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Bonus registry for Delaware child care professionals is open

Tom Byrne, Delaware Public Media

The second round of a Delaware child care professional bonus registry is open.

Child care professionals can apply to receive $700 for the second round of direct payments from the Delaware Department of Education.

The state is using federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to pay for the bonuses, which totaled $10.6 million at the start of the first round.

DOE’s associate secretary for Early Childhood Support Caitlin Gleason says the department used up a little less than half of the funds in the first round.

"So $5 million out of the 10.6, and so we now have in our registry an estimate of about 8,000 professionals who are eligible for the bonus. So 8,000 x 700 is the remaining 5.6 million," said Gleason.

The bonus program is financial recognition for early childhood care and education professionals providing on-site administrative support in child care settings licensed by the DOE’s Office of Child Care Licensing.

Employed professionals at least 18 years-old who work directly with children or provide any on-site administrative support for at least 20 hours per week for at least 90 days are eligible

"We decided to put this forward as a learning process, and for us to be able to reach more people and we did two rounds,” said Gleason. “And we're also collecting information in our registry to be able to know exactly how many people we can serve. So a benefit to having our second round bonus was that we are aware of the number of professionals that are currently in our field who are active. So we're able to be specific with the amount that we were able to give them."

The application window is open until April 30th at delawareece.com.

Joe brings over 20 years of experience in news and radio to Delaware Public Media and the All Things Considered host position. He joined DPM in November 2019 as a reporter and fill-in ATC host after six years as a reporter and anchor at commercial radio stations in New Castle and Sussex Counties.