BILL NUMBER: SB 1123	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Liu

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2014

   An act to relating to child care and development.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1123, as introduced, Liu. Child care and development:
California Strong Start program.
   The Child Care and Development Services Act requires the State
Department of Education to be the single state agency responsible for
the promotion, development, and provision of care of children in the
absence of their parents during the workday or while engaged in
activities that require assistance of a third party. The act requires
the department to develop prekindergarten learning development
guidelines. The act requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
to develop standards for the implementation of quality programs.
   This bill would state that it is the Legislature's intent to enact
legislation that would establish the California Strong Start program
by redesigning the General Child Care Program for infants and
toddlers into a comprehensive, evidence-based, locally controlled
program, in order to improve the healthy development and school
readiness of California's most vulnerable children.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
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 a 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 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 13 years of age. For
children birth to three years of age, the General Child Care 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 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, family engagement and support, home visitation services,
and health services. Research shows that children who participated in
Early Head Start had significantly larger vocabularies and scored
higher on standardized measures of cognitive development, and that
children and parents had more positive interactions, and parents
provided more support for learning. Many different home visiting
programs have been shown to significantly reduce the occurrence of
child maltreatment and abuse, and improve children's health and
school success.
  SEC. 2.  It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation
that would establish the California Strong Start program by
redesigning the General Child Care Program for infants and toddlers
into a comprehensive, evidence-based, locally controlled program, in
order to improve the healthy development and school readiness of
California's most vulnerable children.