Implement Missouri Child Care Subsidy (CCS) program

[hua7450]

Summary

Implements Missouri's Child Care Subsidy program, administered by the DESE Office of Childhood, in PolicyEngine. Missouri colloquially calls this program "CCAP," but the official name is the Child Care Subsidy; the implementation uses the mo_ccs_ variable prefix and lives under gov/states/mo/dese/ccs/ accordingly.

The subsidy is a provider-reimbursement childcare benefit: each eligible child's daily base reimbursement rate (looked up by region, provider type, age group, and time unit) is reduced by a sliding-fee copay, floored at zero, and capped at the family's actual childcare expense. Existing families above the traditional income limit can receive a phased-down ("transitional") subsidy.

Closes #8652

Regulatory Authority

• 5 CSR 25-200.050 (Definitions) and 5 CSR 25-200.060 (Eligibility and Authorization) — Cornell LII. The CSR rule text is thin and incorporates the Child Care Subsidy Eligibility Policy Manual by reference.
• DESE Child Care Subsidy Eligibility Policy Manual (sections 2010 Eligibility, 2025 Payments). The live DESE manual deep links return a branded HTTP 403 WAF page even to a real browser, so the operative manual content was cited to Internet Archive Wayback snapshots of the official DESE pages (snapshot 2021-12-08):
  • 2010.045.10 — Exclusions from Monthly Gross Income
  • 2010.005.00 — Eligibility Unit (EU)
  • 2025.010 — Sliding Fee from Households
• November 2025 Child Care Eligibility Income Guidelines and Sliding Fee Chart — single-page PDF (no page anchor; single page).
• 2025 Rates Held Harmless 2.0 — XLSX (spreadsheet; no page anchor), effective Oct 1, 2025 – Jun 30, 2026.

Program Overview

• Administration: DESE Office of Childhood (the program transferred from the DSS Children's Division to DESE effective 2021-08-28; regulations moved from Title 13 (DSS) to Title 5 (Education), 5 CSR 25-200).
• Benefit type: Provider-reimbursement childcare subsidy. A daily base reimbursement rate (minus the sliding-fee copay) is paid per eligible child, with transitional phase-out tiers for existing families whose income has risen above the traditional limit.

Eligibility

Requirement	Source	How modeled
Eligible child under 13	5 CSR 25-200.050; Manual 2010.005	mo_ccs_eligible_child — age < child_age_limit (13)
Special-needs child under 18 (under 19 if in school)	5 CSR 25-200.050 (Child with Special Needs)	mo_ccs_eligible_child — special_needs_child_age_limit (18) / special_needs_in_school_age_limit (19 when is_in_k12_school)
Child resides with parent/caretaker in the EU	5 CSR 25-200.050; Manual 2010.005.00	is_tax_unit_dependent in mo_ccs_eligible_child
US citizen / qualified alien	5 CSR 25-200.050	reuse federal is_ccdf_immigration_eligible_child
Missouri residency	5 CSR 25-200.060	defined_for = StateCode.MO (chains through eligibility vars)
Eligibility-unit (EU) composition	Manual 2010.005.00; 5 CSR 25-200.050(17)	SPMUnit-level scoping on mo_ccs_eligible and the income variables
Need for care — employment / training / job search	Manual 2010.050.05/.15/.20	mo_ccs_activity_eligible — head/spouse activity present (weekly_hours_worked > 0 or is_full_time_student)
Protective-services pathway	5 CSR 25-200.050 (Eligible Child)	mo_ccs_protective_services (is_in_foster_care, is_homeless, receives_or_needs_protective_services)
Asset cap $1,000,000 (self-certified)	5 CSR 25-200.060	reuse federal is_ccdf_asset_eligible (effectively no resource test)
Income tests	Manual 2010.045; chart	mo_ccs_income_eligible (see Income)

mo_ccs_eligible = has an eligible child & income-eligible & asset-eligible & (activity-eligible | protective services).

Income

• Countable income (mo_ccs_countable_income) = monthly gross income (earned + unearned) of EU members, modeled via an adds list of countable income sources (income/countable_income/sources.yaml).
• Adjusted income (mo_ccs_adjusted_income) = countable gross − health_insurance_premiums, floored at 0. Medical-insurance premiums are the only deduction (5 CSR 25-200.050(2); Manual 2010.045.15).
• Traditional test: adjusted income ≤ 150% FPL by household size (new applicants).
• Transitional test: existing families up to 242% FPL, gated by the mo_ccs_enrolled SPMUnit boolean input (only enrolled recipients can use the >150% path).

