BILL ANALYSIS �
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Date of Hearing: April 9, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1944 (Garcia) - As Introduced: February 19, 2014
Policy Committee: EducationVote:5-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill deletes the requirement for parents eligible for child
care and development services to complete a form certifying that
a before or after school program is not available for their 11
or 12 year old children. Specifically, this bill:
1)Deletes that provision specifying that a before or after
school program shall be considered not available when the
parent certifies in writing, on a form provided by the
California Department of Education (CDE) that is translated
into the parent's primary language, the reason or reasons why
the program would not meet the child care needs of the family.
2)Deletes the provision requiring each contractor to report
annually to the CDE the amount of savings resulting from the
requirement to place an 11 or 12-year-old in a before or after
school program.
3)Deletes the provision requiring the CDE to annually report to
the Legislature the amount of savings statewide.
FISCAL EFFECT
Unknown annual GF costs, not likely to exceed $250,000. This
assumes children no longer choose to be served by before and
after school programs and are instead served by state child care
programs.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose. Community based contractors report that the staff
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time needed to oversee, track and submit annual reports, far
exceeds the amount of savings that result in placement of
subsidized 11 and 12-year-old children in before or after
school programs. The author sees this proposal as a way to
continue to support the placement of subsidized 11 and
12-year-old children in before and after school programs but
eliminate burdensome certified documentation required of
parents and the annual reports required from child care
agencies.
2)Background . SB 1104 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review),
Chapter 229, Statutes of 2004, made a number of changes to
social services programs, including subsidized child care
programs, in order to achieve fiscal savings. The bill
specified that a parent who is eligible for subsidized child
care service may seek child care services if he or she is
unable to obtain before or after school program enrollment for
his or her 11 or 12-year-old child, if the hours of service
are insufficient, or if the before or after school programs do
not work for the parent (too far from school, too far from
home, etc.). Any savings generated by the enrollment of 11-
and 12-year-old children in a before or after school program
may be maintained by the contractor for provision of services
to other children. Child care contractors are required to
provide parents with a form that must be available in a
parent's primary language. Using the form, parents must
certify why the before or after school program does not work
for them. Contractors are required to submit an annual report
to the CDE with the amount of savings derived and the CDE is
required to submit an annual report to the Legislature
indicating the amount of savings statewide.
The After School Education and Safety (ASES) program,
authorized by Proposition 49 (2002), provides approximately
$550 million annually for before and after school programs for
students in kindergarten through grade 9. This funding is
provided outside of the Proposition 98 minimum guarantee.
Grant funding is provided to school districts, county offices
of education, and local governments and nonprofit
organizations working in partnership with local educational
agencies.
In November 2013, CDE reported 436 children were served by
before and after school programs instead of CDE-subsidized
child care and development programs for the 2011-12 fiscal
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year. This achieved savings of $258,233. That number was
down from the prior year in which CDE reported 813 children
being served by before and after school program with a savings
of $484,318
According to the Legislative Analyst's Office, overall funding
for the child care and development program has decreased by
almost $1 billion since 2008-09, with the elimination of
110,000 child care and preschool slots. The Governor's
2014-15 budget proposes $1.7 billion (GF) for child care
programs, representing a $64 million (4%) increase from the
revised current-year level. This funding level is estimated
to provide 206,000 child care slots, an increase of nearly
3,300 slots (2 percent) compared to 2013-14.
Analysis Prepared by : Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081