Data Utilization

Nebraska Early Childhood Integrated Data System

To help policymakers make informed decisions about how to improve the state’s early childhood systems equitably, the Institute leads efforts to address research and evaluation questions using integrated early childhood data. As a leader of the Nebraska Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS) team and the Nebraska Early Childhood Data Coalition (ECDC), the Institute is in a strong position to partner with stakeholders to pursue critical research questions using administrative data systems. The Institute is also engaged in numerous activities involving the collection of data via surveys and other means, including direct observations, focus groups, and interviews. These data can be combined with administrative data to conduct applied research. Going forward, the Institute seeks to link data sources of various types to create richer data sets for addressing questions of interest. Currently, Institute researchers are building capacity to use integrated data through efforts related to the PDG Birth–5 initiative and the Superintendents’ Early Childhood Plan. In service of these efforts, data management, analytic, and reporting systems have been developed and are being used to inform research and evaluation questions.

Nebraska Child Care Market Rate Survey

As the lead agency for administering Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) programs, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is required to use a market rate survey, or an alternative methodology such as a cost model, to ensure that all families have equal access to a full range of child care services. By means of a market rate survey, DHHS can obtain important information on the prices and fees providers charge to provide child care services in an open market where the relationship between the provider and the parent does not affect the price charged for child care services. This information is used to set subsidy reimbursement rates that allow all families access to child care services that meet the health, safety, and educational needs of their children while parents experience a pathway to economic stability.

The Institute has conducted the Nebraska Child Care Market Rate Survey since 2019. Consistent with CCDF regulations, the Nebraska survey is designed to collect and analyze information from Nebraska’s licensed child care providers that reflects the variations in the price of child care by geographic region, type of provider, and age of child. In addition, the survey collects information on such topics as barriers and challenges to participating in the child care subsidy program, the cost of providing mandatory health and safety training, and more. The survey has primarily been delivered to participants electronically.

The Institute relies on the collective expertise of a steering committee consisting of early childhood providers and local and state early childhood leaders in designing and administering the survey. The steering committee was instrumental in shaping the 2023 survey to include information related to the cost of providing quality care. This information will contribute to a study on the cost of quality child care that DHHS will use with the survey in setting rates. Supplementing the survey with a cost study is an important step for Nebraska in understanding the true cost of providing child care as well as the prices providers charge.

Because of the Institute’s role in producing the Nebraska Child Care Market Rate Survey, two members of the Institute’s Research and Evaluation unit were invited to testify at a hearing on a legislative resolution related to child care subsidy in Nebraska. In response to the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic, a bill (LB 865) was introduced to the Nebraska Legislature in early 2022 proposing a change in the cutoff that providers can use to be reimbursed for providing care to children receiving child care subsidy.

In previous years, the child care subsidy rate was set at the 60th percentile, meaning 60% of providers who responded to the survey charged that price or less for child care. Using the 2021 survey as an example, the hourly rate representing the 60th percentile for rural family child care home providers providing care for infants was $3 per hour. Sixty percent of rural family child care home providers charged $3 per hour or less to provide care for infants. That $3 per hour fee was the maximum amount a rural family child care home provider could be reimbursed to provide care for infants receiving child care subsidy. In 2021, legislation increased the reimbursement rate from the 60th percentile to the 75th percentile. At the 75th percentile, for the same group of providers providing care for the same age of children, the rate is $3.43 per hour. It is important to note that the change from $3 per hour to $3.43 per hour does not represent a 15% increase in the rate. Rather, the rate increased just over 14%. In this example the price increase would include 15% more providers charging this price or less, but not receiving 15% more in fees. A further example illustrates this point. For urban family child care home providers caring for toddlers, the rate at 60% is $31 per day. The rate at the 75th percentile is $34 per day. This increase accounts for an additional 15% of providers but represents only just under a 10% increase in the rate itself.

The reports for these surveys are included on the DHHS website along with further information about the market rate survey. The Institute is contracted to conduct the 2025 and 2027 market rate surveys.

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