BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 598
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Author: |Calderon |
|-----------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|Version: |May 31, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 15, 2016 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Consultant:|Olgalilia Ramirez |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Child care: family child care home education networks
SUMMARY
This bill codifies, clarifies and standardizes the duties and
responsibilities of family child care home education network
(FCCHEN) contractors and providers.
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1) Establishes the Child Care and Development Services Act
to provide child care and development services as part of a
coordinated, comprehensive, and cost-effective system
serving children from birth to 13 years old and their
parents including a full range of supervision, health, and
support services through full- and part-time programs.
(Education Code § 8200, et seq.)
2) Defines "child care and development services" to mean
services designed to
meet a wide variety of children's and families' needs while
parents and guardians are working, in training, seeking
employment, incapacitated, or in need of respite. (EC § 8208)
3) States the intent of the Legislature that all families
have access to child care and development services, through
resource and referral where appropriate, and regardless of
AB 598 (Calderon) Page 2
of ?
demographic background or special needs, and that families
are provided the opportunity to attain financial stability
through employment, while maximizing growth and development
of their children, and enhancing their parenting skills
through participation in child care and development
programs. (EC § 8202)
4) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
ensure that contracts for child care and development
programs include a requirement that each provider maintain
a developmental profile to appropriately identify the
emotional, social, physical, and cognitive growth of each
child served in order to promote the child's success in the
public schools. (EC § 8203.5(b))
5) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
administer general child care and development programs to
include, among other things as specified, age- and
developmentally-appropriate activities, supervision,
parenting education and involvement, and nutrition. (EC §
8240 and § 8241)
6) Defines a "family child care home education network" to
mean an entity organized under law that contracts with the
California Department of Education (CDE), as specified, to
make payments to licensed family child care home providers,
and to provide educational and support services to
providers and to children and families eligible for
state-subsidized child care and development services. (EC
§ 8208(p))
7) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
contract with entities organized under law to operate
family child care home education networks (FCCHEN), as
specified, and establishes requirements for FCCHEN programs
including to ensure that provider services are of high
quality and educationally and developmentally appropriate.
(EC § 8245 and § 8246)
ANALYSIS
This bill codifies, clarifies and standardizes the duties and
responsibilities of FCCHEN contractors and providers.
Specifically, it:
AB 598 (Calderon) Page 3
of ?
1) Codifies additional requirements for FCCHEN contractors,
including:
a) Using the appropriate tools to assess FCCHEN
providers, when
conducting mandated assessments.
b) Maintaining a developmental portfolio for each
child that includes, among
other items, a child's work product and observations
of the child.
c) Ensuring each developmental profile is completed,
using the
developmental child assessment profile selected by the
department and
the developmental portfolio maintained by the
provider, as specified.
d) Conducting a parent survey and ensuring the
offerings of parent
conferences.
e) Monitoring each affiliated provider in meeting
basic health and nutrition
and quality standards and supporting providers in
meeting quality standards by assessing program
components and providing technical assistance, among
other things.
f) Conducting no less than 6 site visits for
purposes of providing technical
assistance, training, support and conducting
assessments.
g) Offering providers at least 12 hours annually of
technical assistance
training that may include, among other things,
developmentally
appropriate educational practices and parent
engagement.
h) Employing at least one child development
specialist who has educational
AB 598 (Calderon) Page 4
of ?
qualifications equivalent to a child development
teacher permit.
i) Maintaining a signed, written agreement with each
affiliated provider and
an authorized representative of the family child care
home education
network (FCCHEN).
2) Codifies requirements for FCCHEN providers, including:
a) Adopting curriculum or curricula, of the
provider's choosing, appropriate
for the age range of children in the home. The
contractor may adopt a
policy limiting the curricula acceptable within its
network, as specified.
b) Providing age and developmentally appropriate
educational activities for
children; care and supervision of children; and
nutrition that is consistent
with standards of the Child and Adult Care Food
Program of the United
States Department of Agriculture.
c) Identifying child and family social service or
health needs and share those
needs with the contractor.
d) Completing the developmental profile, in
consultation with the contractor
by completing the developmental child assessment
profile, maintaining the
developmental portfolio, documenting observations of
the child's skills and
conducting parent teacher conferences.
e) Providing the contractor with copies of all
citations issued to the provider
by Community Care Licensing Division of the State
Department of Social
AB 598 (Calderon) Page 5
of ?
Services.
f) Obtaining no less than 12 hours of training per
year, as specified.
3) Specifies that providers or contractors are not required to
maintain a parent advisory committee.
4) Makes other technical changes.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author, "current law
lacks consistent administration and implementation of
FCCHENs, so tools used to make quality assessments may not
be appropriate to family child care home settings." This
bill seeks to provide consistency in administering FCCHEN
programs and codify standards for both the contracting
agencies and providers.
2) Family Child Care Home Education Networks. The California
Department of Education (CDE) has contracted with Networks
for over 30 years to recruit licensed family home providers
to provide care, place children with providers, ensure
children receive an appropriate education program, provide
training for both parents and providers, collect parent
co-pays, and collect invoices from providers, among other
responsibilities. The roles, responsibilities, and
requirements that FCCHENs are required to meet, are
contained in the Education Code and regulations developed
by the CDE.
To date there are two types of family child care home
education networks (FCCHEN) in operation. The first
operates under the California Family Child Care Home
Education Network contract type which utilizes the regional
market rate. California Department of Education (CDE)
contracts with 33 of these agencies/contractors who provide
services to 2,625 children through 799 family child care
home providers. The second type operates under the General
Child Care and Development Program and utilizes the
standard reimbursement rate. There are 60
agencies/contractors of this type serving 4,503 children.
Some agencies hold contracts under both provisions. Overall
there are roughly 30 to 40 FCCHENs statewide.
AB 598 (Calderon) Page 6
of ?
3) Why codify? This bill codifies existing duties and
responsibilities of FCCHENs, thereby establishing a
standard framework for FCCHENs. In so doing, may provide
greater awareness of, and compliance with,
responsibilities, and requirements. However, codification
could create cost pressure to provide additional funding
for the services specified in this bill. Supporters of the
bill assert that given that family child care providers of
independent small businesses that do not otherwise have an
infrastructure of support, promoting awareness of FCCHENs
that provide a structure for professional development
support and resources would help build quality care in
family child care home settings.
4) Related legislation. SB 1154 (Liu, 2016) updates, clarifies
and codifies the duties and responsibilities of child care
resource and referral programs (R&R). R&Rs provide
information and services related to child care to all
parents regardless of income and to all providers. This
bill similarly clarifies and codifies the duties and
responsibilities of family child care home education
network (FCCHEN) of which provide information and services
specifically to family home child care providers and
contractors. SB 1154 was approved by this committee 8-1 and
held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
California Child Development Administration Association
Central Valley Children's Services Network
Child Care Alliance Los Angeles
Child Care Resource Center
Child Development Resources
Children Now
Children's Council San Francisco
Common Sense Kids Action
First 5 California
Northern California Association of Family Child Care Home
Education Networks
Northern Director's Group
The Resource Connection
Wu Yee Children's Services
AB 598 (Calderon) Page 7
of ?
OPPOSITION
None received.
-- END --