Audit of Oregon early learning department highlights ongoing need for equity training, oversight

Despite some improvement since the pandemic, Oregon’s supply of early learning is much lower than families need. Eighteen of Oregon’s 36 counties are “child care deserts” for preschool, meaning 33% or fewer children in the county have potential access to a spot, according to the latest data. (Lydia Ely/InvestigateWest)

An audit of the Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care found the agency could benefit from stronger oversight and equity training to improve governance of the state’s early learning system.

Auditors’ findings, issued in a letter from the Secretary of State’s audits division to agency director Alyssa Chatterjee on July 24, align in part with critiques of the department voiced by current and former staff in an InvestigateWest investigation published in March. Employees sounded alarms — including one who contacted Gov. Tina Kotek — about what they saw as the agency’s failures to foster equity, retain leaders and manage programs that serve Oregon’s lower-income families.

Auditors spoke to at least three of those employees to learn more.

Their final recommendations urge agency leaders to regularly review disciplinary decisions made by child care licensing investigators to ensure they are being made fairly; expand required equity and bias trainings; and improve coordination between regional and statewide authorities and among the various preschool and child care programs that the department manages.

Agency leaders said they welcome the feedback and are already working to implement some of the recommendations.

“One of DELC’s values is continuous improvement,” said Kate Gonsalves, spokesperson for the Department of Early Learning and Care. “In particular, Director Chatterjee valued the recognition of the intentionality that went into the launch of DELC. We are proud of this intentionality and appreciative of the chance to have this review so early in the agency’s tenure.”

The audit examined how smoothly the early learning division transitioned out of the state education department into an independent agency. The Department of Early Learning and Care launched July 1, 2023, and auditors monitored its performance throughout its first year.

Rather than complete a full audit, which takes longer and typically looks at established government practices and protocols, the audits division conducted its analysis in real time, so the findings would be available to the agency in a time frame that allowed leaders to act on them, said Laura Kerns, spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office.

“The benefit of a real-time analysis is that we can get in at the beginning before too much has happened and provide feedback as programs are being shaped and controls are being established,” she said. “Simply put, we hoped our review would help (the early learning department) get off to a good start as a new state agency.”

“We also decided to send a letter instead of doing a full audit because we found DELC was generally on the right track,” Kerns said.

Valeria Atanacio was promoted to tribal affairs director of Oregon’s early learning department in 2022. A year later, she was demoted, with little warning, she said. (Amanda Loman/InvestigateWest)

The letter noted the department’s success in taking over management of programs and responsibilities previously handled by other departments, including the Employment Related Day Care subsidy that helps families afford child care. It is a more than $400 million program that is in high demand; since November 2023 thousands of families have been waitlisted. Reducing that waitlist is a high priority for staff.

However, the audit said the agency’s recordkeeping and budgeting practices could be improved: One example auditors pointed out was the decision to pay providers of Preschool Promise, the state’s free preschool program, during the pandemic without any enrollment requirement, in order to prevent closures. Preschool Promise is one of the early learning department’s marquee programs, but has come under fire from legislators and the public for under-enrollment, which some employees told InvestigateWest was partly due to mismanagement.

“When auditors asked for documentation to show when and why the initial decision was made and how it was communicated to providers and the public, DELC staff were unable to provide that information,” the letter states. “The pandemic was a chaotic time; it is in these crucial times agencies should provide assurance and accountability for their decisions.”

In a letter responding to the audit, Chatterjee said the programs division will improve such documentation. The agency also launched a data dashboard to track Preschool Promise enrollment throughout the year and assist in reallocating spots where they’re most needed, and it reinstated enrollment minimums for providers to receive state money.

The agency also implemented a new equity training program for managers in February, and is considering making the training mandatory for all staff, Chatterjee said. Training is one of several strategies mentioned in the agency’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan that was announced in early July.

The department also is completing a “culture assessment” initiated in the spring shortly after InvestigateWest’s reporting was published “to gain a deeper understanding of our workplace dynamics,” Chatterjee said. Leaders expect to review the results of that assessment in the fall, she said.

This story was originally published by InvestigateWest, an independent news nonprofit dedicated to investigative journalism in the Northwest. Reporter Kaylee Tornay covers labor, youth and health care issues. Reach her at 503-877-4108 or kaylee@invw.org. On Twitter @ka_tornay.