BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 192
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 25, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
SB 192 (Liu) - As Amended: June 18, 2014
SENATE VOTE : 32-5
SUBJECT : Early learning and educational support services
SUMMARY : Changes the term "child care and development services"
to "early learning and educational support services," and makes
several changes to child care development programs in the areas
of contracting, program consolidation, programs serving migrant
populations, classroom ratios, teacher and director
qualifications, and parent education and information.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Changes the "Child Care and Development Services Act" to the
"Early Learning and Educational Support Act" and replaces
most, but not all, references to "child care and development"
to "early learning and educational support" within the Act.
2)Strikes the definition of "child care and development
programs" to mean programs that offer a full range of services
for children from infancy to 13 years of age, for any part of
a day, by a public or private agency, in centers and family
child care homes, including "general child care and
development," "migrant child care and development," "child
care provided by the California School Age Families Education
Program," "California State preschool Program," "Resource and
Referral," "Child Care and Development Services for Children
with Exceptional Needs," "Family Child Care Home Education
Network," "Alternative Payment," and "Schoolage Community
Child Care" programs.
3)Strikes the definition of "child care and development
services" to mean services designed to meet a wide variety of
needs of children and their families, while their parents or
guardians are working, in training, seeking employment,
incapacitated, or in need of respite, including direct care
and supervision, instructional activities, resource and
referral programs and alternative payment arrangements.
4)Defines "early learning programs" as early learning and
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educational support programs that serve children from birth to
13 years of age, including, but not limited to, services for
infants and toddlers, preschool age children, schoolage
children, and children of migrant agricultural worker
families.
5)Defines "early learning services" as early learning programs,
family child care home education networks, and programs that
serve severely disabled children, that are administered by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) as specified.
6)Defines "early learning and educational support programs" and
"early learning and educational support services" as those
programs or services that offer a full range of services
designed to meet a wide variety of needs of children, from
birth to 13 years of age, and their families. Services
provided by an applicant or contracting agency may be for any
part of the day that a parent is working, in training, seeking
employment, incapacitated, or in need of respite. These
services may include, but are not limited to early learning
services and APPs.
7)Strikes the definition of "alternative payments" as including
payments that are made by one child care agency to another
agency or child care provider for the provision of child care
and development services, and payments that are made by an
agency to a parent for the parent's purchase of early learning
and educational support services, and instead defines
"alternative payments" as "payments that are made by an APP to
a licensed or license-exempt care provider for the provision
of early learning and educational support services, and
payments that are made by an APP to a parent for the parent's
purchase of early learning and educational support services."
8)Specifies that for purposes of reimbursement to providers
through an APP, attendance includes any of the following:
a) The hours of service provided that are broadly
consistent with certified hours of need.
b) For families with variable schedules, the actual days
and hours of attendance up to the maximum certified hours.
c) In the case of license-exempt providers that provide
part-time services, the actual days and hours of
attendance.
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9)Specifies that for purposes of reimbursement to providers
through an APP, contractors shall not be required to track
absences.
10)Defines "child care" or "care" as services provided by all
licensed or license-exempt providers, including, but not
limited to, private for-profit, and publicly funded programs,
for all children from birth to 13 years of age, including
children with exceptional needs and children from all
linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
11)Modifies "California state preschool program" to "California
state preschool program services," defined as part-day and
full-day programs that provide developmentally appropriate
educational activities and services designed to facilitate the
transition to kindergarten for low-income or otherwise
disadvantage three- and four-year-old children.
12)Requires information to be provided to parents in the county
of service at the time the family is determined eligible for
services, and at recertification, by one of the following:
a) An APP.
b) A resource and referral program.
c) A partnership between the APP and the resource and
referral program.
