BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1123
S
AUTHOR: Liu
B
VERSION: April 3, 2014
HEARING DATE: April 22, 2014
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FISCAL: Yes
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CONSULTANT: Mareva Brown
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SUBJECT
Child care and development services
SUMMARY
This bill renames general child care, "California Strong
Start" services, and increases standards for Title 5
general child care and development programs serving
children from birth to age three to require, among other
things, providers to have at least one teacher in each
classroom that holds a child development teacher permit.
This bill would deem a child eligible for the remainder of
a program year subsequent to enrollment in a state or
federally funded child care and development program. It
also would expand the definition of children who are
"income eligible" for child care services to include a
family that is eligible for Cal-Fresh or Medi-Cal, or has a
school aged child eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
This bill also establishes a home visitation program for
children who are enrolled in some preschool programs.
ABSTRACT
Existing law:
Continued---
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 1123 (Liu)
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1) Establishes in California the Child Care and
Developmental Services Act to provide comprehensive,
coordinated, and cost-effective system of child care
and development services for children from infancy to
13 years of age and their parents, including a full
range of supervision, health, and support services
through full- and part-time programs. (EDC 8200, et
seq.)
2) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
to develop standards for the implementation of quality
programs and establishes 14 indicators of quality
including parent involvement, quality educational
programming, and other items. (EDC 8203)
3) Establishes a state preschool program,
administered by the Superintendent, to include,
part-day age and developmentally appropriate programs
designed to facilitate the transition to kindergarten
for three- and four-year-old children, as specified.
Additionally, establishes enrollment priorities for
children in state-funded transitional kindergarten.
Sets as the first priority children who are abused or
neglected, as specified, followed by eligible
four-year-old children, as defined. (EDC 8235, EDC
8236)
4) Establishes general child care and development
programs, administered by the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to include age and developmentally
appropriate (center-based) activities for children,
supervision, parenting education and involvement,
social services including identification of child and
family needs and referral to appropriate agencies,
among other elements. (EDC 8240)
5) Requires the Superintendent to contract with
entities to operate family child care home education
networks that support educational objectives for
children in licensed family child care homes serving
families that are eligible for subsidized child care.
(EDC 8245)
6) Grants priority enrollment in child care programs
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 1123 (Liu)
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to children who have been abused or neglected, as
specified, and sets priorities for enrollment of other
children into subsidized child care slots. (EDC 8263,
et seq.)
7) Establishes three progressive stages of child care
services for children of families participating in the
California Work Opportunity for Kids (CalWORKs)
program and states Legislative intent that as families
pass through these stages, they experience no break in
their child care services due to a transition between
the three stages of child care services. The stages
are as follows:
a. Stage One begins when families enter the
CalWORKs program. Families in this stage are
entitled to services.
b. Stage Two begins when the county
determines that the recipient's work or approved
work activity is stable. Families in this stage
are entitled to services.
c. Stage Three begins when a funded space is
available. CalWORKs recipients are eligible for
the third stage of child care, as are former
recipients if they have an income that does not
exceed 70 percent of the state median income.
Families in this stage are not entitled to
services but generally receive them.
This bill:
1) Makes numerous findings and declarations,
including:
a. The first three years of life are a
period of dynamic and unparalleled brain
development in which children acquire the ability
to think, speak, learn, and reason.
b. During these first 36 months, children
need good health, strong families, and positive
early learning experiences to lay the foundation
for later school success.
c. Low-income infants and toddlers are at a
greater risk for a variety of poorer outcomes and
vulnerabilities, such as later school failure,
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 1123 (Liu)
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learning disabilities, behavior problems,
developmental delay, and health impairments.
d. The most effective way to help babies and
toddlers is to promote positive parent-child
relationships
e. High quality learning services for
infants and toddlers strengthen family engagement
and parent-child relationships; focus workforce
development on provider-child relationships;
promote teacher-child interaction and a language
rich learning environment; support dual language
learning; serve as a gateway to comprehensive
services; and promote a choice of quality service
options.
