New 2025-26 Family Fee Schedules for CDE and CDSS

Modified on Wed, Jun 25 at 12:32 PM

Please read through the entirety of this article for important details on the updated 2025-26 Family Fee Schedules for CDE and CDSS in Hubbe.

In this article, we'll detail the changes to expect in the update, how we're assisting users with the transition to this new fee schedule, and the next steps for notifying families through the Notice of Action (NOA).

What's in the new update?

Starting Monday, 6/23/2025, the new 2025-26 family fee schedules for CDE and CDSS will be released to your Hubbe system. Please refer to CCB 25-16 to access the CDSS Family Monthly Fee Schedule 2025-2026; refer to MB 25-06 on the CDE-EED website to access the CDE Family Fee Schedule 2025-26. These two fee schedules were used to create the new fee schedules for each department in the Hubbe system.

To provide additional support for these changes, the Hubbe team has:

Assigned the new CDE Family Fee Schedule 25-26 to all agency funding contracts with the following subsidy types:
1. CSPP: California State Preschool Program
Assigned the new CDSS Family Fee Schedule 25-26 to all agency funding contracts with the following subsidy types:
1. CAPP: California Alternative Payment Program
2. C2AP: CalWORKs Stage 2
3. C3AP: CalWORKs Stage 3
4. CCTR: General Child Care and Development Program
5. CFCC: California Family Child Care Home Education Network
6. CMAP: California Migrant Alternative Payment
7. CMIG: California Migrant Child Care
8. CHAN: California Handicapped Program
Updated the recently released Family Fees Comparison report with the new CDE Family Fee Schedule 25-26 and the new CDSS Family Fee Schedule 25-26 to assist agencies with identifying families with a reduced fee

Next Steps for CDE Programs

CDE's Early Education Division released MB 25-06, which contains specific instructions on how to implement the new fee schedule. The new fee schedule should be used for assessing family fees for families at initial certification or at recertification, or when a parent voluntarily requests a reduction to their family fees. Please see the excerpt below that describes the implementation process for currently enrolled families:

Family Fee Requirements for Currently Enrolled Families

Beginning July 1, 2025, and in accordance with 5 CCR 17756(b), contractors are required to notify all families annually when the updated family fee schedule has been released by the CDE and remind families that they can voluntarily request a reduction to their family fee based on the new family fee schedule. Pursuant to EC Section 8208(e)(4) and 5 CCR 17756, a family may voluntarily report income or other changes. This information shall only be used to reduce family fees, increase the family’s services, or extend the period of the family’s eligibility before recertification.

Contractors must use the FY 2025–26 Family Fee Schedule, included in this bulletin, and the new income information reported by the family to assess the family’s new fee.

If the family fee has decreased, the contractor must issue a NOA in accordance with 5 CCR Section 17756, reflecting the new family fee.

Complete the steps below to manage a family's request for a reduction to their family fees:

Navigate to the family record and click on Income
On the household income page, click the Create button to document the income that the family voluntarily reports
Navigate back to the Agency Menu and click on Intake and Eligibility > Family Fees Comparison
Select "CDE Family Fee Schedule 24-25" in the Fee Schedule 1 filter
Select "CDE Family Fee Schedule 25-26" in the Fee Schedule 2 filter
Select "Show All " in the Only show families with reduced fee filter
Select any CSPP contracts operated by your agency in the Contract Name filter
Click "Apply Filters" and search for the family who requested this reduction
If the Fees Reduced column shows "Yes" and is highlighted red, then proceed to the section below on how to reassess family fees. If the Fees Reduced column shows "No," then follow steps 10-11 below.
Navigate back to the family's record and click on Income
Remove the income record that was just created to reassess the family's fees, and set their previous income record to "Active"

If the video above doesn't open full-screen, use the following link:

2025-26 CDE Family Fees Comparison

Next Steps for CDSS Programs

Note: In the first published version of this article, we included instructions on implementing the new fee schedule for currently enrolled families from last year's Child Care Bulletin (CCB 24-13) because the new Child Care Bulletin for implementation of the 25-26 fee schedule wasn't released. The Child Care and Development Division at CDSS just released the new Child Care Bulletin (CCB 25-16). The language below on implementation has been updated to match this new CCB as of 6/25/2025.

CDSS's Child Care and Development Division (CCDD) included instructions on how to implement the new fee schedule in CCB 25-16. The new fee schedule should be used for assessing family fees for families at initial certification or at recertification, or when a parent voluntarily requests a reduction to their family fees and provides applicable supporting documentation for the requested change. Please see the excerpt below from CCB 25-16 that describes the implementation process for currently enrolled families:

Families Assessed a Family Fee Utilizing the FY 2025-26 Family Fee Schedule

For families who were assessed a family fee utilizing the FY 2025-26 Schedule, and the new family fee schedule yields a lesser amount, contractors shall decrease the family’s fee as applicable and issue a NOA. For those families whose fees would increase due to the new schedule, no changes should be made to their fee assessment until a family is recertified. When the fees increase due to recertification, a NOA shall be issued pursuant to 5 CCR Section 18119.

Complete the steps below to manage a family's request for a reduction to their family fees:

Navigate to the family record and click on Income
In the "Income" tab, click the Create button to document the income that the family voluntarily reports
Navigate back to the Agency Menu and click on Intake and Eligibility > Family Fees Comparison
Select "CDSS Family Fee Schedule 24-25" in the Fee Schedule 1 filter
Select "CDSS Family Fee Schedule 25-26" in the Fee Schedule 2 filter
Select "Show All " in the Only show families with reduced fee filter
Select any CDSS contracts operated by your agency in the Contract Name filter (CCTR, CMIG, etc.)
Click "Apply Filters" and search for the family who requested this reduction
If the Fees Reduced column shows "Yes" and is highlighted red, then proceed to the section below on how to reassess family fees. If the Fees Reduced column shows "No," then follow steps 10-11 below.
Navigate back to the family's record and click on Income
Remove the income record that was just created to reassess the family's fees, and set their previous income record to "Active"

If the video above doesn't open full-screen, use the following link:

2025-26 CDSS Family Fees Comparison

How to Reassess Family Fees

To reassess fees for these families, please follow the remaining steps below:

Navigate to the family's record
Navigate to the schedules page for each child in the family
Click Update > Transfer Schedule
Enter 6/30/2025 as the "Original Schedule End Date"
Select the Create Notice of Action checkbox
Enter 7/1/2025 as the "Start Date." Enter the end date to match the one on the child's previous schedule
Enter all remaining schedule information to match the current schedule
Select the new 25-26 Family Fee Schedule for CDE or CDSS in the "Fees" card at the bottom of the schedule
Complete the NOA for the family, and ensure that all months for the 2025-26 fiscal year are represented under either the Part-Time rate or the Full-Time rate. Note that a month can only be listed once under either rate type, since a family cannot have both a Part-Time and Full-Time rate in the same month.

Note: The video below shows how to reassess fees for families under the new fee schedule using a "CSPP" family as an example. Complete the same steps for CCTR, CMIG, or other CDSS-CCD programs if they have a reduction in fees, but ensure that the "CDSS Family Fee Schedule 25-26" is selected.

If the video above doesn't open full-screen, use the following link:

Assessing Fees with the New 2025-26 Family Fee Schedule