13)Specifies that the information provided by the program or
partnership shall be to assist parents in making informed
choices about available types of care that would both offer a
safe, caring, and age-appropriate early learning and
educational support environment for children, as well as
support the parents' work activities, including, but not
limited to information about high-quality early learning and
educational support options and resources. Authorizes the
program or partnership to utilize resources from a list posted
on the California Department of Education's (CDE) Internet Web
site if this list is available. Specifies that if the CDE
does not create a list of resources, the program or
partnership may develop local resources. These resources
shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
a) Information regarding how to select services that meet
the needs of the parent and child.
b) Information on licensing requirements and procedures for
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child care centers and family child care homes.
c) Trustline requirements for homes and providers exempt
from licensure.
d) A range of possible early learning and educational
support options from which a parent may choose.
e) Information on available care subsidies and eligibility
requirements.
f) Quality indicators, including provider or educator
training, accreditation, staff stability, group size, ratio
of children to staff, environments that support the healthy
development of children, parent involvement, and
communication between the parent and provider.
g) Information on quality rating and improvement systems,
where available.
14)Requires the program or partnership to provide parenting
information to parents.
15)Requires, if an appropriation is included in the annual
Budget Act and is consolidated into a single budget schedule
or subschedule, on or after July 1, 2015, the SPI to
streamline the delivery of APP through the consolidation of
contracts that serve special populations, including, but not
limited to, migrant populations.
16)Specifies that beginning with the 2015-16 fiscal year and
each fiscal year thereafter, APPs serving only migrant
populations pursuant to the 2014-15 contract shall enroll only
children of migrant agricultural worker families that move
from place to place for the purpose of agricultural work.
17)Strikes the provision requiring APPs to provide information
to parents in communities where there are no resource and
referral agencies and instead adds the provisions specified
above requiring an APP, a resource and referral program, or a
partnership between the APP and resource and referral program
to provide specified information to parents in the county of
service.
18)Requires the SPI to administer early learning and educational
support program through early learning services, including,
but not limited to, early learning programs, family child care
home education networks, and services for children with
exceptional needs. Specifies that these programs shall
include, but is not limited to, all of the following:
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a) Age and developmentally appropriate activities for
children.
b) Supervision.
c) Parenting education and parent engagement.
d) Developmental and health services.
e) Nutrition.
f) Family support services that include, but are not
limited to, assessment of child and family needs and
referral to appropriate human services organizations.
g) Training, professional development, and career
advancement opportunities, documentation of which shall be
provided to the CDE.
19) Repeals the provisions defining a "migrant agricultural
worker family" as a family that has earned at least 50% of its
total gross income from employment in fishing, agriculture, or
agriculturally related work during the 12-month period
immediately preceding the date of application for child care
and development services.
20)Redefines a "migrant agricultural worker family" to mean a
family with at least one parent that has earned at least 50%
of his or her income from employment in fishing, agriculture,
or agriculturally related work during the 12-month period
immediately preceding the date of application for early
learning and educational support services.
21)Specifies that if an appropriation is included in the annual
Budget Act and is consolidated into a single budget schedule
or subschedule, if a contractor serving migrant populations,
upon prioritizing migrant families for enrollment, is unable
to reach the anticipated level of enrollment as provided in
the contract for services, the contractor may use any funds
remaining to enroll children from otherwise eligible families
pursuant to the priorities specified in law.
22)Replaces "General Child Care and Development Programs" with
"Early Learning Programs" and repeals, on July 1, 2015, the
provisions specifying that "general early learning and
educational support programs" include the following:
a) Age and developmentally appropriate activities for
children.
b) Supervision.
c) Parenting education and parent involvement.
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d) Social services that include, but are not limited to,
identification of child and family needs and referral to
appropriate agencies.
e) Health services.
f) Nutrition.
g) Training and career ladder opportunities, documentation
of which shall be provided to the department.
23)Specifies, beginning July 1, 2015, that early learning
programs shall serve children from birth to 13 years of age,
including, but not limited to, services for infants and
toddlers, preschool age children, schoolage children, and
migrant children.
