Private Donors Lend Support to Child Care Rating System

Georgia will get some help from private donors as it rolls out a new child care quality rating system next year.

The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning has received a $2.4 million grant from The Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation and The United Way of Metro Atlanta. DECAL commissioner Bobby Cagle says the funds will go a long way.

“It’s a substantial portion of what we will need in order to be able to implement the bonuses and financial incentives that are part of our quality rating system and really essential to making it a success,” he explains.

Cagle expects more than 700 centers across the state to participate in the program in the first year. The department is still deciding what kind of rating system to use, although he says it will have three tiers.

Although the evaluation process is underway, the actual ratings won’t be issued until July of 2013.