OCS. OCS has emphasized that this proposal will have no effect on the existing sum-sufficient provisions governing the Children’s Services Act.
If OCS moves forward with this concept, staff will submit a proposal through the Administration’s budget development process to amend the Appropriation Act to consolidate the base allocation and supplemental funding language. If the proposal were included in the Governor’s December 2024 budget and approved by the General Assembly during the 2025 session, the changes would likely take effect in FY 2026.
Slides from a recent briefing provided by OCS staff may be found at this link. VACo would appreciate receiving any comments on the proposal, which may be directed to Katie Boyle at kboyle@vaco.org.
VACo Contact: Katie Boyle