24)Requires the SPI to streamline the delivery of early learning
programs through the consolidation of contracts, which shall
include, but is not limited to, services for preschool age
children and migrant children. Requires contractors to
continue to serve the same populations in the 2014-15
contracts, unless they receive prior approval from the CDE,
and requires contractors that provide services to migrant
populations and California state preschool program populations
to comply with the specific requirements for those services.
Specifies that this provision is operative only to the extent
that an appropriation for its purposes is included in the
annual Budget Act and is consolidated into a single budget
schedule or subschedule.
25)Repeals provisions requiring the CDE to apply sanctions
against contracting agencies that have serious licensing
violations and provide 90 days' written notification to any
contractor whose agreement is being terminated.
26)Repeals staffing ratios for center based programs and instead
establishes the following minimum staffing ratios in all early
learning services, except for family child care home education
networks:
a) Infants, birth to 18 months: 1:3 adult-to-child ratio,
1:18 teacher-to-child ratio.
b) Toddlers, 18 months up to their third birthday: 1:4
adult-to-child ratio, 1:16 teacher-to-child ratio.
c) Preschool, at least 30 months to kindergarten
eligibility: 1:8 adult-to-child ratio, 1:24
teacher-to-child ratio.
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d) Schoolage, enrolled in kindergarten to their 13th
birthday: 1:14 adult-to-child ratio, 1:28 teacher-to-child
ratio.
.
27)Specifies that compliance with the ratios shall be determined
based on actual attendance.
28)Requires any person serving as a teacher in an early learning
and educational support program providing early learning
services to possess a permit or credential issued by the
Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC), including, but not
limited to, one of the following:
a) An associate teacher permit, or higher, authorizing
service in the care, development, and instruction of
children in early learning and educational support
programs.
b) A multiple subject credential with an authorization to
teach prekindergarten through grade 12, in a self-contained
classroom.
c) An elementary credential.
d) A single subject credential in home economics.
29)Strikes the provision requiring any entity operating child
care and development programs at two or more sites to employ a
program director who possesses specified permits or
credential, and instead requires any entity operating early
learning and educational support programs providing early
learning services to children at two or more sites, to employ
a program director who possesses a permit or credential issued
by the CTC authorizing supervision of an early learning and
educational support program, including, but not limited to:
a) An administrative credential.
b) A children's center supervision permit.
c) A program director permit.
d) A waiver issued by the SPI.
30)Strikes a provision prohibiting a family receiving California
Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) cash
aid from being charged a family fee.
31)Requires a local planning council to develop a draft of local
priorities for early learning and educational support program
funding that includes the needs assessment and that considers
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the resources currently available in attendance areas of
elementary schools ranked in deciles 1 to 3, of the Academic
Performance Index (API).
32)Requires the CDE, when additional funds for early learning
services are appropriated by the Legislature, to allocate
funding within each county in accordance with the priorities
that include the review of resources in the attendance areas
of elementary schools ranked in the API deciles 1-3, as
identified by the local planning council of that county and
submitted to the CDE, unless the priorities do not meet the
requirements of state or federal law.
33)Strikes most, but not all, references to "child care," and
replaces the term with "care."
34)Strikes obsolete provisions.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes eligibility for child care services and child
development programs administered by the CDE and requires the
SPI to adopt rules and regulations on eligibility, enrollment
and priority of services needed for implementation (Education
Code (EC) Section 8263).
2)Provides that CalWORKs recipients are eligible for three
stages of child care services. Stage one child care begins
when a recipient first receives CalWORKs aid and is limited to
six months. Stage two begins when a recipient's work or work
activity is stable and is available for up to two years after
a recipient is no longer eligible for CalWORKs aid. Families
can maintain child care benefits if it meets income
eligibility under stage 3 if there are slots available. (EC
Sections 8350-8359.1)
3)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,
or at risk of being abused, neglected, or exploited; and,
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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))
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
2013-14 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:
1)Consolidation of contracts: Potentially substantial loss of
state savings, likely millions of dollars annually, as well as
minor administrative costs to the CDE. May create additional
cost pressure on Proposition 98 funds, by effectively lifting
the restriction on their use only for part-day preschool.
