BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2104
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Date of Hearing: March 28, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 2104 (Gordon) - As Introduced: February 23, 2012
SUBJECT : Child care: state preschool programs
SUMMARY : Repeals and recodifies specified provisions related to
the Prekindergarten and Family Literacy Programs (PKFL).
Specifically, this bill :
1)Specifies that state preschool programs are part-day and
full-day age and developmentally appropriate programs designed
to facilitate the transition of three- and four-year-old
children to kindergarten.
2)Repeals the provisions requiring a participating PKFL program
to coordinate family literacy and staff development activities
and instead incorporates both provisions into the section of
law specifying the duties of a participating California State
Preschool Program (CSPP) that received funds to provide family
literacy and staff development activities.
3)Repeals the provisions that do the following:
a) Require a participating PKFL program to provide age and
developmentally appropriate activities for children in
participating classrooms that are designed to facilitate
their transition to kindergarten.
b) Authorize a local educational agency or a participating
PKFL program to select a family literacy and education
coordinator whose duties may include developing a system to
coordinate the provision of literacy services, creating an
organizational partnership between program provider, an
adult education program or other community provider, and
promoting parental involvement in participating classrooms.
c) Allocate $45 million to reimburse participating PKFL
programs on a per-child basis at the same rate that is used
for the state preschool program, as determined in the
annual Budget Act or other statute, allocated to programs
located within the areas of elementary schools in deciles 1
to 3, based on the 2005 Academic Performance Index (API).
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d) Require funds for the PKFL to serve children who would
attend kindergarten in the subsequent academic year and
prohibit a child from receiving services for more than one
year.
e) Authorize a PKFL program to provide services to children
in families above the income eligibility threshold at a
maximum of 20% of contracted slots, calculated through the
participating program's entire contract.
f) Require the California Department of Education (CDE) to
provide an annual report to the Department of Finance and
the Legislature on the number of children being served in
the CSPP, including the number of children served above the
income eligibility threshold and the age of all children
served.
g) Specify that $5 million shall be distributed to each
participating class at a rate of $2,500 and authorize the
funds to be used for compensation and support costs for
program coordinators, staff development, family literacy
services, and instructional materials.
h) Restrict eligibility to participating programs that were
eligible to receive funds in the 2007-08 fiscal year,
specify that appropriation of funds beyond the amounts
specified in the PKFL shall be pursuant to the annual
Budget Act or other statute.
i) Authorize programs receiving PKFL funds to participate
in all CSPP administered by the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI).
j) Require the SPI to conduct an evaluation of the
effectiveness of prekindergarten and family literacy
programs, and to the extent possible, i) require the
evaluation to rely on quantifiable measures of academic
achievement of participating children, including, but not
limited to, performance on the Standardized Testing and
Reporting Program test and the English language development
test administered in grade 3; and, ii) the estimated costs
and benefits of the programs.
aa) Authorize up to $5 million of unearned contract funds
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for general child care programs to be used to provide
direct child care services for children in participating
classrooms to meet the child care needs of parents for the
portion of each day that is not covered by services
provided by the PKFL.
4)Specifies that of the funds appropriated in the Budget Act of
2013 for CSPP, $5 million shall be distributed to qualifying
CSPP at a rate of $2,500 per class. Require funds to be
distributed by the SPI as follows:
a) First priority shall be assigned to CSPP programs that
are located in the attendance area of elementary schools in
deciles 1 to 3, based on the 2005 base API, and established
on or before June 30, 2013.
b) Funds not obligated on or before July 1, 2013 shall be
districted through a lottery process, to CSPPs operating
classrooms located in the attendance area of elementary
schools in deciles 1 to 3 based on the most recently
published API. Specifies that funds awarded through a
lottery process shall first be assigned to applicants that
will maintain the class within the attendance area of the
elementary school that received the original grant and
second priority shall be assigned to programs based on the
most recently published API.
5)Strikes the provisions that apply in order to facilitate a
full day of services for CSPP, and instead specifies that
subsequent to enrollment, a child shall be deemed eligible for
part-day care as long as the child is enrolled in a preschool
program.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes eligibility for child care services and child
development programs administered by the CDE and requires the
SPI to adopt rules and regulations on eligibility, enrollment
and priority of services needed for implementation (Education
Code (EC) Section 8263).
