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).

Closes #8323.

Regulatory Authority

• Arkansas CCDF 2025-2027 State Plan, signed 4/26/2024 (171 pp) — §2.2.4 (income limit 85% SMI), §2.2.6 (asset limit $1M, p25), §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 (p19); §4.1.3 residence (p20); §4.3.1-4.3.3 countable / excluded income (p24-25).
• OEC Rights & Responsibilities, Nov 2025 (2 pp) — SRA activity hours, asset limit, post-transfer agency authority.
• 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) — provider daily base rates and state-share percentages by income tier.
• SRA SMI Monthly Income Chart, eff Oct 1 2025 (1 pp) — 40% / 60% / 85% / 100% SMI thresholds by family size.

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: 2025-10-01 onwards. CCAP-era (pre-2025-10-01) deferred to a follow-up PR — the structures differ materially (QRIS-based copay vs income-tier × age-group copay, county Rate Cap vs two-zone flat rates).
• 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	FSU Manual §4.1 / Title 16 Div 22 Rule 8 §3.1.4	is_ar_sra_age_eligible, param eligibility/child_age_limit=13
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	is_ar_sra_asset_eligible (delegates to is_ccdf_asset_eligible); see Verification TODO
Family resides in Arkansas	FSU §4.1.3	defined_for = StateCode.AR + ar_sra_zone state guard
LI: all adults active ≥ 30 hr/wk	FSU §4.1 + R&R Nov 2025	is_ar_sra_li_activity_eligible, param activity_hours_li=30
ESS Yr1: ≥ 20 hr/wk	FSU §4.1 / R&R	is_ar_sra_ess_eligible, params activity_hours_ess_year_1=20, ess_year_1_window_months=12
ESS Yr2: ≥ 25 hr/wk	FSU §4.1 / R&R	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 daily copay equals base_rate × (1 − state_share). The total monthly subsidy is summed across eligible children as min(pre_subsidy_childcare_expenses − copay, max_monthly_state_payment).

• Zones (2): Benton/Washington Counties (Northwest AR) vs Statewide.
• Age categories (4): Infant / Toddler / Preschool / School-Aged.
• Care types (5): Regular / Night-Weekend / Special Needs Level 1 (SN1) / SN2 / SN3.
• Time (2): Full-Time / Part-Time.
• Income tiers (4): ≤40% SMI (no-copay floor for non-school-aged), >40-60% SMI, >60-75% SMI, >75-85% SMI.
• School-aged exception: state share at ≤40% SMI is 80% (not 100%), so school-aged children always have a copay.

ESS Track Modeling

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

• was_tea_recipient (YEAR, bool, default False)
• 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.

Not Modeled (by design)

What	Source	Why Excluded
ESS lifetime limits (60 mo LI / 24 mo ESS)	FSU §5.4	PE doesn't simulate cumulative enrollment history
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
Disabled-child age extension above 13	Undocumented in AR sources	No regulatory citation available
SSN requirement (each child)	FSU §4.1.4	Administrative requirement, not eligibility-determining in PE
Pre-2025-10-01 CCAP era	—	Out of scope; era toggle leaves it disabled. Different rate/copay structure deferred to follow-up PR

Verification TODO

The following values are flagged as undocumented in AR sources (peer-state defaults) or as open ambiguities. Please verify against authoritative AR sources before merging:

1. Age-category month boundaries (rates/age_category_months.yaml): Infant 0-17 mo, Toddler 18-35 mo, Preschool 36-71 mo, School-Aged 72+ mo. AR sources are silent on the month boundaries; values follow peer-state convention. Parameter-driven so a future correction is a single-file change.
2. FT vs PT threshold (rates/full_time_hours_threshold.yaml=30): 30 hr/wk is a common peer-state default; AR sources do not specify the FT/PT cutoff explicitly.
3. No-copay threshold parameter is orphan (rates/no_copay_smi_threshold.yaml=0.40): the threshold is currently encoded only as the LE_40 enum boundary in ar_sra_income_tier.py. Either wire the parameter into the formula or remove the file.
4. Asset-limit parameter is orphan (eligibility/asset_limit.yaml=1_000_000): is_ar_sra_asset_eligible delegates to the federal is_ccdf_asset_eligible reading gov.hhs.ccdf.asset_limit. If that federal limit ≠ $1M the AR-specific $1M threshold per CCDF Plan §2.2.6 is not actually enforced. Add direct test coverage and either wire the AR param into a state-specific check or document that the federal CCDF limit governs.
5. REQ-021 care-type dimension untested: rates table populates all 5 care types but tests only cover REGULAR — add cases for NIGHT_WEEKEND, SN1, SN2, SN3.
6. LI activity threshold ambiguity: R&R Nov 2025 says 30 hr/wk (modeled value); the "Am I Eligible" leaflet says 20 hr/wk. R&R treated as authoritative; flagged for re-verification with OEC FAQ.
7. No-copay-threshold ambiguity: the Nov 2025 rate sheet uses 40% SMI as the 100% state-pay tier (for ages younger than school-age); a separate family letter says "at or below federal poverty level." Modeled per the rate sheet; flagged for re-verification.
8. ESS Yr1/Yr2 boundary literal: is_ar_sra_ess_eligible.py:22 uses literal 12 for the year-1/year-2 cutoff. Move into the existing ess_year_1_window_months parameter so it's not a magic number in the formula.
9. Page-anchor gaps for R&R citations: 7 files cite R_&_R__Nov_2025_(English)_(1)_OEC.pdf (2 pages) without #page=XX — add anchors before merge.

