BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 1042 (Hancock) - Child care: state preschool programs: age
of eligibility
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|Version: February 12, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 8 - 1 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: April 11, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill expands eligibility for the California State
Preschool Program (CSPP) by adjusting the date of eligibility by
three months to include younger three-year-olds.
Fiscal
Impact: Potential significant loss of savings to the state to
the extent certain providers are able to expand services to
younger three-year-olds. This bill could also add to the
existing number of eligible children not being served if not all
providers can accommodate the expanded eligibility, thereby
adding to the existing pressure for the state to fund all its
eligible children. However, at-risk children and eligible
four-year-olds would continue to have priority in the program.
(Proposition 98) (See Staff Comments)
SB 1042 (Hancock) Page 1 of
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Background: The CSPP is one of four major preschool programs in
California. Existing law establishes CSPP for 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, and to provide health, social, and nutritional
services, as well as parent education and participation,
evaluation, and staff development. Existing law specifies that
children are eligible for a CSPP if the family is currently a
CalWORKs cash aid recipient, meets specified income eligibility
requirements, is homeless or if the child is the recipient of
protective services, or has been, or is at risk of being,
identified as neglected, abused, or exploited. (Education Code
§ 8263)
Existing law requires that first priority go to three- or
four-year-old neglected or abused children who are recipients of
child protective services, or who are at risk of being
neglected, abused, or exploited. After this priority is
satisfied, then the next priority is given to eligible
four-year-old children who are not enrolled in a state-funded
transitional kindergarten program before enrolling eligible
three-year-old children. (Education Code § 8235 and 8236)
Existing law requires that a child enrolled in a CSPP be three-
or four-years-old on or before September 1 in the fiscal year in
which they enroll. (Education Code § 8208)
Existing law 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, and requires schools, as a condition of receiving
apportionments for Transitional Kindergarten, to admit a child
who will have his or her fifth birthday between September 2 and
December 2. (EC § 48000 (c))
The Governor's Budget proposes to create an Early Education
Block Grant by consolidating Proposition 98 funding for CSPP,
Transitional Kindergarten, and the Preschool Quality Rating and
Improvement System. This proposal consolidates a total of $1.7
billion. The proposal intends to extend the goals of the Local
Control Funding Formula to promote local flexibility to develop
programs that address the needs of the community, to allocate
SB 1042 (Hancock) Page 2 of
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funding based on factors such as population and need, and to
prioritize services for low-income and at-risk children. The
Administration has engaged stakeholders on the development of
the block grant to inform additional details of the program
which is anticipated to be included in the May Revision.
Proposed Law:
This bill changes the definition of eligible three-year-old
children to those who will have their third birthday on or
before December 1 of the fiscal year in which they are enrolled
in a CSPP, thereby expanding eligibility by three months.
Related
Legislation: SB 858 (Chapter 32, Statutes of 2014), the
education omnibus trailer bill, included Legislative intent to
provide quality preschool opportunities for all low-income
children whose families wish to enroll them, and that the state
provide all low-income four-year-old children from working
families with full-day, full-year early education and care.
Staff
Comments: According to the author, with more families enrolling
four-year old children in Transitional Kindergarten, some state
preschool providers struggle to fill their programs with
eligible four-year-olds. This bill intends to give providers
the ability to fill existing slots that would otherwise remain
vacant with younger three-year olds. If providers are unable to
fill existing slots and spend the funding that they are
allocated, it returns to the state as savings, available for
reallocation for other Proposition 98 purposes. For example,
the Budget Act of 2015 reappropriates $34.1 million originally
allocated in the Budget Act of 2013 for the CSPP. If this bill,
as intended, results in the ability for providers to spend more
of their allocation and send less back to the state, the state
would lose potentially significant savings. For context, if 10
percent of the savings in the 2013-14 fiscal year were instead
spent by some providers on services to younger three-year-old
children, the state could incur a loss in savings of about $3.4
million. This could translate to roughly 700 additional
part-day preschool slots for three-year-olds.
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Because the number of available slots for CSPP is determined by
the annual budget, priority is given to certain children as CSPP
is unable to serve all eligible children. According to
estimates from the American Institutes for Research, over 33,000
income-eligible four-year-olds were not participating and/or do
not have access to slots in any publicly supported school
readiness program including the CSPP, other state Title 5
programs, TK, and federal Head Start in 2014 (and about 137,000
eligible three-year-olds). This bill does not add additional
slots for CSPP. As noted above, it expands eligibility by
allowing providers that are able, to serve younger
three-year-olds than currently permitted. In other areas this
could add to the list of eligible children not being served if
those providers are unable to accommodate the expanded
eligibility. However, at-risk children and eligible
four-year-olds would continue to have priority in the program.
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