BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 311
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Date of Hearing: July 1, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
SB
311 (Beall) - As Amended June 1, 2015
SENATE VOTE: 40-0
SUBJECT: Child Care and Development Services Act: preschool:
Alum Rock Union Elementary School District: pilot project.
SUMMARY: Authorizes the Alum Rock Union Elementary School
District (ARUESD) to develop and implement an individualized
eligibility part-day preschool subsidy plan for children
residing in the school district. Specifically, this bill:
1)Establishes the following definitions:
a) "School district" as the ARUESD, located in the County
of Santa Clara.
b) "Preschool program" as a state-funded part-day preschool
program that operates in the ARUESD.
2)Authorizes the ARUESD, as a pilot project, to develop and
implement an individualized eligibility part-day preschool
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subsidy plan for children residing in the school district for
purposes of attending a preschool program in the school
district. Requires the plan to ensure that child care
subsidies received by a preschool program are used to address
local needs, conditions, and priorities of families in the
school district and for preparing children for kindergarten
and grades 1 to 12, inclusive.
3)Requires the ARUESD, before implementing the plan and in
consultation with any preschool program and the Santa Clara
Office of Education, to develop an individualized eligibility
part-day preschool subsidy plan that shall include both of the
following:
a) Notwithstanding any other law, eligibility to
participate in the preschool program shall be based on
either of the following conditions:
i) The child is eligible for free or reduced-price
meals, as that term is used in subdivision (a) of
Education Code (EC) Section 42238.01.
ii) The child is a foster youth, as that term is used in
subdivision (b) of EC Section 42238.01.
b) Notwithstanding any other law, children up to the age of
admission into first grade shall be allowed to participate
in the preschool program.
4)Requires the plan to be submitted to, and approved by, the
Santa Clara County Local Child Care Planning Council and the
Early Education and Support Division of the California
Department of Education (CDE).
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5)Specifies that upon approval of the plan, the ARUESD, in
consultation with the preschool program, the Santa Clara
Office of Education, and First 5 Santa Clara, shall do the
following:
a) Prepare and submit an annual report to the Legislature
and the CDE that summarizes the success of the pilot
project; and,
b) Submit a final report to the Legislature in accordance
with the procedures established in the Government Code and
the CDE on or before December 31, 2022, that shall provide
recommendations as to whether the pilot project should
continue as a permanent program.
6)Authorizes the ARUESD to implement the pilot project until
January 1, 2022, at which date the district shall terminate
the plan and implement the state's requirements for subsidized
part-day preschools. Specifies that a child enrolling for the
first time in a preschool program in the school district after
January 1, 2022 shall not be enrolled in the pilot project
established by this bill and shall be subject to existing
state laws and regulations regarding preschool eligibility.
7)Specifies that additional state funds shall not be
appropriated for purposes of implementing this bill.
8)Sunsets on January 1, 2023, and as of that date is repealed,
unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January
1, 2023, deletes or extends that date.
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9)Finds and declares that a special law is necessary because of
the unique circumstances of the ARUESD, in the County of Santa
Clara. The school district has a high level of children who
live in poverty, children who are English language learners,
children who are part of a minority group, and children who
are exposed to violence in their community. The school
district is particularly focused on significantly increasing
pupil achievement and parent engagement and this bill will
achieve this by offering preschool services to children and
families in the school district.
10)Contains an urgency clause due to the fact that the start of
the 2015-16 school year begins in August. This bill will
prevent needless hours and paperwork to certify eligibility
past the August start date. Therefore, in order to eliminate
the barriers for families to access state preschool and to
remove the paperwork burden on families and agencies in time
for the new school year, it is necessary for this bill to take
effect immediately.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes eligibility for child care services and child
development programs administered by the CDE and requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to adopt rules and
regulations on eligibility, enrollment and priority of
services needed for implementation (EC Section 8263).