The manual's 45-item income-exclusions list (2010.045.10.05–.30) is modeled by omission: sources.yaml enumerates only the ~14 countable PolicyEngine income variables, so any excluded type is simply absent from the list (the SC/WV pattern). Several excluded types have no PolicyEngine equivalent and so drop out automatically (e.g., LIHEAP/energy assistance, in-kind income, lump sums, tribal/restitution payments). Two excluded types cannot be split out cleanly and are documented as known limitations:

• The veterans education-maintenance portion of veterans_benefits — we don't track the education-portion split at the moment, so gross veterans benefits are counted (a slight over-count).
• Earnings of a school-attending child — we don't filter income by the earner's age/school status at the moment.

Benefit Calculation

• Daily base rate (mo_ccs_maximum_daily_benefit) is looked up by region (5) × provider type (5) × age group (3) × time unit (3) from the Daytime rate table. Special-needs/protective-services children use the PS rate column (rates/<provider>/special_needs.yaml).
• Subsidy = Σ over eligible children of min(daily rate × attending days, per-child pre-subsidy expense) − sliding-fee copay, floored at 0 (mo_ccs). The total is also capped at the family's spm_unit_pre_subsidy_childcare_expenses.
• Transitional tiers: TCC1 / TCC2 / TCC3 fund 80% / 60% / 50% of the base rate over the FPL bands 151–185% / 186–215% / 216–242% (transitional/funding_rate.yaml).
• Sliding fee (mo_ccs_copay): a daily fee per child looked up by household size (1–20, via copay/tier/size_N.yaml) × monthly income band, with per-unit fees varying by full / half / part day (copay/daily_fee/{full,half,part}_unit.yaml). A $1/year minimum applies to TANF-only income or income below 25% of State Median Income (minimum_annual_fee.yaml, smi_minimum_rate.yaml). Special-needs children are exempt from the sliding fee.

Requirements Coverage

All 31 in-scope requirements are covered (106 tests pass). Out-of-scope rate-table differentials (evening/weekend, accreditation, +25% enhancement) and administrative provisions are listed under "Not Modeled."

REQ	Description	Parameter(s)	Variable	Test(s)
001	Eligible child under 13	eligibility/child_age_limit	mo_ccs_eligible_child	eligibility/mo_ccs_eligible_child (1–3)
002	Special-needs child <18 (<19 in school)	special_needs_child_age_limit, special_needs_in_school_age_limit	mo_ccs_eligible_child	mo_ccs_eligible_child (4,5,8,9)
003	Resides with parent/caretaker	—	mo_ccs_eligible_child	mo_ccs_eligible_child (7)
004	Immigration (citizen/qualified alien)	—	is_ccdf_immigration_eligible_child	mo_ccs_eligible_child (6)
005	Missouri residency	—	defined_for = StateCode.MO	covered via chain
006	EU composition	—	SPMUnit scoping	mo_ccs_eligible
008	Countable monthly gross income	income/countable_income/sources	mo_ccs_countable_income	income/mo_ccs_countable_income
009	AGI = gross − health insurance premiums	—	mo_ccs_adjusted_income	income/mo_ccs_adjusted_income
010	Traditional ≤150% FPL	income/fpl_rate/initial_eligibility	mo_ccs_income_eligible	mo_ccs_income_eligible (1–3)
011	Transitional ≤242% FPL (enrolled)	income/fpl_rate/transitional	mo_ccs_enrolled, mo_ccs_income_eligible	mo_ccs_income_eligible (4,5,9,10)
012	45-item income exclusions (inverse list)	income/countable_income/sources	mo_ccs_countable_income	mo_ccs_countable_income
013/014/015	Need for care: employment / training / job search	—	mo_ccs_activity_eligible	eligibility/mo_ccs_activity_eligible
016	Asset cap $1M	—	is_ccdf_asset_eligible	mo_ccs_eligible
017	5 geographic regions	region/region_1..4_counties	mo_ccs_region	mo_ccs_region
018	5 provider types	rates/<provider>/	mo_ccs_provider_type	mo_ccs_maximum_daily_benefit (1–5)
019	3 age groups	age_group/age	mo_ccs_age_group	mo_ccs_age_group
020	3 time units	time_category/hours	mo_ccs_time_category	mo_ccs_time_category
021	Daytime base rate table	rates/*/base	mo_ccs_maximum_daily_benefit	mo_ccs_maximum_daily_benefit (1–12)
023	PS (special-needs) rate column	rates/*/special_needs	mo_ccs_maximum_daily_benefit	mo_ccs_maximum_daily_benefit (13)
028	TCC tiers 80/60/50%	transitional/funding_rate	mo_ccs_maximum_daily_benefit	mo_ccs_maximum_daily_benefit (14–16)
029	TCC FPL bands 151/186/216–242	transitional/funding_rate	mo_ccs_maximum_daily_benefit	mo_ccs_maximum_daily_benefit (17,18); integration (3)
030	Sliding fee by HH size 1–20 × income band	copay/tier/size_1..20	mo_ccs_copay	copay/mo_ccs_copay (9,10,13)
031	Per-unit copay (full/half/part)	copay/daily_fee/{full,half,part}_unit	mo_ccs_copay	copay/mo_ccs_copay (1–3)
032	$1/yr minimum (TANF-only or <25% SMI)	copay/minimum_annual_fee, copay/smi_minimum_rate	mo_ccs_copay	copay/mo_ccs_copay (5,6,11,12)
033	Special-needs: no sliding fee	—	mo_ccs_copay	copay/mo_ccs_copay (7)
034	Transitional copay rows TCC1/2/3	copay/tier/size_*	mo_ccs_copay	copay/mo_ccs_copay (4)
035	Payment = rate(+PS) − fee, floored 0	—	mo_ccs	mo_ccs (1,6)
036	Cap at provider charge / pre-subsidy expenses	—	mo_ccs	mo_ccs (2); integration (7)
037	Protective-services pathway	—	mo_ccs_protective_services	eligibility/mo_ccs_protective_services
038	85% SMI ceiling (CCDF)	—	reference-only	documented

