BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 47|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 47
Author: McCarty (D), et al.
Amended: 7/2/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 6-1, 7/8/15
AYES: Liu, Hancock, Leyva, Monning, Pan, Vidak
NOES: Runner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Block, Mendoza
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 56-22, 6/3/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: State preschool program
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires by January 1, 2017, all eligible
children that qualify for the state preschool program, to have
access to the 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.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes the California state preschool program for
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purposes of providing part-day and full-day developmentally
appropriate programs designed to facilitate the transition to
kindergarten for three- and four-year old children in
educational development, health services, social services,
nutritional services, parent education and participation,
evaluation, and staff development. (Education Code § 8235)
2)Provides that three- and four-year old children are eligible
for state preschool if the family meets one of the following:
a) Current CalWORKs recipient.
b) Income eligible.
c) Children are recipients of protective services (abused,
neglected, exploited or at risk of being abused, neglected
or exploited). (EC § 8235)
3)Provides that three- and four-year olds are eligible for
wraparound child care services to supplement part-day state
preschool if the family is eligible for state preschool and
the parents need care for at least one of the following
reasons:
a) The child is a recipient of protective services, or at
risk.
b) The parents are engaged in vocational training, as
specified, employed or seeking employment, seeking
permanent housing, or are incapacitated.
(EC § 8239)
4)Defines "transitional kindergarten" as the first year of a
two-year kindergarten program that uses a modified
kindergarten curriculum that is age and developmentally
appropriate. (EC § 48000(d))
This bill:
1)Requires by January 1, 2017, all eligible children who do not
have access to transitional kindergarten or the federal Head
Start, to have access to the state preschool program the year
before they enter kindergarten if their parents so choose.
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2)Makes funding contingent upon the appropriation of sufficient
funding in the annual Budget Act for this purpose.
3)Declares legislative intent that all low-income children have
access to either state preschool or transitional kindergarten
and funds provided for this purpose should be used to expand
full-day, full-year preschool for all eligible low-income
children who otherwise would not be served.
4)States legislative findings and declarations relative to
improving school readiness and performance through
high-quality preschool and the value of the state's investment
into high-quality preschool programs.
Comments
1)Need for the bill. According to research provided by the
author, early intervention in a child's education increases
cognitive, language, social and emotional development and
investing in quality, early education is highly effective in
promoting student academic success. The author contends that
despite the state's commitment to fund early childhood
learning and child development in the 2014-15 Budget Act, the
California Department of Education (CDE) received over 32,000
applications for state preschool and could not meet the
demand. This bill seeks expand the state preschool program to
ensure that all eligible low-income families have access to
this service.
2)Existing programs for three- and four- year olds. The state
preschool program provides both part-day and full-day services
that offer age and developmentally appropriate curriculum to
children. The program prioritizes four-year-olds for
enrollment and may serve three-year-olds if space is available
after enrolling all eligible four-year-olds. The state
preschool program also provides meals and snacks to children,
parent education, referrals to health and social services for
families, and staff development opportunities to employees.
The program is administered through local educational agencies
(LEAs), colleges, community-action agencies, and private
nonprofit agencies. State preschool can be offered at a child
care center, a family child care network home, a school
district, or a county office of education. LEAs provide
preschool programs serving approximately two-thirds of all
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children enrolled in state preschool. While not all school
districts offer state preschool, most school districts offer
transitional kindergarten to some four-year-olds.
Transitional kindergarten currently serves "older"
four-year-olds and "young" five-year-olds who have their fifth
birthday after the cut-off date for kindergarten (between
October 2 and December 2 for the current school year, and
between September 2 and December 2 beginning with the 2014-15
school year). Eligibility for transitional kindergarten is
limited to this cohort of students because they would have
been eligible for kindergarten under the previous entry-age.
Head Start and Early Head Start programs support children from
birth to age 5, in centers, child care partner locations, and
in their own homes. Three- and four-year-old preschoolers
made up over 80 percent of the children served by Head Start
last year. Early Head Start services are provided for at
least six hours per day and Head Start preschool services may
be half-day or full-day. Like state preschool, Head Start
provides wraparound services that include early learning,
health, and family well-being. Head Start programs prioritize
enrollment for children in foster care, children with
disabilities, and children whose families are homeless.
California's Head Start program is the largest in the nation
and is administered through a system of 74 grantees and 88
delegate agencies. The majority of these agencies also have
contracts with CDE, to administer general child care and/or
State Preschool programs. Many of the programs are located at
the same site.
This bill aims to provide preschool to low-income families,
who are not served by Transitional Kindergarten, federal Head
Start, or State Preschool programs a year before enrolling in
kindergarten. As mentioned, the existing state preschool
program prioritizes four-year-olds for enrollment and may
serve three-year-olds if space is available. It's unclear if
the provisions in this bill would require access for all
eligible three-year-olds. This bill does not appropriate funds
for this purpose but makes the expansion of preschool to all
eligible children contingent upon the appropriation of
sufficient funding in the annual budget act. This bill does
not mandate preschool rather it attempts to provide a space
for those children whose parents wish to enroll them.
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3)Full day. This bill expresses legislative intent for funding
for preschool to be used to provide services for eligible
children, including augmenting state preschool to provide
full-day, full-year learning for participants.
4)Related Budget activity. The 2015 Budget Act restores funding
for 7,030 full-day preschool slots effective January 1, 2016,
of which 5,830 are for LEAs and 1,200 are for non-LEA
providers. The estimated cost for these slots is $34.3
million ($30.9 million Proposition 98). Finally, the budget
agreement includes $12.1 million in Proposition 98 funds for
2,500 additional part-day preschool slots.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Cost pressures in the low hundreds of millions to provide all
eligible children that do not have access to the transitional
kindergarten or the federal Head Start program access to the
state preschool program the year before they enter
kindergarten. A separate provision in the bill that provides
Legislative intent for state preschool expansion could create
cost pressures of over one billion depending on its
interpretation. See staff comments. (General Fund and
Proposition 98)
Administrative costs to CDE of 8.0 positions and about
$917,000, including travel costs for additional site visits.
(General Fund)
SUPPORT: (Verified 8/28/15)
Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones
Advancement Project
Association of California School Administrators
Bay Area Council
Butte County Office of Education
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California Association for Bilingual Education
California Association for the Education of Young Children
California Catholic Conference, Inc.
California Federation of Teachers
California State PTA
California School Employees Association
Californians Together
Children's Network
Children Now
Compton Unified School District
Common Sense Kids Action
Congregation Beth AM
Early Edge California
Fight Crime Invest in Kids California
Frist 5 California
Frist 5 Fresno County
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
LAUP
Los Angeles Unified School District
Los Angeles Universal Preschool
Lutheran Office of Public Policy California
National Association of Social Workers
North Bay Leadership Council
Monterey County Board of Supervisors
Sacramento County office of Education
Santa Barbara Unified
Santa Clara County Office of Education
SEIU Local 1000
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
United Way
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/28/15)
California Right to Life Committee, Inc.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 56-22, 6/3/15
AYES: Alejo, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon,
Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia,
Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Roger Hernández,
Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
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Maienschein, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell,
Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Williams,
Wood, Atkins
NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Dahle,
Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Jones, Kim,
Lackey, Mathis, Mayes, Melendez, Obernolte, Steinorth, Wagner,
Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chang, Olsen
Prepared by:Olgalilia Ramirez / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/30/15 19:48:55
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