2)Specifies that in order to be eligible for federal and state
subsidized child development services, families must meet at
least one requirement in each of the following areas:
a) A family is (A) a current aid recipient, (B) income
eligible, (C) homeless or (D) one whose children are
recipients of protective services, or whose children have
been identified as being abused, neglected, or exploited,
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or at risk of being abused, neglected, or exploited; and,
b) A family needs the child care services (A) because the
child is identified by a legal, medical, social services
agency, or emergency shelter as (i) a recipient of
protective services or (ii) being neglected, abused, or
exploited, or at risk of neglect, abuse or exploitation, or
(B) because the parents are (i) engaged in vocational
training leading directly to a recognized trade,
paraprofession or profession, (ii) employed or seeking
employment, (iii) seeking permanent housing for family
stability, or (iv) incapacitated. (EC Section 8263(a))
3)Establishes the California State Preschool Program (CSPP) and
provides that the programs shall include, but not be limited
to, part-day age and 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 parent participation, evaluation, and staff
development. (EC Section 8235).
4)Defines "income eligible" as a family whose adjusted monthly
income is at or below 70% of the state median income (SMI),
adjusted for family size, and adjusted annually. For the
2014-15 fiscal year, the income eligibility shall be 70% of
the SMI that was in use for the 2007-08 fiscal year, adjusted
for family size. (EC Section 8263.1)
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, absorbable local costs to implement the pilot; minor
and absorbable administrative costs to the CDE related to
contract monitoring and review of the pilot plan and reports;
and potential significant cost pressure to scale this pilot
statewide, which would result in changes in eligibility,
allowing for self-certification of income eligibility and
allowing children to participate in the program that are older
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than four years old.
COMMENTS: Purpose of the bill. The author states that the
ARUESD "has one of the highest numbers of low income families
and a high violence rate within the East of San Jose. As a
result of the various barriers, academic performances have been
highly impacted amongst children and youth residing in the Alum
Rock community. This bill will reduce the paper work burden for
eligibility requirements on families. ARUESD already has in
place a universal free and reduced lunch program for all
students. If new students wanted to participate in the pilot
project, families would have to fill out double the paper work
for eligibility under current state requirements. The Child
Development funding, unlike K-12, is not permissive. This bill
allows alternatives for children and families to qualify for
this service."
According to the CDE, in 2013-14, ARUESD had an enrollment of
12,570, of which, 11,183 (89%) were eligible for the free and
reduced-price meals (FRPM) program.
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. Income
eligibility is 70% of the SMI ($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. The 2015-16 budget recently passed by the
Legislature provides 9,500 new slots to the CSPP part-day and
full-day programs.
What does this bill do? This bill establishes a preschool pilot
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project for the ARUESD. According to the sponsor, Kidango, and
the author, the purpose of the bill is to allow Kidango to
reduce the amount of paper work and administrative time required
to determine eligibility and to use CSPP as a "wraparound"
service for children in transitional kindergarten (TK) and
kindergarten. The bill authorizes the district to develop and
implement the pilot, but the school district does not currently
have a contract with the CDE to provide preschool services.
Kidango, an early childhood education and preschool provider
with a number of sites throughout the Bay Area, has a contract
with CDE to provide state subsidized preschool. This pilot,
however, is intended to apply only to Kidango's services for
children who reside and attend schools in the ARUESD, targeting
approximately 200 kids. The school district's role is in
providing classrooms and playground space. As such, the bill
needs to be amended to clarify that the preschool program is
authorized to participate in the pilot project. Staff
recommends an amendment to clarify that ARUESD and a preschool
program, defined as an agency that holds a CSPP contract and
that has a memorandum of understanding with ARUESD, are
authorized to develop the pilot.