2) States legislative intent to strategically use
state and federal funds to provide a stable,
comprehensive, and adequately funded early learning
and educational support system for children from birth
to five years of age that promotes access to safe,
high-quality, part-day and full-day services that
support the development of the whole child, especially
for those children who need it most, with specified
elements.
3) Adds to the list of elements required in a quality
preschool program parent support and, for infants and
toddlers, continuity of care and the assignment of
primary caregivers.
4) Requires that four-year-old children who are
enrolled in state-funded transitional kindergarten
programs shall be deemed eligible for supplemental
education and care services through the California
State Preschool program if they are also eligible for
free and reduced-price lunch, Cal-Fresh or Medi-Cal
programs, or if their family's adjusted monthly income
is at or below 70 percent of the state median income,
adjusted for family size, and adjusted annually.
5) Removes the requirement that families whose
children participate in part-day preschool pay a
family fee.
6) Renames general child care services to California
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 1123 (Liu)
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Strong Start services and defines it as including
children from birth to their third birthdays. Services
include parent engagement and learning, home
visitation, full- and part-day programs, nutrition
services and referrals to other programs as needed.
Requires the Superintendent to develop standards for
high-quality, evidence-based care, as specified.
7) Establishes both a family engagement grant and a
voluntary home visitation supplemental grant, based
upon Department of Social Services evidence-based
research, for a consortium of providers with a lead
agency, as described.
8) Requires that children, who are found eligible for
state- or federally subsidized child development
services, shall be deemed eligible for the remainder
of the program year, in order to promote continuity of
services.
9) Adds to existing definition of "income eligible"
for state and federally funded child development
services the following:
a. That a family is eligible for Cal-Fresh
or Medi-Cal, or has a school-aged child eligible
for free or reduced-price lunch.
b. For the 2014-15 fiscal year and each year
thereafter, the income eligibility limits shall
not be less than 70 percent of the state median
income for the prior fiscal year, adjusted for
family size, as specified.
10) Establishes a sunset date for existing staffing
ratios for center-based programs of July 1, 2019, and
establishes new ratios for child care and development
service provides. Family child care home education
networks are exempted.
11) Requires child care and development services
providers to have at least one teacher in each
classroom that holds at a minimum a child development
teacher permit, as specified, no later than July 1,
2019.
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12) Requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing
shall review and amend the Child Development Permit
Matrix, to include additional hours and the addition
of in-classroom coaching, as specified, no later than
July 1, 2017.
13) Increases the rate adjustment factors for various
children between birth and 36 months in various child
care settings.
14) Removes the family fee requirement for families
whose children attend part-day preschool.
FISCAL IMPACT
This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal committee
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Purpose of the bill:
The author states that the most effective way to help
infants and toddlers is to promote positive parent-child
relationships. While these components are incorporated into
other models, such as Early Head Start, they are not
typically included in subsidized child care programs. This
bill would establish grants for child care and development
programs to create home visitation and early engagement
projects. The author also states that this bill is needed
to give providers choices that enable greater funding
flexibility and allow services to be tailored to fit
community needs. Specifically it gives additional grant
money to fund parent engagement and home visiting programs.
It also outlines flexible rations that will allow
providers to more easily braid funding streams.
Child care
Approximately 300,000 children are served by California'
subsidized child care and development system. Of that
number, one-quarter are infants and toddlers, or birth
through age 36 months. Another third of the population is
preschool-aged children, ages 3 to 5, depending upon the
age of entry to kindergarten, and the remaining 41 percent
are school-aged children. Oversight of child care programs
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in California is shared by the California Department of
Social Services (CDSS) and the state Department of
Education (CDE). CDSS licenses day care centers and family
child care homes, while CDE oversees the content of
education programs in Title V schools.
Below is a chart describing the populations served and the
standards set for each of the types of child care settings.
(Chart removed due to technical issues.)
Between 2008-09 and 2012-13, child care and preschool
programs saw a reduction in state funding of approximately
$984 million, and a reduction of approximately 110,000
slots. In addition to reducing slots, several policy
changes were made to reduce state spending, including
freezing rates for license-exempt providers at 2005 levels
and at 2007 levels for center based care. Additional cost
savings included the implementation of family fees for
part-day preschool, lowering income eligibility thresholds
from 75 percent to 70 percent of the state median income
(SMI) and exempting CalWORKs recipients with very young
children from work requirements, thereby eliminating the
need for child care. This exemption has since been
rescinded and CDSS and the counties are re-engaging these
households in welfare-to-work requirements, with associated
child-care needs.
