BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1123
Page A
Date of Hearing: June 17, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Mark Stone, Chair
SB 1123 (Liu) - As Amended: May 27, 2014
SENATE VOTE : 25-11
SUBJECT : Child Care and Development Services
SUMMARY : Makes numerous substantial changes to Title 5 Child
Care Programs, including recasting and revising child care
services for children ages 0-3 as "Strong Start" services and
requires all child care programs to employ at least one teacher
per classroom by July 1, 2019. Specifically, this bill :
1)Increases 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 by
July 1, 2019.
2)Provides that general child care services for infants and
toddlers is to be known as California Strong Start services,
and requires services for children from birth to age three to
include but not be limited to:
a) Parent engagement and support services that promote
positive parent-child relationships.
b) Full-day early learning and care services;
c) Part-day early learning and care services;
d) Voluntary home visitation services;
e) Nutrition services; and
f) Referrals to services such as health and dental care,
child abuse prevention, housing, and early childhood mental
health.
3)Requires the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI)
to develop standards, rules, and regulations for the
implementation of high-quality, evidence-based infant-toddler
SB 1123
Page B
services based on, but not limited to, the federal Early Head
Start model, as specified.
4)Requires child care and development providers to have at least
one teacher in each classroom that holds at a minimum a child
development teacher permit issued by the Commission on Teacher
Credentialing (CTC) by July 1, 2019.
5)Requires the CTC, by July 1, 2017, to review and amend the
Child Development Permit Matrix to include specified
requirements.
6)Renders children whose family qualifies for free and reduced
priced meals, CalFresh, or Medi-Cal income eligible for State
Preschool.
7)Requires a family engagement supplemental grant to be
available to qualifying service providers, as determined by
the SSPI, at a rate of $1,000 per eligible child.
8)Requires a voluntary home visitation supplemental grant to be
available to qualifying service providers, as determined by
the SSPI, which shall include a rate of $2,500 per child for
those who receive full-day early learning and care services,
and a rate of $6,000 per child for those who receive part-day
early learning and care services.
9)Authorizes a countywide or regional consortium of providers,
with a lead grantee agency that is a First 5 commission,
county office of education, or other local public agency, to
apply to the SSPI for a countywide or regional grant for the
total amount of eligible children, as specified.
10)Requires the SSPI to distribute family engagement and
voluntary home visitation supplemental grants to provide
evidence-based parent training services, and evidence-based
voluntary home visitation services, as specified.
11)Modifies priority for State Preschool relative to four-year
olds to specify that priority is for four-year olds who are
not enrolled in transitional kindergarten (TK), and deletes
the requirement that State Preschool programs operating with
carryover funds have at least half of their enrollment be
children who are four years old, as specified.
SB 1123
Page C
12)Sunsets existing staff ratios on July 1, 2019, and as of that
date establishes new minimum ratios and group sizes, as
specified. This bill exempts family child care home education
networks from these ratios.
13)Deems a child who is enrolled in a state or federally funded
child care and development program eligible for the remainder
of the program year.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes the California Child Care and Development Services
Act (CCDSA) to provide a comprehensive, community-based,
coordinated, and cost-effective system of child care and
development services for children from birth to age 13 with
the purpose of enhancing the social, emotional, physical, and
intellectual development of children. (EDC 8200 and 8201)
2)States the intent of the Legislature that all families have
access to child care and development services, regardless of
their demographic background, in order to help them attain
financial stability through employment, while maximizing
growth and development of their children, and enhancing their
parenting skills through participation in child care and
development programs. (EDC 8202)
3)Defines child care and development services as care and
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. (EDC 8208(i))
4)Establishes the state preschool program, administered by the
SPPI, to include, part-day age and developmentally appropriate
programs designed to facilitate the transition to kindergarten
for children three and four years of age, 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)
5)Establishes general child care and development programs,
administered by the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
include age and developmentally appropriate (center-based)
SB 1123
Page D
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)
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)Standards, rules, and regulations: $250,000 - $400,000
(General Fund) for the California Department of Education
(CDE) to develop standards and promulgate regulations for the
new child care program requirements under the California
Strong Start Program, categorical eligibility, phase-in
implementation of staffing ratios, continuity of care
provisions, and caregiver guidance. Costs will partially
depend on how controversial and lengthy the regulations
process is. The CDE will likely also need to provide
increased technical assistance, at least during the initial
years of transition.