Using eligibility for federal meal programs to determine
eligibility. This bill will allow Kidango to use eligibility
for FRPM to constitute eligibility, instead of determining
eligibility using the CSPP application and income eligibility of
70% of the SMI. According to the sponsor, this will allow the
agency to reduce time and costs to establish eligibility under
the CSPP. According to the CDE, CSPP eligibility requires proof
of income, while the FRPM does not. The FRPM is a federally and
state funded program that provides free or very low cost meals
to needy children in schools. According to the sponsor, the
children enrolled in the pilot may include three- or
four-year-old children, in addition to children already enrolled
in the ARUESD. The three- or four-year-old children will not be
enrolled in the FRPM program. Instead, these children may be
eligible for the child and adult care food program (CACFP). The
CACFP is also a federally and state funded program that
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subsidizes meals and snacks served at child care, preschool,
family day care homes and at adult day care programs. Staff
recommends adding the CACFP as another method for determining
eligibility for CSPP.
Income eligibility for both the FRPM and the CACFP programs is
the same and is established by the federal government. For the
free meal category, household income must be at or below 130% of
the federal poverty guidelines. For the reduced-price category,
household income must be between 130% and 185% of federal
poverty guidelines. When compared by family size, the income
ceilings for the CSPP and the FRPM and CACFP are fairly
comparable. Below are examples of family ceilings for a family
of 3 and 4:
Comparison of income eligibility for CSPP, FRPM and CACFP
programs:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| | California | Free or Reduced | Free or Reduced |
| | State | Price Meal Program | Price Meal Program |
| | Preschool |and Child and Adult |and Child and Adult |
| | Program |Care Food Program | Care Food Program |
| | | (Free) | (Reduced Price) |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|---------+-------------+--------------------+--------------------|
|Family | $42,216 | $26,117 | $37,167 |
|of 3 | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|---------+-------------+--------------------+--------------------|
|Family | $46,896 | $31,525 | $44,863 |
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|of 4 | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
These examples show that the federal food program income
ceilings are lower than the CSPP; therefore, if a child is
eligible for either CACFP or the FRPM program, the child would
be eligible for CSPP. Using the meal programs as proxies for
eligibility for CSPP would work. The issue for the Committee to
consider is whether the state should provide eligibility for
CSPP without verification of income. While there is potential
for enrolling children who do not meet income eligibility, the
fact that 89% of the district is comprise of low income students
eligible for FRPM reduce that likelihood.
Extending eligibility to children enrolled in TK and
kindergarten. Under current law, priority for enrollment for
CSPP 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. This bill provides CSPP eligibility to children up to
the age of admission into first grade, which means that children
in TK and kindergarten are eligible to be enrolled in CSPP.
TK program. TK was established in 2010 when the date by which a
child turns five for enrollment in kindergarten was changed from
December 2 to September 1. TK is a modified kindergarten
program for the children with fall birthdays displaced as result
of the change. According to the sponsor, the purpose of this
part of the bill is to enable children in TK and kindergarten
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enrolled in the district to receive preschool services after
school ends. The district's TK and kindergarten are part-day
programs. By expanding eligibility to children in kindergarten,
this bill may potentially expand eligibility to children who may
be up to six years of age. Even as a pilot, the Committee may
wish to consider whether this is a good and appropriate use of
CSPP funds, especially given that there currently are not enough
slots to provide services to all eligible three- and
four-year-old children. If the district wishes to extend the
number of hours for kindergarteners, the district may consider
offering extended day kindergarten (full-day), seek state after
school program funds, or use its local control funding formula
for this purpose.
Current regulations authorize children enrolled in TK who are in
need of before or after school services to be enrolled in the
General Child Care and Alternative Payment Programs, but not the
CSPP. While extending CSPP to children old enough for TK also
goes beyond age limitations, it is at least somewhat consistent
with preschool; the children are at most five years old and
budget trailer bill language enacted last year expresses the
intent of the Legislature for the TK curriculum to be aligned to
the state preschool learning foundations. Staff recommends an
amendment to authorize children up to the age of admission into
kindergarten to be eligible to participate in the pilot. The
effect is that children enrolled in TK would be eligible to
participate in the pilot.
The plan. The bill requires ARUESD to develop a plan that
specifies the eligibility criteria and submit the plan to the
Santa Clara County Local Child Care Planning Council and the
Early Education and Support Division of the CDE for approval.
