BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2368
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|Author: |Gordon |
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|Version: |April 5, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 15, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Olgalilia Ramirez |
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Subject: Child care and development services: individualized
county child care subsidy plan: County of Santa Clara
NOTE: This bill has been referred to the Committees on
Education and Human Services. A "do pass" motion should include
referral to the Committee on Human Services.
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the County of Santa Clara to establish a
5-year pilot program for purposes of developing and implementing
an individualized county child care subsidy plan that meets the
particular needs of families in the county.
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1) Establishes the Child Care and Developmental 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) States legislative intent that all families have access to
child care and
development services, regardless of demographic background
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or special needs, 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, among other things. (EC § 8202)
3) Establishes several programs providing subsidized child
care and development services that service low-income
families who are working, seeking work, in training, or
providing community service. These programs are
administered by the California Department of Education
(CDE) and require the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) to adopt rules and regulations on eligibility,
enrollment, family fees, provider rates, and priority
services. (EC § 8235 and 8263)
4) Authorizes a pilot project in, Alameda (since 2015), San
Mateo County (since
2004) and San Francisco City and County (since 2006) that
allows the counties
to develop and implement an individualized county child
care subsidy plan in recognition of the high-cost of living
in those counties.
(EC § 8335, § 8340 and § 8347)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Authorizes the County of Santa Clara to establish a 5-year
pilot program for purposes of developing and implementing
an individualized county child care subsidy plan that meets
the particular needs of families in the county, as
specified, to include the following:
a) An assessment to identify the county's goal for
its subsidized child care
system, as specified.
b) A local policy to eliminate state-imposed
regulatory barriers that constrain
the county from meeting its desired outcomes for
subsidized child care, as
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specified.
c) Recognition that funding sources utilized by
direct child care service
contractors in the county are eligible to be included
in the county's plan.
d) Measurable outcomes to evaluate the success of
the plan in achieving
county and state child care goals.
2) States that the plan, and requirements regarding it, shall
not be construed to permit the county to change the
regional market rate survey results for the county.
3) Requires the plan to be submitted to the specified local
planning council, and upon approval the county board of
supervisors shall do all of the following:
a) Hold at least one public hearing before voting on
the plan.
b) Submit an approved plan to Early Education and
Support Division (EESD)
for review provided that board votes in its favor.
4) Requires the California Department of Education's (CDE)
Early Education and Support Division (EESD) to review and
either approve or disapprove any modification of the plan
within 30 days of receiving it. Specifies that the EESD may
only disapprove those portions of the plan that are not in
conformance with the provisions of this bill or that are in
conflict with federal law.
5) Requires the county, by the end of the first fiscal year of
operation under the approved child care subsidy plan, to
demonstrate an increase in the aggregate days a child is
enrolled in child care as compared to the enrollment in the
final quarter of the 2015-16 Fiscal Year.
6) Requires the county to prepare and submit a report
summarizing the success of the county's plan, as specified,
to the Legislature, the Department of Social Services
(DSS), and the California Department of Education (CDE)
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each year.
7) Requires a participating contractor to receive any
increases or decrease in funding that the contractor would
have received had the contractor not participated in the
plan.
8) Makes various legislative findings and declarations related
to the unique circumstances in the County of Santa Clara
that condition a special law including the high-cost of
living.
9) Sunsets the provisions of this bill on January 1, 2022.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author, families
seeking quality child care are adversely affected by the
high cost of living in Santa Clara County. The author notes
that families who earn just enough to meet housing costs
are deemed ineligible for subsidized child care, at the
same time agencies receiving insufficient state
reimbursement rates are unable to cover programing and
operational costs. As a result, child care subsidy funds
allocated to the county are not fully expended thereby
reducing access to quality child care. This bill seeks to
maximize state allocated funding and efficiently use child
care subsidy funds to meet local conditions.
