Implement Arkansas School Readiness Assistance (SRA / formerly CCAP)

[hua7450]

Summary

Implements Arkansas's School Readiness Assistance (SRA) program (formerly CCAP, transferred from AR DHS to AR Department of Education / Office of Early Childhood in June 2025; SRA-era rates effective Nov 1, 2025). Covers both Low-Income (LI) and Employment-Sponsored Subsidy (ESS) eligibility tracks with the full four-dimensional provider rate table (zone × age × care type × full-time/part-time), enforces the 4% per-family copay ceiling from the CCDF State Plan, and includes 180+ tests covering rate-sheet cells, state-share keys, eligibility tracks, and edge cases.

Closes #8323.

Regulatory Authority

• Arkansas CCDF 2025-2027 State Plan, signed 4/26/2024 (171 pp) — §2.2.1 (disability extension to age 18, p18), §2.2.4 (income limit 85% SMI, p21), §2.2.6 (asset limit $1M, p25), §3.1.1 (4% copay cap, p39), §3.1.2 (sliding fee, p39), §3.1.2(e) (15% provider charge-above, p40).
• Family Support Unit Procedure Manual, June 2023 (49 pp) — §4.1 eligibility factors (age <13, activity hours LI 30 hr/wk / ESS Yr1 20 hr/wk / ESS Yr2 25 hr/wk); §4.1.1 citizenship (p14); §4.1.3 residence; §4.1.5.1 (Year-1 alt path: earnings alone make family TEA-income-ineligible, p16); §4.3 income (p19-20); §4.3.3 excluded income — children's SSI and Social Security (p20); §5.4.6 FT/PT 7+ hr/day (p30).
• OEC Rights & Responsibilities, Nov 2025 (2 pp) — SRA activity hours, asset limit, post-transfer agency authority.
• OEC October 2025 Provider Call slides (10/7/25, 36 pp) — "Weekend and night time rates are set at a standard 10% increase of typical rates" (p4); 75th-percentile market survey methodology; Statewide vs Benton/Washington two-region structure.
• SRA Sliding Fee Scale — Statewide Full-Time, eff Nov 1 2025 (1 pp) and the three companion sheets (Statewide Part-Time, Benton/Washington Full-Time, Benton/Washington Part-Time) — daily base rates and state-share fractions by income tier.
• SRA SMI Monthly Income Chart, eff Oct 1 2025 (1 pp) — 40% / 60% / 85% / 100% SMI thresholds by family size.
• AR Minimum Licensing Requirements for Child Care Centers (DCCECE, 2020) — Infant Center, Toddler Center, School Age Care age-group boundaries.

Program Overview

• Administration: AR Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood (OEC). DCCECE transferred from AR DHS to ADE in June 2025.
• Effective date modeled: 2025-11-01 onwards (in_effect gate). CCAP-era (pre-2025-11-01) deferred to a follow-up PR — the rate and copay structures differ materially (QRIS-based copay vs income-tier × age-group copay, county Rate Cap vs two-zone flat rates). The Oct 2025 transitional month (Quality Enhancement Payment supplement) is also out of scope.
• Eligibility tracks modeled: Low-Income (LI) and Employment-Sponsored Subsidy (ESS, 24-month window after TEA exit).

Eligibility

Requirement	Source	How Modeled
Child under 13 (or under 19 if disabled)	FSU §4.1 / CCDF Plan §2.2.1	is_ar_sra_age_eligible reads is_disabled and selects child_age_limit (13) or child_age_limit_disabled (19)
Child US citizen / qualified alien / refugee	FSU §4.1.1	Reuses federal is_ccdf_immigration_eligible_child
Family income ≤ 85% SMI	CCDF Plan §2.2.4	is_ar_sra_income_eligible, param eligibility/income_smi_rate=0.85
Assets ≤ $1,000,000	CCDF Plan §2.2.6	Federal is_ccdf_asset_eligible (gov.hhs.ccdf.asset_limit is $1M from 2015, matching AR's specification)
Family resides in Arkansas	FSU §4.1.3	defined_for = StateCode.AR + ar_sra_zone state guard
LI: all adults active ≥ 30 hr/wk (with full-time student exemption + CCDF activity-test fallback)	FSU §4.1 + R&R Nov 2025	is_ar_sra_li_activity_eligible, param activity_hours_li=30
ESS Yr1: any adult ≥ 20 hr/wk, full-time student, OR family earned income alone exceeds the TEA limit	FSU §4.1.5.1 / R&R	is_ar_sra_ess_eligible; the alt path checks ar_tea_countable_earned_income > tea_income_limit (earnings-only per "earnings alone" wording)
ESS Yr2: any adult ≥ 25 hr/wk or full-time student	FSU §4.1.5.2 / R&R Nov 2025	params activity_hours_ess_year_2=25, ess_window_months=24

Benefit Calculation

The state pays a daily rate by zone × age category × care type × full-time/part-time, scaled by an income-tier state share. The family's per-child daily copay equals base_rate × (1 − state_share). The SPM-unit monthly subsidy is computed as sum(min(pre_subsidy_childcare_expenses − copay, max_monthly_state_payment)) across eligible children, then increased by cap_savings when the total payable copay exceeds 4% of monthly countable income.

4% per-family copay ceiling (CCDF State Plan §3.1.1): the State Plan's literal "gross income" wording is reconciled against FSU §4.3.3 (p20), which unconditionally excludes children's SSI and Social Security from the budget. The cap base is therefore ar_sra_countable_income — adult income only. Per child, the rate-sheet copay used in the cap calculation is clamped to that child's actual provider charge (min(rate_sheet_copay, monthly_expense)), so a child whose expense falls below the scheduled copay does not inflate cap_savings.

