BILL NUMBER: AB 273 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 19, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Rendon
FEBRUARY 7, 2013
An act to add Section 8242 to the Education Code,
relating to child care and development services , and making an
appropriation therefor .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 273, as amended, Rendon. Child care and development services
: California Partnership for Infants and Toddlers Act of 2013
.
The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, establishes a system of child
care and development services for children from infancy to 13 years
of age and their parents, including a full range of supervision,
health, and support services through full- and part-time programs.
Existing law requires the Superintendent to administer general child
care and development programs, as specified.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to
enact legislation that would redesign general child care and
development programs for infants and toddlers to allow for the
combination of child care and development services with home
visitation services and that would rename these programs the
California Early Head Start Program. enact the
California Partnership for Infants and Toddlers Act of 2013, and
would require the Superintendent, by March 1, 2014, to apply to the
California Children and Families Commission for funding from the
funds received by the commission from the federal Quality Early
Learning for Our Youngest Children program. The bill would
appropriate these funds to the Superintendent, who would be required
to expend those moneys by making supplemental grants available to
qualifying general child care and development infant and toddler
contracting agencies. The Superintendent, in consultation from the
California Children and Families Commission, would be required to
determine the agencies that qualify for funding and establish
standards to ensure quality.
The bill would require the Superintendent, by January 1, 2018, to
submit a report to the Legislature evaluating the act.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no yes
. Fiscal committee: no yes .
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:
(a) The first three years of life are a period of dynamic and
unparalleled brain development in which children acquire the ability
to think, speak, learn, and reason. During these first 36 months,
children need good health, strong families, and positive early
learning experiences to lay the foundation for later school success.
Low-income infants and toddlers are at greater risk for a variety of
poorer outcomes and vulnerabilities, such as later school failure,
learning disabilities, behavior problems, developmental delay, and
health impairments.
(b) Existing state law requires the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to administer child care and development programs,
including the General Child Care and Development program that
provides services to eligible low-income children from birth to 12
years of age. For children from birth to three years old, the General
Child Care and Development program funds centers and family child
care home networks to provide full-day, full-year child care and
development services that meet the State Department of Education's
California Infant/Toddler Learning and Development Foundations.
(c) The federal Early Head Start program serves low-income infants
and toddlers with a flexible program model intended to meet the
varied needs of families, including child care and development
services, home visitation services, health services, and family
engagement. Research shows that children who participated in Early
Head Start had significantly larger vocabularies and scored higher on
standardized measures of cognitive development, that children and
parents had more positive interactions, and parents provided more
support for learning. Many different home visitation programs have
been shown to significantly reduce the occurrence of child
maltreatment and abuse, and improve children's health and school
success.
(d) President Barack Obama, in his 2013 State of the Union
address, announced a major new initiative to increase federal funding
for early childhood education. This initiative includes a
competitive federal grant for states and local communities to
establish partnerships between Early Head Start and quality child
care.
(e) To improve the healthy development and school readiness of
California's most vulnerable children and to increase California's
competitiveness for federal funding, it is the intent of the
Legislature to enact legislation to establish the California
Partnership for Infants and Toddlers supplemental grant. The
Partnership for Infants and Toddlers supplemental grant will provide
voluntary funding for the contracting agencies of the General Child
Care and Development program who serve infants and toddlers.
(f) The funds authorized by this act will be used to offer
enrolled children and families with support services, including, but
not limited to, health and nutrition, home visitation, early
childhood mental health, family engagement, and supplemental early
learning services.
(g) This act will provide local contractors with flexibility to
tailor which support services to offer based on the unique needs of
their community, families, and children.
(h) By having the Superintendent of Public Instruction administer
the grant, administrative and reporting requirements by contracting
agencies will be both minimized and simplified.
SEC. 2. Section 8242 is added to the
Education Code , to read:
8242. (a) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the
California Partnership for Infants and Toddlers Act of 2013.
(b) On or before March 1, 2014, the Superintendent shall apply to
the California Children and Families Commission from the funding
received by the commission from the federal Quality Early Learning
for Our Youngest Children program, as authorized pursuant to Section
9840a of Title 42 of the United States Code, to provide funds to
eligible agencies for purposes of the California Partnership for
Infants and Toddlers Act of 2013. The Superintendent shall apply for
funding that would implement the grant program authorized by this
section for a period of not less than three years.
(c) The funds received by the Superintendent pursuant to
subdivision (b) are hereby appropriated to the Superintendent, who
shall expend those moneys by making supplemental grants available to
qualifying general child care and development infant and toddler
contracting agencies, as determined by the Superintendent, at an
amount of not less than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500)
per child.
(d) The Superintendent, in consultation from the California
Children and Families Commission, shall determine which general child
care and development infant and toddler contracting agencies qualify
for funding pursuant to this section, and shall establish standards
to ensure quality, based on the federal Early Head Start program
model, and other evidence based services provided to infants and
toddlers.
(e) (1) Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, on
or before January 1, 2018, the Superintendent shall submit a report
to the Legislature evaluating the effectiveness of the supplemental
grants provided by the California Partnership for Infants and
Toddlers Act of 2013 with regard to supporting the healthy
development and school readiness of children.
(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature
to enact legislation that would redesign the general child care and
development programs for infants and toddlers to allow for the
combination of child care and development services with home
visitation services. It is further the intent of the Legislature to
enact legislation that would rename the redesigned program the
California Early Head Start Program.