2)Expansion of "migrant family" definition: Unknown, potentially
substantial loss of savings to the extent that more families
become eligible for Migrant Child Care and Development
services.
3)Conforming existing regulations: CDE anticipates minor costs
of up to $20,000 to conform existing regulations to statute
amended in this bill.
COMMENTS : Background on child care and development programs .
The CDE administers a child care and development system,
maintaining 1,317 service contracts with approximately 750
public and private agencies supporting and providing services to
children from birth through 12 years of age. Contractors include
school districts, county offices of education, cities, colleges,
other public entities, community-based organizations, and
private agencies. In fiscal year (FY) 2013-14, $2.1 billion was
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provided for child care and development programs from state and
federal funds, enrolling an estimated 340,000 children. This is
down from $2.669 billion initially provided in the FY 2010-11
budget (prior to midyear trigger cuts) with almost 416,000
slots. According to the Legislative Analyst's Office, overall
funding for the child care and development program has decreased
by almost $1 billion between 2008-09 and 2013-14, with the
elimination of 110,000 slots. The Budget Act of 2014 provided
increases in appropriation and slots for child care and
development programs, including $57 million in General Fund and
$30 million in Proposition 98 General fund for 500 slots for the
Alternative Payment Program, $1,000 slots for General Child Care
programs, 7,500 for the State Preschool Program, and 7,500 for
part-day wrap around child care slots.
Eligibility . State and federal subsidized child care is
provided through two ways: 1) eligibility for CalWORKs, or 2)
based on income and need for child care services. CalWORKs is a
temporary cash aid program for families with children. The
child care program is administered in three stages to help a
family transition from immediate, short-term child care needs to
stable, long-term child care as a family becomes stable and is
no longer reliant on CalWORKs aid. Subsidized child care
services are intended to assist recipients in engaging in work
or education/training required for receiving aid.
Non-CalWORKs families and former CalWORKs recipients can also
receive subsidized child care if they meet income eligibility of
70% of SMI ($46,896 for a family of four) or if they are
recipients of child protective services, and if they can show
need for child care services. EC Section 8263 defines "need"
for child care as any of the following: Parents are (a)
participating in vocational training leading directly to a
recognized trade, paraprofession or profession, (b) employed or
seeking employment, (c) seeking permanent housing for family
stability, or (d) incapacitated. According to the Legislative
Analyst's Office, over 90% of recipients receive care because
they are engaged in work, vocational training, or pursuing an
education. Approximately six percent of parents received child
care services because they are medically incapacitated, seeking
a job or seeking permanent housing. The remaining recipients
are children under the care of child protective services or are
at risk of abuse or neglect.
Administration of child care : Stage 1 child care is
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administered by county welfare departments and overseen by the
Department of Social Services, while Stages 2 and 3 are
administered by the CDE through a voucher system that enables
recipients to choose the child care arrangements that work best
for them, including licensed centers, licensed family child care
homes, or license-exempt care (e.g., care by a relative). The
voucher program is administered by APPs selected by the CDE.
This bill proposes the following:
Consolidation of programs . In 2008, AB 2759 (Jones), Chapter
308, Statutes of 2008, consolidated several preschool-related
programs to create the California State Preschool program.
Contractors have provided positive feedback to the
consolidation, stating that the new system has greatly reduced
time for administration and reporting. There remains separate
budget line items and statutory provisions for other Child Care
and Development Programs, including the General Child Care and
Development Program and the Migrant Child Care and Development
Program. This bill attempts to make a similar consolidation for
these programs. This bill changes the Migrant Child Care and
Development program to "services for migrant populations" and
changes the eligibility for migrant child care services by
requiring only one parent who earns 50% of his or her income
from employment in fishing, agriculture or agriculturally
related work. According to the CDE, frequently, migrant
families have one parent who may have a stable job, while the
other parent continues to have a seasonal or migratory job.
This proposal allows a child to continue to access early
learning programs. This bill also allows a contractor who is
unable to enroll the anticipated number of migrant family
children to use funds to enroll other eligible families.