• Zones (2): Benton/Washington Counties (Northwest AR) vs Statewide. Counties are parameter-driven (rates/benton_washington_counties.yaml).
• Age categories (4): Infant (0-17 mo), Toddler (18-35 mo), Preschool (36-71 mo), School-Aged (72+ mo). Boundaries follow AR Min Licensing (Infant/Toddler) and Ark. Code 6-18-207 kindergarten enrollment age (School-Age).
• Care types (5): Regular / Night-Weekend / Special Needs Level 1 (SN1) / SN2 / SN3.
• Time (2): Full-Time (≥7 hr/day per FSU §5.4.6) / Part-Time. Classification uses childcare_hours_per_day.
• Night/Weekend pricing: per the OEC Oct 7 2025 Provider Call ("Weekend and night time rates are set at a standard 10% increase of typical rates"), all Night/Weekend cells are populated at +10% of the corresponding REGULAR rate. The published rate sheets only carry the FT Night/Weekend column; PT Night/Weekend cells are derived as PT REGULAR × 1.10 from the same rule.
• Special-needs supplements: SN1 = REGULAR; SN2 = SN3 = REGULAR × 1.4 (per OEC simplification).
• Income tiers (3): LE_40 (≤40% SMI), GT_40_LE_60 (>40-60% SMI), GT_60 (>60% SMI; the 85% SMI cap is the eligibility ceiling, not a separate tier).
• School-aged exception: state share at ≤40% SMI is 80% FT / 70% PT (not 100%), so school-aged children always incur a copay.
• B/W rate convergence: under the Nov 1 schedule, B/W and Statewide rates converge for Preschool ($33 FT / $16.50 PT) and School-Aged ($28 FT / $14 PT); the regional premium applies only to Infant and Toddler.

ESS Track Modeling

Mirrors the California stage-3 pattern using two bare-input variables on the SPM unit:

• ar_was_tea_recipient (YEAR, bool, default False)
• ar_months_since_tea_exit (MONTH, int, default 0)

ESS Year 1 = months_since_tea_exit ∈ [1, 12]; ESS Year 2 = (12, 24]. Activity-hour thresholds and the 24-month window are parameter-driven. Hours are masked to adults (age >= adult_age_threshold, parameterized at 18) before the threshold check.

Year-1 activity is satisfied by 20+ hr/wk, any adult being a full-time student, OR family earned income alone exceeding the TEA income limit. The earned-income-only gate follows FSU §4.1.5.1's "earnings alone cause the family to be income ineligible for TEA" wording — unearned income (pension, Social Security, child support) is excluded from this specific test. Implementation: ar_tea_countable_earned_income > parameters.gov.states.ar.dhs.tea.income.income_limit.

Year-2 activity is satisfied by 25+ hr/wk or full-time student (no alt path per FSU §4.1.5.2).

Source-Document Reconciliation

The 4% copay ceiling and the ESS Year-1 alt path both required reconciling two source documents:

• 4% cap base — "gross income" vs FSU §4.3.3: CCDF State Plan §3.1.1 caps the family copay at "4% of gross income," but FSU §4.3.3 (p20) unconditionally excludes children's SSI and Social Security from the budget. The model uses ar_sra_countable_income (adult income only) as the cap base, treating the State Plan's "gross" as a colloquial reference to the post-§4.3.3 budget. The FSU Glossary defines "Gross Monthly Income" as "total earned and unearned income before tax deductions unless excluded" (p43), supporting this reading.

• Year-1 alt path — "earnings alone" vs ~ar_tea_income_eligible: FSU §4.1.5.1 says the family qualifies if "the earnings alone cause the family to be income ineligible for TEA (the family's net countable income exceeds $513 per month)." The "alone" qualifier constrains the gate input to earned income — using the full TEA countable income (which includes pension, Social Security, etc.) would defeat the work-transition purpose of the ESS alt path. The model gates on ar_tea_countable_earned_income > tea_income_limit.

• 75% SMI no-cost waiver — State Plan §2.3.1(b) vs Nov 2025 rate sheets: State Plan §2.3.1(b) (p29) commits "no cost" assistance for families under 75% SMI, but the Nov 2025 operational rate sheets only zero the copay below 40% SMI. The model follows the rate sheets because they are the operational document the agency uses to compute copays; the broader State Plan waiver is not modeled (documented in no_copay_smi_threshold.yaml and ar_sra_daily_copay.py).

Not Modeled (by design)

What	Source	Why Excluded
ESS / LI lifetime limits (60 mo combined)	FSU §5.4	We don't track cumulative enrollment history at the moment
Emancipated-minor adult treatment	FSU §4.1.2	We don't track emancipated-minor status at the moment
75% SMI no-cost waiver	CCDF Plan §2.3.1(b)	Rate sheets supersede operationally; documented in copay variable
Provider 15% charge-above policy	CCDF Plan §3.1.2(e)	Provider-side, doesn't reduce family copay
Quality Enhancement Payment	OEC QEP Chart Nov 2025	Paid to provider only; doesn't affect family copay
Absentee day allowance (12-16 days/trimester)	R&R Nov 2025 rule 10	Provider invoice detail; not benefit-level
SSN requirement (each child)	FSU §4.1.4	Administrative requirement; not eligibility-determining
Pre-2025-11-01 CCAP / Oct 2025 transition era	—	Out of scope; era toggle leaves it disabled. Different rate/copay structure deferred to follow-up PR

Test Plan

• All AR SRA tests pass locally: policyengine-core test policyengine_us/tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/ar/ade/oec/sra -c policyengine_us
• cbo_household_income.yaml tests pass (no regression from household_state_benefits.yaml change)
• make format clean (ruff format + ruff check pass)
• CI passes

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (8cb60e7) to head (8b2cc5a).
⚠️ Report is 49 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

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  Files            3        20    +17     
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