Not Modeled (by design)

What	Source	Why excluded
Evening/Weekend (EW) rate schedule	XLSX EW Rates 2025	Deferred to a follow-up rate-differentials PR (per scope)
+25% special-needs-serving enhancement	rates landing page	Deferred to follow-up PR (per scope)
+20% accredited differential	rates landing page	Deferred to follow-up PR (per scope)
+30% accredited (≥half subsidy kids) differential	rates landing page	Deferred to follow-up PR (per scope)
Held-harmless FY2025 rate cap	rates landing page	Current rates are already net of the held-harmless adjustment — no modeling effect
EU optional-member fee optimization	Manual 2010.005.00	Caseworker discretion — not simulatable
New-application waitlist (eff. 2026-03-01)	DESE waitlist page	Administrative, not a household eligibility rule
Work-activity hours verification	Manual 2010.050	Need assumed met if a qualifying activity is present
Non-payment → ineligible until paid	5 CSR 25-200.060(3)(C)5	Administrative

Historical Notes

• The program transferred from the DSS Children's Division to the DESE Office of Childhood in 2021; its regulations moved from Title 13 (DSS) to Title 5 (Education), 5 CSR 25-200.
• All parameters are effective 2025-10-01, the start of the current rate/chart era (Oct 2025 – Jun 2026).

Verification TODO

• The income thresholds (150% traditional / 242% transitional FPL) were corroborated by the chart's own per-tier dollar bounds: for household size 1, the tier-7 upper bound of $1,956/mo = 150% of the monthly federal poverty guideline, and the transitional ceiling lands at 242%. A final check against the live manual 2010.045.00 is still advisable. (Two Wayback strategies disagreed — one read 138%, the other 150%/151–242%; the current Nov-2025 chart governs and was used.)
• Several DESE manual pages return HTTP 403 to automated access (and to a real browser). The operative content was recovered via Internet Archive Wayback snapshots (2021-12-08), corroborated by 5 CSR 25-200 and the current chart/XLSX. The recovered manual framework is stable, but a reviewer with browser access to the live manual should spot-check the recovered sections.
• Region county classification was read from the XLSX "Breakdown Of Counties" sheet; Regions 1–4 are enumerated in region/region_N_counties.yaml and Region 5 is the catch-all default.

Files Added

policyengine_us/parameters/gov/states/mo/dese/ccs/    48 parameter files
policyengine_us/variables/gov/states/mo/dese/ccs/     16 variable files
policyengine_us/tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/mo/dese/ccs/   15 test files (106 cases)

Federal wiring edits (2):

• policyengine_us/parameters/gov/hhs/ccdf/child_care_subsidy_programs.yaml — registers mo_child_care_subsidies in the federal CCDF aggregator.
• policyengine_us/programs.yaml — adds the Missouri CCS program entry (variable: mo_ccs, parameter_prefix: gov.states.mo.dese.ccs, status: complete).

Changelog: changelog.d/mo-ccap.added.md.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (fbace93) to head (4068206).
⚠️ Report is 24 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##              main     #8653    +/-   ##
==========================================
  Coverage   100.00%   100.00%            
==========================================
  Files            1        16    +15     
  Lines           23       271   +248     
==========================================
+ Hits            23       271   +248     

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)

Flags with carried forward coverage won't be shown. Click here to find out more.

☔ View full report in Codecov by Harness.
📢 Have feedback on the report? Share it here.

🚀 New features to boost your workflow:

• ❄️ Test Analytics: Detect flaky tests, report on failures, and find test suite problems.