The bill replaces the General Child Care and Development Program
with "Early Learning Programs", defined as "early learning and
educational support programs that serve children from birth to
13 years of age, including, but not limited to, services for
infants and toddlers, preschool age children, schoolage children
and migrant children." The bill requires the SPI to streamline
the delivery of these programs by consolidating contracts that
serve this age population and migrant children. This change is
intended to allow the CDE to consolidate the existing General
Child Care, California State Preschool, and Migrant Child Care
programs into one contract. The result will be to focus the
contracts on the populations served, rather than awarding
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separate contracts for each program individually. The
individual purposes and requirements for the Migrant Child Care
and California State Preschool programs will be maintained as
separate types of "services" for the respective populations.
The author states that this will improve efficiency by
eliminating duplicative paperwork.
The budget provides funding for child care and development
programs based on individual program line items. While
streamlining and easing bureaucratic requirements are worth
achieving, blending the programs may prevent legislative
priorities from being met. Additionally, child care and
development programs are currently funded through the General
Fund and Proposition 98 General Fund. The Senate Appropriations
Committee notes that "funding flexibility coupled with an
expansion of child care programs (including increasing staffing
ratios and child eligibility for pre-school services) could
create cost pressure on Proposition 98 dollars to fund several
child care programs. Any additional Proposition 98 funds
diverted to child care directly trade off with funding for other
K-12 purposes."
Similarly, the bill requires the SPI to consolidate contracts
for APPs to serve the specified populations. The APPs help
families access child care services and makes payment for those
services directly to the child care provider selected by the
family. Parents can choose a variety of child care
arrangements, including licensed family child care homes and
center-based care, and arrange for payments to licensed-exempt
providers, who are relatives or friends of parents or guardians.
The APP is intended to increase parental choice and accommodate
the individual needs of the family. APPs are reimbursed based
on the number of children served and funds are appropriated
based on the fiscal reporting process and budget estimations.
There are more than 80 APPs throughout the state and they range
from private, nonprofit organizations to county offices of
education. APPs began as pilot programs in 1977 and became
permanent in 1980.
Because these programs are funded in the budget as separate line
items, the bill stipulates that the consolidation of the
programs cannot take place until the Budget Act consolidates the
budget line items into a single line item.
Parent information . This bill requires a host of information to
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be provided by either the APP, the resource and referral
program, or a partnership between the two agencies, to parents
at the time a family is eligible for services and at
recertification. The author states that that this will enable
parents to make informed decisions regarding high quality early
learning and support services to promote school readiness and
success. It is unclear who will determine whether the
requirement is being met, and how the information will be
coordinated.
Classroom ratios . The bill makes modifications to staffing
ratios, that, according to the CDE, are simply updates to
conform with Title 5 Code of Regulations following changes to
the definition of three and four year olds. The ratios proposed
by this bill conflicts with ratios proposed in another bill
proposed by the same author, SB 1123 (Liu), also scheduled for
the June 25th hearing.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Current law | SB 1123 (Liu) | SB 192 (Liu) |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|----------+------------+-------------+------------+----------+----------|
|Infants |1:3 |Infants |1:4 |Infants |1:3 |
|(0-2) |adult-child |(birth-18 |adult-child |(birth-18 |adult-chil|
| |1:18 |months)/group|1:8 |months) |d |
| |teacher-chil| of 8 |teacher-chil| |1:18 |
| |d | |d | |teacher-ch|
| | | | | |ild |
|----------+------------+-------------+------------+----------+----------|
|Infants |1:4 |Infants |1:3 | | |
|and |adult-child |(birth-18 |adult-child | | |
|toddlers |1:16 |months)/group|1:9 | | |
|(0-2) |teacher-chil| of 9 |teacher-chil| | |
| |d | |d | | |
|----------+------------+-------------+------------+----------+----------|
| | |Toddlers (18 |1:4 |Toddlers |1:4 |
| | |months-3rd |adult-child |(18 |adult-chil|