2) Provider Reimbursement Rates. California has established
two methodologies for determining the reimbursement rates
for child care and development services:
The Regional Market Rate (RMR) is determined by the RMR
survey and varies depending on the geographical location of
the provider. In Santa Clara, for example, the full-time
daily RMR for a preschool-aged child in a child care center
is $69.77. The RMR is based on a survey of licensed
centers and family child care homes measuring child care
rates of similar socio-economic conditions. Rate ceilings
are established for each county according to estimates of
the 85th percentile of rates for the various types of child
care settings. The county rate ceilings are differentiated
by the age of the child (infant, preschool, school age),
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full-day or part-day care, and frequency of care (days per
week). Families may choose a child care provider that
charges a rate above the RMR, but the provider would only
be reimbursed at the RMR. Current law requires the RMR
survey to be updated every two years. The Budget Act of
2014 based the RMR on the 2009 survey, thereby providing a
lower rate than if based on the most recent survey.
Standard Reimbursement Rate (SRR). Child care and
development providers that contract directly with the
California Department of Education (CDE) must meet Title 5
requirements in addition to those of Title 22 (have units
in Early Childhood Education, provide an educational
component to child care). Title 5 providers are reimbursed
using the SRR, which is a specific rate established in
statute. The SRR is $38.29 per child per day for full-day
care, or a maximum of $9,572 per year based on 250 days of
operation.
3) Why Santa Clara County? Santa Clara County serves
approximately 12,600 children in state subsidized child
care programs. According to Santa Clara's County's local
Early Education Planning council, approximately $9.3
million under the Title 5 state subsidized child care
contracts has been returned to the state. Roughly
translating to 1,100 children who could have been served by
the county.
The cost of living in Santa Clara is reported to be well
above the state median. In 2014, for a family of four in
Santa Clara County it is estimated that a family have a
self-sufficiency hourly wage of $22.61 and $95,508
annually. The median household annual income for the county
is $91,142 as compared to state median of about $61,933 per
year. To be eligible for subsidized child care and services
the state requires a family's adjusted monthly income to be
at or below 70% of the state median income about $42,000
per year for a family of three. This bill does not change
the total amount of fund allocated to the count for
subsidized child care. This bill seeks to provide Santa
Clara County limited local flexibility to assess and
address local conditions of working families in the county
through a child care subsidy pilot plan.
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4) Other pilot programs. Current law has authorized three
other Bay Area pilot projects in recognition of the
high-cost of living in those counties. As many have noted,
given that there are other high-cost counties in the state
dealing with similar subsidized child care needs the state
may want to a more comprehensive approach to addressing
these issues.
5) Prior legislation. AB 833 (Bonta, Chapter 563, Statutes of
2015), similar to this bill, authorized Alameda County to
develop and implement, as a pilot project, an
individualized county child care subsidy plan. This
Committee heard and approved AB 833, by a vote of 9-0.
AB 260 (Gordon, Chapter 731, Statutes of 2013) extended the
sunset dates of the San Francisco and San Mateo County
individualized county child care subsidy plans to 2016 and
2018, respectively. This Committee heard and approved AB
260, by a vote of 9-0.
The sunset date of the San Francisco plan has been extended
three times as follows: AB 86 (Committee on Budget, Chapter
48, Statutes of 2013), SB 1016 (Committee on Budget and
Fiscal Review, Chapter 38, Statutes of 2012), AB 1610
(Committee on Budget, Chapter 724, Statutes of 2010).
SUPPORT
Bay Area Council
California Association for the Education of Young Children
California Child Care Coordinators Association
California Head Start Association
Campbell Union School District
Child Development Incorporated
Community Child Care Council of Santa Clara County, Inc.
Congregation Beth Am
Early Edge California
Educare California at Silicon Valley
First 5 San Mateo County
First 5 Santa Clara County
Gilroy Unified School District State Preschool
Go Kids, Inc.
Kindango
Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County
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Local Early Education Planning Council of Santa Clara County
Mountain View Wishman
San Francisco Child Care Planning and Advisory Council
San Francisco SRR Initiative
San Mateo County Office of Education
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
Santa Clara County Office of Education
SJB Child Development Centers
OPPOSITION
None received.
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