Is there a way to have access to child care regulations involving fees charged to parents?
My family is dealing with a Charter School that provides before and after care, along with summer daycare. The school is greatly lacking in their child care documentation when it comes to fees charged. The website shows the general fees, but does NOT list the regulations and stipulations in regards to attendance, fee changes, refunds, or any other legally binding contractual information. Their continuous 'loss' of payment paperwork, and determination to double charge for day care and refusal to provide any form of itemized receipt is greatly concerning. I have searched through government websites for answers on the State Requirements for professional child care providers/schools fees, but there is nothing listed as far as I can see. Is this sort of thing even regulated? This year, the school is forcing us to enroll our child to committed days, stating that if the child is not there, they will be charged for the day anyway (when the website states there is a flat rate per day the child attends - and nowhere on the form does it say a single word about required day commitments). I cannot afford to pay the fees this Charter School is charging when they cannot provide valid evidence of what I am even being charged for.
Assuming the facility is licensed, R9-5-302 states that “a licensee shall prepare a written statement of child care services provided by the licensee that includes…charges, fees, and payment requirements for child care services.” This information shall be provided to a parent upon request. If the facility is not licensed, Arizona Department of Health Services would have to look into whether or not licensing is required.
Many schools require minimums, regardless of attendance. For example, some schools require the parent to pay weekly, even if the child will be out of town all week. If a payment is not made, the facility may disenroll the child. All of this information should be found in the written statement of child care services, described in the first paragraph.
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Anonymous commented
If the school has the pricing posted, but claims stipulations at their will without having those posted, what is the regulation on that? We signed an enrollment form that states you pay a certain fee for weekly, or a single-day only fee (meaning, if it's a whole week of attendance, it's discounted from the daily price). We signed the same form this year, but the school is claiming that we must choose specific days for our child to attend or else they will not watch him. This is stated nowhere in any publicly posted areas at the school or online. Also, they state they do not keep records of payment, and try to tell us we did not pay for certain months even though my checkbook has carbon copy receipts showing otherwise.