| | |birthday)/gro|1:12 |months-3rd|d |
| | |up of 12 |teacher-chil| |1:16 |
| | | |d |birthday) |teacher-ch|
| | | | | |ild |
|----------+------------+-------------+------------+----------+----------|
|3-6 years |1:8 |Preschool |1:8 |Preschool |1:8 |
|old |adult-child |(30 months- |adult-child |(30 |adult-chil|
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| |1:24 |kindergarten)|1:24 |months-kin|d |
| |teacher-chil|/group of 24 |teacher-chil|dergarten)|1:24 |
| |d | |d | |teacher-ch|
| | | | | |ild |
|----------+------------+-------------+------------+----------+----------|
| | |Preschool |1:10 | | |
| | |(30 months - |adult-child | | |
| | |kindergarten)|1:20 | | |
| | |/group of 20 |teacher | | |
| | | |teacher-chil| | |
| | | |d | | |
|----------+------------+-------------+------------+----------+----------|
|6-10 |1:14 |Schoolage |1:14 |Schoolage |1:14 |
|years old |adult-child |(kindergarten|adult-child |(kindergar|adult-chil|
| |1:28 |-13 years |1:28 |ten-13 |d |
| |teacher-chil|old) |teacher-chil|years |1:28 |
| |d | |d |old) |teacher-ch|
| | | | | |ild |
|----------+------------+-------------+------------+----------+----------|
|10-13 |1:18 | | | | |
|years old |adult-child | | | | |
| |1:36 | | | | |
| |teacher-chil| | | | |
| |d | | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to the author's office, the ratios for the "6-10" and
"10-13" categories need to be updated in the law to conform to
Title 5 regulations. The proposed category for "schoolage" in
both SB 1123 and SB 192 reflect current Title 5 regulations. It
is unclear why the remaining categories are different in bills
by the same author.
Teacher qualifications . Current law authorizes a person meeting
the following to serve in an instructional capacity in a child
care and development program:
1)Possesses a credential issued by the CTC authorizing that
person to teach in an elementary school or a single subject
credential in home economics.
2)Twelve units in early childhood development (ECE) or child
development, or both, or two years' experience in an early
childhood education or a child care and development program.
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The CTC establishes varying level of teacher permits for child
care and development programs. The level that meets existing
law is categorized as the "Associate Teacher," which requires 12
units in ECE or child development courses and 50 days of three
hours or more per day experience completed within two years.
This bill requires any person serving as a teacher in an early
learning and educational support program providing early
learning services to possess a permit or credential issued by
the CTC, including, but not limited to, one of the following:
1)An associate teacher permit, or higher, authorizing service in
the care, development, and instruction of children in early
learning and educational support programs.
2)A multiple subject credential with an authorization to teach
prekindergarten through grade 12, in a self-contained
classroom.
3)An elementary credential.
4)A single subject credential in home economics.
This provision also conflicts with SB 1123, also scheduled for
the June 25th hearing. SB 1123 increases the qualification from
an "Associate Teacher" level to a "Teacher" permit level, which
requires twice as many ECE units - 12 to 24 (including core
classes) - plus an additional 16 general education units and 175
days of three hours or more per day experience completed within
four years.
Priorities for new funds . This bill requires the CDE to
prioritize the allocation of any new funds within each county in
accordance with priorities that include the review of resources
in attendance area of deciles 1-3 elementary schools of the API.
According to the sponsor, the intent is to require local
planning councils to prioritize funds for needs in low
performing areas. The API is no longer in use. The author may
wish to consider alternative measures for identifying low
performing schools.
Term changes . According to the author, the term "Child Care and
Development" is outdated. The bill replaces the term with
"early learning and educational support" throughout the
education code. While seemingly simply a recasting of terms,
staff notes the following concerns:
1)The bill use the terms "early learning and educational
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support," "early learning programs," and "early learning
services," but leaves "child care" in some sections, and yet
other sections, the word "child" is struck, leaving references
to "care facilities" or "care services." Could there be
unintended consequences to using multiple terms, some of which
may apply only Title 5 programs, others may include both Title
5 and Title 22 programs, while references to CalWORKs benefits
and Title 22 will continue to be "child care," and licensing
under the Department of Social Services will continue to
license "child care facilities?"