Staff recommends the following:
1)Rather than submitting the plan to the Santa Clara County
Local Child Care Planning Council, require the plan or
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modification to the plan to be submitted to the governing
board of the ARUESD and the CDE.
2)Require the CDE to approve or disapprove the plan or
modifications to the plan within 30 days of submission and
specify that disapproval of the plan or modifications to the
plan shall be based on nonconformance with this bill or
conflicts with federal law.
3)Specify that the plan shall include, but is not limited to,
the following:
a) Increasing access to preschool in the school district to
prepare children for TK and kindergarten.
b) Provision of supplemental services to children in TK.
c) Provision of parent education, parent engagement and
family support services.
d) Systems to facilitate transition of children and their
families from Head Start and preschool to TK and
kindergarten.
e) Increasing collaboration between preschool, TK and
kindergarten teachers.
Reports. The bill requires an annual report to be submitted by
the school district summarizing the success of the pilot.
However, the bill does not define the measurements of success.
Staff recommends using increase in the enrollment of very
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low-income kids (using the number of kids eligible for free
meals under the FRPM program) as a measure of success.
Privacy considerations. Staff recommends an amendment to
require any sharing of information between the school district
and Kidango to be in accordance with the federal Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.
Sunset date. The bill currently sunsets on January 1, 2023.
Staff recommends changing the sunset date to June 30, 2021 to
make the pilot a five and a half year pilot (assuming that
implementation begins on January 1, 2016 and will end at the end
of the fiscal year in 2021).
Other pilots. The Legislature has authorized other pilot
projects in San Mateo County and the city of county of San
Francisco that provides limited local flexibility to adjust
eligibility rules, provider rates and family fees to accommodate
higher cost of living and higher cost to provide care in these
areas. AB 833 (Bonta), pending in the Senate Education
Committee, authorizes Alameda to establish a similar pilot.
This bill is different than the other pilots in that it only
applies to CSPP and not all early development programs, and the
flexibilities granted by this bill are limited to funds received
by one agency rather than on a countywide basis.
Urgency clause. This bill contains an urgency clause and
states, as a reason, because the start of the 2015-16 school
year begins in August. Staff notes that even if the bill is
signed by mid-July, it would be difficult for the pilot to take
effect by August. As amended, the bill requires a plan
developed by the school district and the preschool program to be
approved by the ARUESD governing board and the CDE. Once the
plan is submitted to the CDE, CDE would have 30 days to review
and to approve or disapprove the plan. If modifications are
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required, CDE would have an additional 30 days for review.
Related legislation. AB 833 (Bonta), pending in the Senate
Education Committee, authorizes the County of Alameda to, as a
pilot project, develop and implement an individualized county
child care subsidy plan.
Prior related legislation. 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.
AB 86 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 48, Statutes of 2013,
extended the sunset data of the San Francisco individualized
county child care subsidy plan to 2015.
SB 1016 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 38,
Statutes of 2012, extended the sunset date of the San Francisco
individualized county child care subsidy plan to 2014.
AB 1610 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 724, Statutes of 2010,
extended the sunset date of the San Francisco individualized
county child care subsidy plan to 2013.
SB 1225 (Yee), held in the Senate Appropriations Committee
suspense file in 2010, would have extended the sunset date of
the San Francisco individualized county child care subsidy plan
to 2016.
AB 1304 (Simitian), Chapter 61, Statutes of 2008, extended the
sunset date of the San Mateo County individualized county child
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care subsidy plan to 2014.
SB 701 (Migden), Chapter 725, Statutes of 2005, established the
San Francisco individualized county child care subsidy plan
pilot project, to sunset in 2011.
AB 1326 (Simitian), Chapter 691, Statutes of 2003, established
the San Mateo County individualized county child care subsidy
plan pilot project.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Alum Rock Union Elementary School District
Alameda County Board of Supervisors
First 5 Santa Clara County
Kidango
Santa Clara County Office of Education
Numerous individuals
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Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916)
319-2087