2)Staffing ratios: Increased annual costs in the millions of
dollars, depending on child care staff salaries/wages.
3)12-month eligibility: Changing from a system of frequent
reporting-based eligibility determinations to a12-month
eligibility will likely increase CalWORKs Stage 2 and Stage 3
costs by $11 million - $12 million, due to decreased
attrition. State and local administrative workload will also
be reduced.
4)Home visitation supplemental grants: Subject to a Budget
appropriation, annual grant costs will likely be in the tens
of millions of dollars, depending on the individual grant
amount. $100,000 in one-time costs to the CDE to establish the
program.
5)Parent engagement supplemental grants: Subject to a Budget
appropriation, annual grant costs will likely be in the
millions of dollars, depending on the individual grant amount.
$100,000 in one-time costs to the CDE, and $50,000 in ongoing
annual costs for program administration.
6)CTC: Likely minor costs to the CTC to review and amend the
Child Development Permit Matrix, as specified.
SB 1123
Page E
COMMENTS :
Background : There are generally two types of child development
providers in the state; commonly referred to as either Title 22
or Title 5 programs. Title 22 refers to Division 2 of Title 22
of the California Code of Regulations (CCR), which is governed
by the Department of Social Services (DSS) and Title 5 refers to
Divisions 19 and 19.5 of the CCR, which is governed by the CDE.
Title 22 establishes general health and safety requirements,
staff to child ratios, and basic provider training
qualifications. In order for any person to operate a child
development program, the program must first become a licensed
provider under Title 22. Title 22 providers set their own rates
and may voluntarily accept child development subsidy vouchers,
along with statutorily established family fees, provided through
the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids
(CalWORKs) program or other state-funded child care subsidy
programs.
Voucher rates are set by the Regional Market Rate (RMR), which
is generally intended to reflect the true regional cost of care
in the private child care market. However, as established by AB
1497 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 29, Statutes of 2012, which
was the 2012-13 education budget trailer bill, the RMR is
currently set at the 85th percentile of the 2005 RMR Survey.
According to DSS, as of June 2, 2014, there were approximately
46,915 child care agencies with a licensed capacity to serve up
to 1,090,058 children in California.
Title 5 governs the state's subsidized child development
programs, which are overseen by the CDE. These programs must be
licensed by DSS under Title 22 regulations and meet higher
quality standards established under Title 5 regulations. These
requirements include:
1)A developmentally and age-appropriate educational program for
enrolled children;
2)Staff development opportunities to improve program quality;
3)Parental involvement and education, including a parent survey;
4)Nutritional standards that comply with federal child nutrition
SB 1123
Page F
program requirements, such as the National School Lunch
Program;
5)A health and social services component to identify and refer
eligible children and their families to community or public
health and social services, such as CalFresh;
6)A self-evaluation process to continually improve and enhance
their program; and
7)An environment rating scale that measures education quality,
parental involvement, and staff development and education.
It is important to note that Title 5 programs, as a condition of
being contracted with the CDE, must accept and serve needy
children eligible for subsidies. Title 5 programs are funded
through the receipt of the Standard Reimbursement Rate (SRR)
based upon the number of children enrolled and the number of
hours of care, and statutorily established family fees. Whereas
a Title 22 program accepting a voucher would be reimbursed by
the RMR, which is generally higher than the SRR because of its
association with the regional private provider market, a Title 5
program is reimbursed using the SRR.
The SRR is statutorily set and is supposed to be increased
annually with a cost of living adjustment (COLA), however, a
COLA has not been provided since the 2007-08 fiscal year. The
SRR currently stands at $34.38 for one full-day of enrolled
care, which is defined by regulation as six and one half hours
of care. There are "adjustment factors" that are applied to the
SRR to reflect the increased cost of care for the varying ages
and needs of children, e.g., infants and toddlers, special
needs, etc. However, they too have not changed since their
establishment in AB 2311 (Chu), Chapter 435, Statutes of 2002.
Title 5 programs earn their SRR reimbursement based upon child
days of enrollment, meaning they are reimbursed at the rate of
$34.38 per day for each day the needy or eligible child receives
care. This creates challenges for Title 5 programs, as they
budget based upon the total number of days and children they
anticipate having to serve in a fiscal year. Add to this the
uncertainty of a child's regular and continuous enrollment, a
family being deemed no longer eligible or in need of care, and
fluctuating statewide budgets, it becomes a formidable challenge
for a Title 5 program to fully earn its contract's maximum
SB 1123
Page G
reimbursable amount (MRA). The goal set by the CDE for Title 5
programs is to annually earn no less than 98% of their MRA.
