Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Child Care Subsidy Administration

Wisconsin Shares Handbook

 

 

16.1.2.2.2 School Closed Hours

Parents with children who are enrolled in school may request authorized hours when they need child care to participate in their approved activity and school is closed due to:

Children who have before and/or after school care at one (1) provider may need a second authorization to a different provider for when school is closed. If a child only needs care when school is closed, the agency worker can create a “zero-hour authorization” in CSAW (see 16.1.2.2.1).

School closed hours can be requested in advance by parents who know their work schedule and school closed need ahead of time. School closed hours can also be requested within 10 calendar days after the school day closure whether the day was a planned school closed day or an unexpected closure. The 10 calendar days begins the day after the last day of the school closure or school closure period. A school closure period means multiple consecutive school closed days. Agency workers must document the reason for the school closure in case comments (see 12.2).  

Example 1: Susie has a zero-hour authorization for her school-age child, Derek. She calls on January 15 to request school closed hours for Derek. His school was closed January 4 and 5 due to a snowstorm but the child care program was open, and Susie needed to work. Because the request was made within 10 calendar days from the last day the school was closed consecutively, the agency worker may add the additional hours for the days Derek attended child care while school was closed.

 

Example 2: Jessica has a zero-hour authorization for her school-age child, Laura. She calls on February 17 to request school closed hours for Laura because school was closed on February 5 and February 10. Because the request was made within 10 calendar days of February 10 but not February 5, the agency worker adds the additional hours only for February 10 for when Laura attended child care while school was closed. The agency worker does not add school closed hours for February 5 because Jessica requested the hours more than 10 calendar days after the school closure.

 

The following children are not eligible for school closed hours:

School closed hours must be considered by comparing the parent’s current approved activity schedule to the school closed hours request; the resulting overlap in hours may be added to the authorization for school closed days.

A parent with a full-time authorization under the Continuity of Care (COC) policy (see 17.1.2) for their school-age child must be advised to use their current authorized hours to meet their school closed need. Additional hours may be authorized if the comparison between the current parent approved activity schedule and the school closed hours request shows that the child needs additional hours beyond what is currently authorized in the COC authorization for the parent to participate in their approved activity.

To avoid over-authorizing school closed hours when a child has a COC authorization, agency workers must consider the following:

Example 3: Foua works 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday - Friday. Her child, Hong, has a 16-hour per week COC authorization for before and after school care that includes travel time for afternoon pick-up. Hong’s school day is from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. School will be closed all day on Friday and Foua calls to request school closed hours for Hong. The agency worker compares Foua’s current approved activity schedule to the school closed hours request and sees that the overlapping hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Since Hong’s COC authorization only includes travel time for afternoon pick-up, Foua also needs an additional 30 minutes of travel time for morning drop-off on school closed days, resulting in a total of seven (7) school closed hours needed. The agency worker adds these hours to Hong’s authorization through PLBC.

 

Example 4: On February 9, Nate called to request a school closed day for his child, Troy, for February 8 because school was closed due to freezing rain. February benefits were already loaded so the agency worker added the additional school closed hours through PLBC. On March 2, Nate calls to request a school closed day for February 25 for a teacher in-service. Before the additional school closed hours are added, the agency worker must confirm that school closed hours were not previously added for February 25 to the authorization or through PLBC. The agency worker reviews the PLBCs in CSAW and sees that school closed hours were not added to February 25 and authorizes those hours.

 

Example 5: Tara previously worked full-time, third shift, but now works first shift for 15 hours per week. She has a 45-hour COC authorization for her child, Tina. She uses these hours in the evenings and on weekends. In March, Tara calls to request school closed hours for Tina for March 4 and the week of spring break (March 21—March 25). The agency worker compares Tara’s current approved activity schedule to the school closed hours request. The agency worker informs Tara that the school closed hours will not be authorized because the full-time COC authorization already covers the additional hours. She must use her existing authorized hours to meet this school closed need.  

Parents in an Approved Activity Search Period (ACTS) or Temporary Break Period (TBRK) are not eligible for additional child care hours, including additional school closed hours (see 17.2.1).

The school closed hours are subject to the same 90-day removal policy as all other funds (see 18.7). If the parent received additional subsidy hours for school closures and has not expended all the funds within 90 calendar days, the funds will age off and no longer be available to the parent.

 

This section last updated 10/1/2023