Files Added

policyengine_us/parameters/gov/states/ar/ade/oec/sra/
├── in_effect.yaml
├── eligibility/
│   ├── activity_hours_ess_year_1.yaml
│   ├── activity_hours_ess_year_2.yaml
│   ├── activity_hours_li.yaml
│   ├── asset_limit.yaml
│   ├── child_age_limit.yaml
│   ├── ess_window_months.yaml
│   ├── ess_year_1_window_months.yaml
│   └── income_smi_rate.yaml
├── income/
│   ├── excluded_sources.yaml
│   └── sources.yaml
└── rates/
    ├── age_category_months.yaml
    ├── base_rate.yaml
    ├── full_time_hours_threshold.yaml
    ├── no_copay_smi_threshold.yaml
    ├── partial_subsidy_smi_threshold.yaml
    └── state_share_by_tier.yaml

policyengine_us/variables/gov/states/ar/ade/oec/sra/
├── ar_child_care_subsidies.py
├── ar_sra.py
├── ar_sra_age_category.py
├── ar_sra_care_type.py
├── ar_sra_income_tier.py
├── ar_sra_time_category.py
├── ar_sra_zone.py
├── months_since_tea_exit.py
├── was_tea_recipient.py
├── eligibility/
│   ├── is_ar_sra_age_eligible.py
│   ├── is_ar_sra_asset_eligible.py
│   ├── is_ar_sra_child_eligible.py
│   ├── is_ar_sra_eligible.py
│   ├── is_ar_sra_ess_eligible.py
│   ├── is_ar_sra_income_eligible.py
│   └── is_ar_sra_li_activity_eligible.py
├── income/
│   └── ar_sra_countable_income.py
└── rates/
    ├── ar_sra_daily_base_rate.py
    ├── ar_sra_daily_copay.py
    ├── ar_sra_daily_state_payment.py
    └── ar_sra_state_share.py

policyengine_us/tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/ar/ade/oec/sra/
├── integration.yaml
├── eligibility/
│   ├── ar_sra_age_eligible.yaml
│   ├── ar_sra_asset_eligible.yaml
│   ├── ar_sra_child_eligible.yaml
│   ├── ar_sra_eligible.yaml
│   ├── ar_sra_ess_eligible.yaml
│   ├── ar_sra_in_effect.yaml
│   ├── ar_sra_income_eligible.yaml
│   └── ar_sra_li_activity_eligible.yaml
├── income/
│   └── ar_sra_countable_income.yaml
└── rates/
    ├── ar_sra_age_category.yaml
    ├── ar_sra_daily_base_rate.yaml
    ├── ar_sra_daily_copay.yaml
    ├── ar_sra_daily_state_payment.yaml
    ├── ar_sra_income_tier.yaml
    ├── ar_sra_state_share.yaml
    ├── ar_sra_time_category.yaml
    └── ar_sra_zone.yaml

Test Plan

• 83 AR SRA tests pass locally: policyengine-core test policyengine_us/tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/ar/ade/oec/sra -c policyengine_us
• CI passes
• Verification TODO items above resolved (especially items 3-5 which represent real gaps, not just ambiguities)

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (8cb60e7) to head (375eba7).
⚠️ Report is 23 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##              main     #8324    +/-   ##
==========================================
  Coverage   100.00%   100.00%            
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  Files            3        21    +18     
  Lines           63       316   +253     
  Branches         0         1     +1     
==========================================
+ Hits            63       316   +253     

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