2)Establishes the CSPP, comprised of funding from State
Preschool, PKFL, and General Child Care center-based programs,
for part-day and full-day services for three- and four-year
old children. (EC Section 8235)
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3)Establishes the PKFL, which provides child development and
family literacy services to those who reside in the attendance
areas of elementary schools in deciles 1-3. Specifies that
eligibility is limited to children who would be attending
kindergarten the subsequent year. Allocates $50 million from
the Budget Act, of which $45 million is to reimburse
participating programs at the same rate as that is used for
the CSPP and $5 million is to be allocated to each
participating class at a rate of $2,500 per class per year for
program coordinator compensation and support costs, staff
development, family literacy services, and instructional
materials. (EC Section 8238-8239)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Background . The CDE administers a child care and
development system, maintaining 1,401 service contracts with
approximately 758 public and private agencies supporting and
providing services to children from birth to 13 years of age.
Contractors include school districts, county offices of
education, cities, colleges, other public entities,
community-based organizations, and private agencies. In fiscal
year (FY) 2011-12, $2.017 billion was provided for child care
and development programs from state and federal funds, enrolling
an estimated 345,000 children. This is down from $2.669 billion
initially provided in the FY 2010-11 budget (prior to midyear
trigger cuts) with almost 416,000 slots.
The PKFL program, established through AB 172 (Chan), Chapter
211, Statutes of 2006, provides child development and family
literacy services to those who reside in the attendance areas of
deciles 1-3 elementary schools. Eligibility is limited to
children who would be attending kindergarten the subsequent
year; attendance is limited to one year. AB 172 allocated $45
million for provider reimbursement and $5 million for family
literacy and support activities, allocated at $2,500 per class
for this purpose. AB 172 directed an additional $5 million from
the general child care and development program to provide "wrap
around" service to enable families receiving services under the
PKFL to receive full day care.
According to the SPI, the sponsor of this bill, this bill
consolidates the PKFL into the CSPP to streamline all statutory
funding requirements for CSPP. The SPI states that prior to the
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enactment of AB 2759 (Jones), Chapter 308, Statutes of 2008,
there were three separate preschool and child care programs, the
State Preschool programs, PKFL, and general child care and
development programs. AB 2759 consolidated the programs into
the CSPP. According to the California Department of Education
(CDE), at the request of then Governor Schwarzenegger, the PKFL
statutes were left in the Education Code. The SPI states,
"Although AB 2759 removed much of the administrative burden at
the local and state level, the retention of the PKFL statute
continues to create confusion and require burdensome
administrative actions for both the CDE and child care
providers."
Since the enactment of AB 2759, the $50 million budget line item
for the PKFL program was folded into the funding for CSPP in FY
2009-10. While the original PKFL grantees have maintained
funds, the CDE now gives contractors a choice to operate the
program under the PKFL or CSPP.
The intent of the PKFL were two-folds: to provide access to
children who live in attendance areas of schools with
low-performing achievements and to provide interactive literacy
activities, activities in which parents or legal guardians
actively participate in facilitating the acquisition by their
children of prereading skills through guided activities. This
bill will retain $5 million for family literacy activities
provided to programs located in decile 1-3 areas. However, the
estimated 12,000 slots created just for children who reside in
low-achieving areas will be folded into the CSPP. The slots
will no longer be reserved for programs located in low achieving
elementary school areas. According to the CDE, in 2009, 80% of
all preschool programs (including those participating in PKFL)
were located within the attendance areas of deciles 1 -3
schools.
Consolidating the programs was a recommendation of the
Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), in its analysis of the FY
2007-08 budget. The LAO argues that the PKFL is almost the same
program as the state preschool program, using the same income
eligibility criteria and providing the same rate as the state
preschool programs, with the only difference being that
allocations are to contractors serving children in the
attendance area of deciles 1-3 schools. Having separate
programs result in different application and selection processes
and separate tracking and reporting work for state staff and
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providers.
Committee amendment : Staff recommends adding a cross reference
to Education Code Section 8238, which specify requirements for
CSPP contractors that receive family literacy and staff
development program funds, in Section 8238.4, the section
setting aside the $5 million for those purposes.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson (sponsor)
California State PTA
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087