2)While incorporating educational objectives in child care and
development programs is an objective that the Legislature has
consistently supported, one of the main reasons parents seek
child care services is to ensure that their children are taken
care of while they work or pursue education and training.
Should the term not recognize the care and nurturing that are
provided in early learning and educational support programs?
3)The terms used in this bill conflict with SB 1123, which uses
the terms "early learning and care" and "child care."
Committee Considerations . Child care and early childhood
education has been a major focus of legislation and the budget
this year. A number of bills have been introduced in an effort
to make child care and development programs more accessible by
eliminating parent fees, increasing provider rates, or through
universal TK or preschool; and increasing quality of programs
and staff. These efforts were considered through the budget
process, with some of the proposals incorporated in the budget
trailer bill and through increase in funding for slots and
provider reimbursements. While the funds do not restore the
amount of funds cut since 2008 or the number of slots lost, it
represents the first major investment in child care and
development programs in several years. While there is nothing
wrong with updating the term to reflect educational practices of
child care and development programs and the consolidation of
programs, there may be unintended consequences resulting from
confusing code sections and use of multiple terms.
Additionally, this bill makes policy proposals that differ with
another bill by the same author. The Committee may wish to
consider whether this bill needs more work.
Arguments in support . The author states, "Early Learning and
child care services were codified in 1976. The code has not been
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substantially updated to eliminate outdated programs,
definitions, or practices, sometimes in decades. As the code
continues to grow, and as California continues its work on the
Early Learning Race to the Top Challenge Grant, modernization is
needed.
Areas of particular focus are:
Placing an emphasis on high-quality early learning
opportunities and promoting parent choice;
Improving efficiency by eliminating duplicative
paperwork; and
Updating definitions to more accurately reflect current
trends and practices."
Arguments in opposition . The California Right to Life Committee
(CRLC) opposes the bill and states, "CRLC believes that SB 192
is not good public policy. It must rely on federal and state
tax dollars to fully implement this cradle to teen life program
with care extending beyond minority age for special needs. It
encourages parents and caregivers to allow the government to
totally raise their children with inducements of services made
so convenient that parents would not have much reason to even
enjoy a meal at home with their children or study time to help
with their lessons."
Related legislation . SB 837 (Steinberg), also scheduled for the
June 25th hearing, specifies uses of funds appropriated in the
Budget Act of 2014 for professional development of TK and
preschool teachers.
SB 858 (Committee on Budget), pending on the Governor's desk, is
the education budget trailer bill for the 2014-15 budget and
includes changes to the child care and development programs to
implement the budget, including increasing the Standard
Reimbursement Rate and the Regional Market Rates, eliminating
part-day preschool family fees, establishing a QRIS block grant
for the purpose of improving the quality of preschool programs,
and specifying the use of funds for the Child Care Facilities
Revolving Fund and professional development of preschool and TK
teachers.
SB 1123 (Liu), also scheduled for the June 25th hearing,
establishes new services under the General Child Care and
Development Programs for infants and toddlers called California
Strong Start services and makes changes to eligibility, adult-
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and teacher-to-child ratios, and staffing requirements in
classrooms.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson (sponsor)
Advancement Project
California Child Development Administrators Association
California State Parent Teachers Association
California Teachers Association
Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles
Child Care Law Center
Child Development Resources
Children Now
Compton Unified School District
County of Los Angeles
Early Edge California
Local Early Planning Council of Santa Clara County
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles County Education Foundation
Los Angeles Universal Preschool
Options - A Child Care and Human Services Agency
Policy Roundtable for Child Care
San Mateo County Child Care Partnership Council
Opposition
California Right to Life Committee, Inc.
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087