BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
BILL NO: SB 379
S
AUTHOR: Huff
B
VERSION: February 26, 2009
HEARING DATE: April 28, 2009
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FISCAL: To Appropriations
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9
CONSULTANT:
Hailey
SUBJECT
Child care: licensure requirements
SUMMARY
Defines heritage schools and establishes requirements for
them in lieu of child care licensing.
ABSTRACT
Current law :
1. Establishes health and safety requirements for child
care programs, enforced by the State Department of Social
Services (DSS) through the licensing of community care
facilities.
2. Exempts from licensure various programs for children,
including
certain cooperative arrangements among parents,
public recreation programs meeting specific
requirements,
extended day care programs operated by public or
private schools for school-aged children,
parenting programs or adult education child care
programs that meet specific requirements,
Continued---
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child care programs that operate only one day per
week for no more than four hours on that day,
temporary child care services provided to parents
who are on the premises of the child care program
(except for ski facilities, shopping malls, or
department stores), and
instructional programs operated during times when
students, kindergarten through twelfth grade, are not
in session and offers sessions that do not exceed a
total of 30 days when only school-aged children are
enrolled or 15 days when younger children are
enrolled.
This bill :
1. Defines "heritage school" as one that:
serves children who are at least 4 years 9 months
of age
specifies its hours of operation
offers education or tutoring in a language other
than English
offers culturally enriching activities based on a
culture or customs of a country other than the United
States
maintains membership in an association that upholds
health and safety standards including a health
screening report for each staff member, a tuberculosis
test for each staff member, a criminal records
clearance for each staff member, acknowledgment by
each staff member that he or she is a mandated
reporter of child abuse, a fire escape and emergency
disaster plan, and accessible drinking water
maintains separate classes for adults and children
complies with local government regulations
maintains an adult-child ration of 1:14 and a
tutor-child ratio of 1:28
does not operate out of a residence
has at least one staff member with 15 hours or more
of health and safety training as defined.
2. Exempts heritage schools from child day care licensure.
FISCAL IMPACT
Unknown
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BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Need for the bill
The author believes that heritage schools give a positive
ethnic identity to their students, help students compete in
the increasingly global economy, and foster tolerance and
diversity. The author believes that child day care
statutes and regulations are unrealistic and unnecessary
for heritage schools, which are founded on a desire to
preserve the culture and language of immigrants. This
bill, states the author, creates a new definition in
statute for heritage schools and holds them accountable for
basic health and safety requirements, but not all the of
the requirements that child day care centers must meet.
Related legislation
This bill has some similarities to AB 344 (Huff, 2007) and
AB 1888 (Huff, 2008). Both bills were held in the Assembly
Human Services Committee.
What are in child care standards for school-aged children?
Health and safety standards for school aged children
include:
teacher-child and adult-child ratios (a "teacher"
has a certain number of college units in child
development),
a requirement that one adult on staff have
coursework in supervision,
a requirement that an adult on staff know CPR,
indoor and outdoor square footage requirements,
requirements for safety such as fencing, locks,
storage of solvents and other hazardous materials,
availability of toileting facilities and fresh
water, and
criminal records clearances for staff, directors,
overseers, and volunteers.
The director of DSS has the authority to exempt sites on a
case by case basis from some of the regulations, such as
outdoor square footage.
A program's curriculum is immaterial to state licensing
laws and regulations: child care programs can be religious
or secular, focused on seatwork or recreation, conducted in
English or another language, and so forth. Requirements
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for a license focus exclusively on the health and safety of
children.
Classes of child care that have sought exemption from
licensing
The state has maintained an interest in the health and
safety of children in congregate care for about a century.
The general argument has traditionally been that children,
some as young as infants, may be in care for ten or more
hours each day, and it is in the state's interests to
ensure that basic health and safety standards are met.
State law and regulation of child day care settings divides
programs into four basic kinds: care for infants and
toddlers, care for preschool-aged children, care for
school-aged children, and care provided in the provider's
residence. This bill addresses only non-residential
settings where school-aged children are present.
Over the past 35 years, the Legislature has addressed
various proposals to exclude large numbers of programs from
health and safety standards and from the licensing process
that ensures the application of those standards.
Governor Jerry Brown proposed an end to licensing
family child care - that is, care provided in the
residence of the provider.
