BILL ANALYSIS
AB 495
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Date of Hearing: April 15, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 495 (Davis) - As Amended: April 13, 2009
SUBJECT : Preschool: data collection
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to post specified data on its Internet Web site. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Finds and declares the following:
a) A child's participation in a quality preschool
educational program plays a critical role in his or her
educational development and success in school. Studies have
shown that children who participate in quality preschool
programs are more likely to become proficient readers by
the third grade, graduate from high school, and attend
college than their peers who do not attend quality
preschool educational programs.
b) Scientific knowledge about child brain development
confirms the importance of participation in quality
preschool educational programs. Ninety percent of brain
growth occurs before age five, before most children enroll
in kindergarten.
c) Quality preschool education provides a crucial
opportunity to engage parents in the education of their
children, and to create a habit of parental involvement
that will last throughout a child's academic career.
d) Studies have shown that early education and intervention
for children with special needs in preschool reduce the
need for costly special education services in later years.
e) Quality preschool education helps English learners
develop their English language skills and meet school
readiness goals.
f) There is a severe shortage of quality, affordable
preschool education providers in California, and California
lags behind the nation in preschool enrollment.
AB 495
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2)Requires the CDE, in consultation with the State Department of
Social Services (DSS) and the Legislative Analyst's Office, to
annually determine the number of three- and four-year-old
children in the state and in each county, the number of
licensed providers offering preschool services, and the number
of children that each licensed provider could accommodate with
respect to preschool services.
3)Requires the CDE to post the data on the most appropriate of
the CDE's Internet Web sites, and to update this data
annually.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes child care resource and referral programs to
identify the full range of existing child care services;
develop, maintain and update a resource file of availability
of family day care homes, public and private day care
programs, full-time and part-time programs, and infant,
preschool, and extended care programs; information on the
programs, including hours of service, ages of children served,
and fees and eligibility; and establish a referral process for
parents seeking child care.
2)Requires Alternative Payment Programs (APPs) in each county to
maintain and administer a centralized eligibility list to
consolidate local child care waiting lists. Requires, as a
condition of contracting with the CDE to provide subsidized
child care, a contractor to participate in and use the
centralized eligibility list.
3)Requires, under the California Child Day Care Facilities Act,
the DSS to license and regulate child day care facilities.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Purpose of the bill . The author states, "Currently,
the state lacks a definitive source for data on the supply of
licensed preschool programs as compared to the number of three-
and four-year olds who could utilize those services. This lack
of information makes it difficult for interested parties to
accurately assess the need for preschool services in their
communities and across the state."
AB 495
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This bill requires the CDE to collect and post the following on
the CDE's appropriate Internet Web sites and to update the
information annually:
1)Data on the number of three- and four-year old children in the
state and in each county;
2)The number of licensed providers offering preschool services;
and,
3)The number of children that each licensed provider could
accommodate with respect to preschool services.
Currently, there are a number of sources where data on child
care supply and demand and the number of licensed child care
providers and their capacity are available. They include the
following:
1)The DSS Internet Web site has both state and county by county
data on the number of licensed providers broken down by
category of license, including family child care home and
child care centers, and their total capacity.
2)The California Child Care Resource & Referral Network
publishes a biannual publication called the California Child
Care Portfolio which provides state and county by county
information on child care supply and demand, including
aggregate and disaggregate numbers of children between birth
and 13, the number and type of licensed facilities broken down
by age-group capacity, and data on child care needs based on
requests to local child care resource and referral programs.
3)The County Centralized Eligibility Lists (CEL), established
pursuant to SB 68 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review),
Chapter 78, Statutes of 2005, provides information on the
number of families seeking subsidized child care services, the
type of care sought, and the reasons for seeking care.
Issues of concern . The bill requires the CDE to identify the
number of providers offering "preschool" services. It is
unclear whether, for the purpose of this bill, preschool is
defined as those in ages two through five or just three and
four. DSS issues child care licenses for infants, from ages two
through five, and school age.
AB 495
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This bill also requires the CDE to post the number of children
that each licensed provider could accommodate with respect to
preschool services. If the author intends to define preschool
as just three- and four-year-old children, it would be necessary
to survey each licensed provider to determine whether slots for
three- and four-year olds are set aside at each site.
It is unclear whether data is required to be provided on family
child care homes or just center-based care, or both. Family
child care homes are licensed for kids from birth through
school-age. A family child care home can enroll, depending on
staffing, infants only, or a combination of different age
groups. A survey of each licensed provider would be necessary
to determine whether slots are set aside for preschool services.
If the author intends to determine the precise gap in supply
compared with demand, the bill should also include factors such
as the number of children who do not need services because they
are at home with parents or relatives, such as grandparents.
The bill should also consider gathering enrollment information
to determine whether all providers are at full capacity. State
subsidized child care services, including preschool, are broken
down by full- or part-day care. The bill should also specify
whether a part-day program should be considered a gap in need.
The bill requires the CDE to consult with the Legislative
Analyst's Office, presumably to determine the number of three-
and four-year old children. The Department of Finance's
Demographics, Economics, and Financial Research Division
conducts demographic projections and may be a better entity for
the CDE to consult with.
Is CALPADS a long-term solution ? According to the CDE, CALPADS
will be the foundation of California's education data system.
CALPADS will collect student level data, including child care,
on demographics, program participation, and course completion.
It will eventually replace a number of the CDE's current
aggregate collections, including the California Basic
Educational Data System (CBEDS) collections, the Language
Census, Student National Origin Report (SNOR), and portions of
the Consolidated Application. CALPADS will also reduce the
amount of data collected on the answer documents of statewide
assessments. While there are challenges that must be addressed
AB 495
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(e.g., how to incorporate information from private providers),
CALPADS will provide eventually include information required by
this bill in much more details.
Until CALPADS is in full operation, perhaps this bill should
simply require the CDE to provide links to existing resources
where information and data on supply and demand of child care
services can be found, including the Internet Web sites of the
DSS, the California Child Care and Resource & Referral Network,
County Centralized Eligibility lists, and the Department of
Finance's Demographics Unit.
Prior Legislation . SB 944 (Padilla), which was held by the
Senate Appropriations Committee's Suspense file in 2007, would
have required the CDE to collect, aggregate and analyze
specified child care and development data and annually report
findings to the Legislature on that data beginning in January of
2010.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Around the Korner Child Care Centers
Creative Minds Preschool
Higher Learning FCC Preschool
Kids' Korner Preschool
Just4kids Preschool
Little People Destined for Greatness Universal Pre-School
Telstar Montessori Childcare Center
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087