CalWORKs and child care
The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids
(CalWORKs) program provides monthly income assistance and
employment-related services aimed at moving children out of
poverty and helping families meet basic needs. Federal
funding for CalWORKs comes from the Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. The average monthly
cash grant for a family of three on CalWORKs (one parent
and two children) is $463. According to recent data from
the California Department of Social Services, more than
500,000 families rely on CalWORKs, including more than 1
million children. Nearly 80% of the children are under age
12.
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Child care for CalWORKs is an entitlement for families in
Stage 1 or 2 of the program - either beneficiaries who are
new to the program or those who have become "stable" as
defined by the county. The majority of CalWORKs child care
recipients use license-exempt (home) care, care in family
child care homes or child care in Title 22 day care
centers. Those who access child care in Title V centers are
typically enrolled in Stage 3 CalWORKs, which designated
for families who have not received cash aid for the prior
two years. Stage 3 families are not statutorily entitled to
child care subsidies; however the Legislature has continued
its practice of funding all families. Families exit Stage 3
status when their income exceeds 70 percent of the SMI or
their child ages out of the program. The current figure
that the state uses as the SMI is $42,216 for a family of
three. The quality initiatives in this bill primarily
affect families in Stage 3 CalWORKs child care.
Quality initiatives
A number of initiatives in recent years have underscored
the interest in increasing quality markers in early
childhood education. President Obama in his 2013 State of
the Union address underscored his intention to focus on
quality preschool education by investing additional
resources in federal programs and creating grants to states
that meet quality benchmarks, including state-level
standards for early learning and qualified teachers in
every preschool classroom. Other elements of the initiative
include voluntary, evidence-based home visiting programs
and the development of new, high-quality preschool programs
for 4-year-olds at or below 200 percent of the poverty
line. This bill addresses many of these elements.
Researchers over the past several decades have demonstrated
the importance of child-caregiver bonding. A September 2012
research paper urged states to consider methods to provide
more continuity of care for infants and toddlers in light
of research which demonstrates that critical attachments to
caregivers are less likely to show aggression, more likely
to be outgoing and more likely to form secure
relationships. The report noted that access to sensitive,
responsive caregiving may be particularly protective for
infants and toddlers growing up in families struggling with
poverty and life stress, as one in five children under age
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3 who live in extreme poverty are estimated to face three
or more risks to their development (National Center for
Children in Poverty, n.d.).<1> This bill would require that
children who are accepted into a child care center have the
right to that slot, regardless of whether their parents
maintain eligibility for care.
Related legislation
SB 837 (Steinberg) 2014, expands eligibility for
transitional kindergarten to all four-year olds, phased in
over a four year period beginning in the 2015-16 school
year.
AB 1902 (Bonta) 2014, among other things, eliminates the
family fee for part-day preschool.
AB 273 (Rendon) 2013, would have established the California
Partnership for Infants and Toddlers Act to provide
supplemental funding to serve infants and toddlers from
birth to three years of age. This bill died in the Assembly
Appropriations committee.
POSITIONS
Support: Advancement Project
Californians Together Coalition
Child Care Law Center
Children Now
Common Sense Media
Early Edge California
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
First 5 Fresno County
First 5 Santa Clara County
InnerCity Struggle
Jumpstart for Young Children, Inc.
Kids' Club Preschool
Los Angeles Urban League
Mission: Readiness
National Council of Jewish Women
Next Generation
Parent Institute for Quality Education
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<1>
http://www.cfs.purdue.edu/ITSI/docs/briefs/PromotingCOCInfan
tToddlerSettings.pdf
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Ready Nation/America's Edge California
Stanford University Graduate School of
Education
St. Elizabeth's Day Home, and Early
Education Organization
ZERO TO THREE Western Office
Oppose: None received.
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