BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 47
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
47 (McCarty)
As Amended June 1, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+--------------------|
|Education |6-0 |O'Donnell, Chávez, | |
| | |McCarty, Santiago, | |
| | |Thurmond, Weber | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |12-3 |Gomez, Bonta, |Bigelow, Jones, |
| | |Calderon, Daly, |Wagner |
| | |Eggman, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gordon, Holden, | |
| | |Quirk, Rendon, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Establishes the Preschool for All Act of 2015 and
requires, on or before January 1, 2017, all eligible children to
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have access to the state preschool program the year before they
enter kindergarten, if their parents wish to enroll them,
contingent upon the appropriation of sufficient funding in the
annual Budget Act for this purpose. Finds and declares that
studies have shown that high-quality preschool significantly
improves children's school readiness and school performance, that
quality preschool provides a return of $15,000 for every child
served, and that investment in high-quality preschool will result
in savings in prison expenditures. Further expresses the intent
of the Legislature that all low-income children have access to
either a state preschool program or a transitional kindergarten
program and to provide funds to expand the state preschool program
to provide full day, full year preschool for all eligible
low-income children.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, ongoing costs in the hundreds of millions to provide
all eligible children access to the California State Preschool
Program (CSPP). To provide an additional 100,000 slots, the state
would need to provide approximately $400 million Proposition 98
(morning portion of 100,000 slots) and $391 million
non-Proposition 98 General Fund (for 75,000 of the remaining cost
of the full day, full year slots).
COMMENTS: Background on child care and development programs. The
California Department of Education (CDE) administers a child care
and development system, maintaining over 1,300 service contracts
with approximately 750 public and private agencies supporting and
providing services to children from birth through 12 years of age.
Contractors include school districts, county offices of education,
cities, colleges, other public entities, community-based
organizations, and private agencies. According to the Legislative
Analyst's Office (LAO), overall funding for the child care and
development programs decreased by almost $1 billion between
2008-09 and 2012-13, with the elimination of 110,000 slots. Last
year, state and federal funds provided an increase of $281
million, with a $2.4 billion allocation for child care and
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development programs, offering 355,000 slots.
CSPP. The CSPP offers part-day and full-day preschool programs
through contracts with local educational agencies, private
contractors, and colleges. These programs are required to comply
with health and safety standards under Title 22 regulations and
higher developmental and teacher qualification standards under
Title 5 regulations adopted by the CDE. Priority for enrollment
goes to four- or three-year-old neglected or abused children who
are recipients of Child Protective Services or recipients who are
at risk of being neglected or abused, without regard to income.
Second priority goes to four-year-old children who were enrolled
in CSPP as a three-year-old, followed by four-year-old children
with the lowest income ranking. Three-year-old children may be
enrolled after four-year-olds are enrolled. Income eligibility is
70% of the state median income ($46,896 for a family of four).
Part-day preschool operates three hours per day for 175 days. The
General Child Care program provides "wrap around" to provide
full-day care.
Fiscal Year (FY) 2014-15 budget increases. In FY 2014-15, CSPP
received $664 million in Proposition 98 General fund for the
part-day preschool program. The 2014-15 budget included 7,500
additional slots for preschool, plus an additional 4,000 slots
that would be effective on June 15, 2015. According to the CDE,
when the 4,000 part day slots were offered to contractors and
school districts, the CDE received requests for over 32,301 slots.
The Governor's proposed 2015-16 budget includes funds for 153,177
slots, 38,913 more slots than in 2008-09.
The Assembly's recently adopted FY 2015-16 budget includes funds
to provide 10,500 additional full day CSPP slots, beginning March
1, 2016, while the Senate's budget increases General Child Care
and Development funds for infants and toddlers. Both budgets
include funds for additional slots through the Alternative Payment
Program.
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What does this bill do? This bill provides all eligible children
with access to the CSPP the year before they enter kindergarten,
if their parents wish to enroll them, contingent upon sufficient
funding provided in the annual Budget Act.
The author states, "A powerful body of research shows that
investing in quality early education is highly effective in
promoting student academic success. Early intervention in a
child's education increases cognitive, language, social, and
emotional development. This leads to increased high school
graduation rates, college attendance, decreasing crime, and builds
a stronger middle class. Recently, California has led the way
with historic reforms with the common core standards and the local
control funding formula. Though both reforms strive to create
greater quality and equity in California's public education
system, these reforms will not close the achievement gap before a
child first enters a kindergarten classroom. AB 47 expands on
last year's commitment from the Governor and Legislature to expand
the state preschool program for all low income families who do not
have access to one year of state preschool or transitional
kindergarten. Now is the time to make a wise investment to expand
preschool to all eligible low income students."
What is the estimated need? It is challenging to determine the
full extent of the need of families that meet eligibility
criteria. From 2005 to 2011, funds were provided to establish
centralized eligibility lists (CEL), providing data on the number
of families waiting for subsidized care in all 58 counties. While
some counties voluntarily maintained the CEL, there is no longer a
statewide source of data collection. The LAO estimates
approximately 31,500 four-year-old children who have need for
full-day preschool out of 250,000 four-year-olds who meet
eligibility criteria.
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Value of preschool. Studies, such as those from the RAND
corporation, have shown that quality early childhood education
programs have a number of benefits, including improving children's
readiness for school, higher test scores, reduced grade-level
retention, higher rates of school completion, and higher
likelihood of college attendance.
Arguments in support. First 5 California supports the bill and
states, "A powerful body of research shows that investing in
high-quality preschool programs enhances the quality of care and
education that children receive. Studies conclude that
high-quality preschool programs improve school readiness and lead
to better long-term academic achievement. Research also shows a
child's brain develops most dramatically during the early years of
life. The school and life success of at-risk children can be
significantly increased through high-quality early learning
programs, which also are essential to preventing the achievement
gap. In California, too many children miss out on a critical
developmental window of opportunity. Only half of California's
low-income, preschool-aged children are served in State Preschool
or Head Start, and only one-quarter of all children are eligible
for the current transitional kindergarten program."
Arguments in opposition. California Right to Life Committee, Inc.
(CRLC) states, "CRLC does not support early childhood education by
governmental schools. Young children need parental guidance in
their early years, especially. When this is not possible,
families should locate childcare within their families or in
private agencies."
Analysis Prepared by:
Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN:
0000699
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