A coalition of churches proposed the exemption from
licensure of church-run child care programs.
A coalition of city governments and park and
recreation special districts proposed the exemption
from licensure of any program for children operated by
a park and recreation district or by a city's park and
recreation department.
Various school districts and private schools have
proposed the elimination of licensing of child care
programs for school-aged children on the school site.
The Legislature rejected Governor Brown's budget proposal
to deregulate family child care homes, continues to require
licensure of child care programs operated by churches,
narrowly defined which public recreation programs are
exempt from licensure [Health and Safety Code Section
1596.792 (g)], and waives licensure for extended day care
programs operated by public and private schools.
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In these cases, the Legislature has applied a basic test:
are children in care and supervision for extended periods
of time over the course of many days? If so, they should
have the protections of basic health and safety regulations
enforced by licensing staff who are empowered to make
inspections, note violations of these regulations, and
require amelioration that, if incomplete, can lead to fines
or closure.
Are heritage schools currently required to have a child
care license?
According to the author, heritage schools come in many
sizes, settings, and organizational structures with one
thing in common: they exist to educate children to speak
languages other than English and to learn about a foreign
culture and customs. Parents chose them so that their
children can stay connected to the family's ancestry.
Calls from the committee office to heritage schools verify
that there are many kinds. Some are open only after school
during the school year; others are also open all day on
school holidays and during vacations. Some rent facilities
from school districts; others operate in store fronts and
strip malls. Some are, in essence, drop in programs
requiring no sign-in or sign-out of children. Others,
particularly when operating all day during school
vacations, provide care and supervision. For example, they
do allow a child to leave the school until a family member
arrives to take them from the program. In other words,
some heritage schools do not operate as child care centers
while others do.
If exempt from licensure, who enforces requirements and who
reviews criminal records?
SB 379 presents a hybrid. While exempting heritage schools
from child day care licensure -- and therefore from the
licensing application process, licensing fees, and regular
inspections - the bill expects the program to meet some
health and safety standards, noted above in the abstract.
It does this by requiring heritage schools, as a condition
of exemption from licensure, to be members of an
association that upholds those standards. It is unclear if
such an association exists, although one can imagine an
association of heritage schools being formed to assist its
members to meet this requirement.
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It may also be unclear who would receive criminal records
from the State Department of Justice. In practice, the
Department of Justice does not issue a clearance; it
provides rap sheets to DSS in the case of child care
programs. DSS checks those rap sheets against statute,
contacts the person in question for more information, and
issues a clearance or a denial of clearance after review.
In the case of a heritage school that is exempt from
licensure, who would receive and review a rap sheet from
the State Department of Justice?
Last of all, is there an enforcement mechanism for ensuring
that a heritage school meets the qualifications for
association membership?
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS
1. What is the extent of the problem?
DSS expresses that it is capable of distinguishing between
an ancillary educational program that does not need a child
care center license and a program that provides daily care
and supervision of children - and fits the statutory
definition of being a child day care center in need of a
license. Child care licensing standards do not concern
themselves with the content of a program's curriculum: the
standards focus solely on the health and safety of the
children being supervised. If a program provides care and
supervision of children every day after school, does the
fact that the program also teaches a language other than
English or the fact that it discusses the customs and
culture of another country mitigate the children's need for
a healthy and safe environment?
2. Is a cultural divide part of the problem?
Few people like to see government inspectors arrive and
fewer still like paying the fee for licensure. Might there
also, in the case of heritage schools, be a fear of
government intrusion, government intransigence, and
government opacity or capriciousness - fears magnified by
the immigrant experience? Many heritage schools are
operated and staffed by immigrants. Those who operate
these programs may want to avoid encounters with officials,
some of whom may be impatient or insensitive, and all of
whom represent both the unknown and governmental power.
The committee has received reports from heritage school
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operators that regulations are confusing and that they seem
to be applied haphazardly across the state. It may be that
DSS and its regional staff should find ways to communicate
with operators of heritage schools so that two questions
are answered clearly: who needs a license (what makes one
heritage school subject to licensure while another heritage
school would not be) and what does a license require.
POSITIONS
Support: Puente Hills Chinese School
Shen Win Chinese Institute and the Lotus
Foundation
Oppose: None received
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