BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2286
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Date of Hearing: May 9, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2286 (Bonilla) - As Introduced: February 24, 2012
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:7-4
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill increases the subsidized child care rates for infant
and toddler care, as follows:
1)For infants who are 0 to 18 months of age and are served in a
child day care center, the adjustment factor increases from
1.7 to 2.3.
2)For toddlers who are 0 to 36 months of age and are served in a
family child care home, the adjustment factor increases from
1.4 to 1.8.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)GF cost pressure, likely between $430,000 and $860,000, to
increase the adjustment factors for subsidized child care
rates pursuant to this bill. This assumes an additional 50 to
100 children will be served annually. Under this bill, the
full-day rate for infants would increase from $58.45 to $79.07
and for toddlers the rate would increase from $48.13 to
$61.88.
2)Assuming the state provides the same amount of GF
apportionment for Title 5 child care centers and there is not
any increased infant and toddler enrollment in these programs,
this bill will cause fewer children to be served because the
state will be paying a higher reimbursement rate per child for
these programs.
COMMENTS
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1)Background . California provides federal and state child care
and development programs, including state preschool (full and
part-day), California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to
Kids (CalWORKS), and non-CalWORKS. The following table
summarizes these programs:
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| | Summary of Activities |2011-12 Budget Act |
| | | Funding1 |
|--------------------+----------------------------+-------------------|
|State Preschool |Provides full or part-day |$374 |
| |early childhood education |million |
|(145,000 slots) |programs for three to | |
| |five-year old children from | |
| |low-income families. This | |
| |is the only program that | |
| |does not require the | |
| |parents to be working or | |
| |engaged in some other | |
| |qualifying activity. | |
| | | |
| |ÝAdministered by the State | |
| |Department of Education | |
| |(SDE)] | |
|--------------------+----------------------------+-------------------|
|CalWorks Child Care |Recipients of CalWORKs | $1 billion |
| |assistance are eligible for | |
| |subsidized child care. This | |
|(Stage 1, 2, and 3) |care is administered in | |
| |three stages and recipients | |
| |are currently entitled to | |
|(135,000 slots) |two years after a family is | |
| |transitioned off cash aid. | |
| |All CalWORKs providers are | |
| |paid through a voucher | |
| |reimbursement system based | |
| |on regional market rates. | |
| |Ý Administered by the | |
| |Department of Social | |
| |Services (DSS), except for | |
| |State 1, which is | |
| |administered by SDE] | |
|--------------------+----------------------------+-------------------|
|Non-CalWORKS Child |Low-income families not |$933 |
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|Care |receiving CalWORKs |million |
| |assistance also are | |
|(General Child Care |eligible for subsidized | |
|- Title 5 centers |child care, though demand | |
|and family child |typically exceeds funded | |
|care homes, |slots. The General Child | |
|alternative payment |Care Program is comprised | |
|programs, and |of centers and homes that | |
|migrant and |directly contract with the | |
|severely |state to provide care. The | |
|handicapped |Alternative Payment program | |
|programs) |providers are paid through | |
| |vouchers similar to | |
|(72,600 slots) |CalWORKs child care | |
| |programs. | |
| | | |
| |ÝAdministered by SDE] | |
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1These programs were funded with a mix of GF/98 (state preschool
only), GF ($1 billion), and federal funds ($941 million).
This bill increases the adjustment factor for the standard
reimbursement rate (SSR) earned by Title 5 general child care
centers (licensed centers and family child care homes) that have
direct service contracts with SDE. Specifically, contractors
are paid at a daily SSR for each eligible child they serve. The
SSR is the same in all regions of the state, with additional
funds provided to centers that care for infants, toddlers, and
children with special needs. The additional funds provided to
these centers are based on a statutory adjustment factor.
Current law establishes the adjustment factor for infants age 0
to 18 months at 1.7 and for toddlers age 0 to 36 months at 1.4.
According to SDE, the current SSR full-day rate is $34.38 per
day of enrollment. With the adjustment factors, the rates are
as follows: for infants, the rate is $58.45 and for toddlers, it
is $48.13.
2)Purpose . According to the author, "The reimbursement rates
paid by the state for center-based infant and toddler
educational and developmental child care?are exceptionally
low, and grossly inadequate. Community agencies and school
districts have long lost money on infant and/or toddler
classrooms. As a result there has been a long process of
agencies closing infant and toddler classrooms - even at times
when the Legislature was attempting to expand infant and
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toddler child care and development. This year a very large
number of infant and toddler classes were closed - as a result
of the major cuts to child development in the 2011-12 budget."
The author cites data that reveals enrollment for infants
ages 0 to 11 months has decreased 31% over the last three
years and toddler enrollment during the same period has
decreased 19%
The author further states: "The current adjustment factors are
simply not large enough to cover the significantly higher
costs of infant and toddler centers. Currently the adjustment
factors are 1.7 for infants (0 to 18 months) and 1.4 for
toddlers (18 to 36 months). Previous analysis has shown that
to achieve parity, or equivalence, with the rate for preschool
age children, the adjustment factors would need to be 2.3 for
infants and 1.8 for toddlers." This bill changes the
adjustment factors accordingly.
3)How many infants and toddlers are currently being serviced in
Title 5 child care centers ? According to SDE, the following
chart details the number of infants and toddlers served in
Title 5 child care centers over the last three years:
--------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Source: SDE Monthly Child Care Report Oct. 2009 (archived
data), Oct. 2010 (archived data), Oct. 2011 (preliminary
data).
Note: Data represents a "point in time" and does not
reflect annual aggregate figures. Counts represent the
total number of unduplicated children served in Title 5
Child Care Centers under the age of 36 months.
4)The governor's proposed 2012-13 Budget for child care . The
January budget proposal contains $1.9 billion in funding for
child care programs. This amount includes $1.5 billion in
funding for programs administered by SDE and $442 million in
funding for Stage 1 child care administered by DSS. This
reflects a reduction of $450 million GF or approximately 20%
of the total program when compared to the 2011- 12 fiscal
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year. The Department of Finance estimates that this will
result in 62,000 fewer child care slots in the budget year
(this total includes preschool slots).
5)The proposed 2012-13 Budget reduces the SSR by 10% , decreasing
the Title 5 per child rate for full day services from $34.38
to $30.94. According to the Legislative Analyst Office (LAO)
report entitled The 2012-13 Budget: The Governor's CalWORKS
and Child Care Proposals, "Title 5 centers receiving state
reimbursements would have no choice but to reduce their
operating budgets. That is, state requirements around
adult-to-child ratios and days of operation - and, in many
cases, school district collective bargaining agreements -
leave these centers little flexibility to accommodate such a
reduction. State law also prevents Title 5 centers from
continuing to charge existing rates and asking parents to make
up the difference. Moreover, the state rate for these centers
already is somewhat low - in several areas of the state, the
SSR currently is lower than the rates charged by the majority
of other providers in the county. As a result of these
factors, we believe such a reduction could lead to many Title
5 centers closing, thereby reducing access to child care
services."
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081