BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 47
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB
47 (McCarty)
As Enrolled September 16, 2015
2/3 vote
--------------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: | | (June 3, |SENATE: |29-11 | (September 10, |
| |56-22 |2015) | | |2015) |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: | | (September 11, | | | |
| |69-4 |2015) | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: ED.
SUMMARY: Establishes the Preschool for All Act of 2015 and
requires, on or before June 30, 2018, all eligible children who
AB 47
Page 2
are not enrolled in transitional kindergarten to have access to
the California State Preschool Program (CSPP) the year before
they enter kindergarten, if their parents wish to enroll them
and 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.
The Senate amendments clarify that eligible children who shall
have access to the state preschool program are those who do not
have access to transitional kindergarten, changes the effective
date from January 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, and strikes the
intent of the Legislature to provide all low-income children
with access to a CSPP or a transitional kindergarten program.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)Cost pressures in the low hundreds of millions to provide all
eligible children that do not have access to transitional
kindergarten access to the CSPP the year before they enter
kindergarten.
2)Administrative costs to the California Department of Education
(CDE) of 8.0 positions and about $917,000, including travel
costs for additional site visits. (General Fund)
COMMENTS: Background on child care and development programs.
The 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
AB 47
Page 3
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 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 (1988) 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
AB 47
Page 4
slots.
The FY 2015-16 budget provides an additional $265 million for
child care and development programs, which includes an
additional 9,500 slots for the CSPP and an additional 6,800
slots for the Alternative Payment Program.
What does this bill do? This bill provides all eligible
children who are not enrolled in transitional kindergarten with
access to the CSPP the year before they enter kindergarten, if
their parents wish to enroll them and contingent upon sufficient
funding provided in the annual Budget Act. Transitional
kindergarten is a modified kindergarten program provided by
school districts for children who turn five-years-old between
September 2 and December 2.
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."
AB 47
Page 5
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.
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 this 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,
AB 47
Page 6
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."
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE:
The bill would require state preschool programs to be available
to all children, who are not already in transitional
kindergarten and are eligible for subsidies, by June 30, 2018,
contingent on a sufficient appropriation.
Last year's education omnibus trailer bill already codified the
intent to make preschool and other full-day, full year early
education and care opportunities available to all low-income
children. The discussion on expanding state preschool - which
takes into account rates paid to providers as well as access and
availability for families - should be considered in the budget
process, as it is every year. A bill that sets an arbitrary
deadline, contingent on a sufficient appropriation, is
unnecessary.
Analysis Prepared by:
Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN:
0002480
AB 47
Page 7