According to the CDE, as of the 2009-10 fiscal year, there were
approximately 1,420 service contracts with nearly 770 public and
private agencies supporting and providing services to 489,200
children. Title 5 providers contract with the CDE and include
school districts, county offices of education, cities, local
park and recreation districts, county welfare departments, other
public entities, community-based organizations, and private
agencies.
Supply and demand : In 1997, the state developed a nine county
pilot program to consolidate waiting lists for subsidized child
care programs to better organize and prioritize enrollment of
eligible and needy children. This nine-county pilot was
expanded statewide and made permanent in 2005. Referred to as
the Centralized Eligibility List (CEL), it not only became a
valuable tool to help prioritize enrollment based upon
eligibility and need, it also helped to demonstrate the need for
subsidized child care and funding county-by-county and
statewide.
The state annually appropriated $7.9 million to operate all 58
county CELs and the statewide CEL. Unfortunately, due to the
ongoing budget deficit at the time, funding for CEL was
eliminated in the Budget Act of 2011 (Senate Bill 87, Chapter
33). At the time of its elimination, there were approximately
240,000 eligible and needy children waiting for a subsidized
child care slot to open. Since then, some counties have pursued
maintaining their own CEL with existing local funds, but it
remains difficult to accurately estimate the total number of
needy and eligible families and children waiting for subsidized
child care.
However, using the number of eligible and needy children who
were on the statewide CEL in 2011, and taking into account the
nearly $700 million, or 42% of subsidized child care funding
that has been cut from the budget over the past five years, it
is not unreasonable to estimate that the number of eligible and
needy children waiting for subsidized child care could be around
300,000 children statewide.
Need for the bill : Stating the need for the bill, the author
writes:
SB 1123
Page H
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. During
these first 36 months, children need good health, strong
families, and positive early learning experiences to lay
the foundation for later school success. Low income
infants and toddlers are at greater risk for a variety of
poorer outcomes and vulnerabilities, such as later school
failure, learning disabilities, behavior problems,
developmental delay, and health impairments.
[This bill] increases access to infant and toddler care,
family support services, and full day state preschool
services by streamlining eligibility processes and creating
hove visiting and parent engagement grants. It also
provides providers with choices that enable greater funding
flexibility and allow services to be tailored to fit
community needs.
Taking a "support if amended" position, the Child Care Law
Center writes:
(The) Child Care Law Center recognizes the need for
improvement in child care quality, health, and safety. As
funding cuts, however, are a major driver of California's
child care quality woes, unfunded, increased quality
standards alone seem a poor remedy for them. The SRR for
Children Child Care programs do not support providers'
absorption of quality improvement costs through increased
staff ratio and teacher training requirements. (The) Child
Care Law Center respectfully urges amendment of [this bill]
to ensure that increased staff ration and training
requirements become effective only provided the State
Budget Act updates the SRR to reflect current market data,
and repeals statutory provisions in the 2012-13 budget
trailer bill that state that "Notwithstanding any other
law, child care and development programs shall not receive
a cost of living adjustment (COLA in the 2012-13, 2013-14,
and 2014-15 fiscal years."
In addition, we urge the Legislature to explicitly
recognize that many families are unable to make use of
child care and early learning programs in contracted
centers and family child care home education networks. The
SB 1123
Page I
current need for family child care homes and license-exempt
care is immense, especially for low-wage workers with
variable schedules. A multi-state study found that only
twenty-two percent of child care arrangements for working
mothers in restaurants used center based care, with
sixty-two percent using some form of home or informal
care.<1> Only two percent of licensed child care centers
and forty-one percent of family child care homes in
Sacramento County offer weekend, overnight, and evening
care.<2> Home visitation and family engagement programs
cannot substitute for families' basic struggle to find
safe, nurturing care for their own children while working
non-traditional or variable schedules. Legislation that
improves child care access and quality only through
contracted facilities is going to miss many of California's
most vulnerable infants and toddlers.
Staff comments : This bill is one of several measures, including
the state budget, which aims to increase the quality of the
state's early care and education programs, and expand access to
Preschool through the modification of income and needs based
eligibility requirements and some additional funding through the
state budget. Although laudable, the bill raises concerns as to
its impact on the accessibility and financial stability of the
state's subsidized early care and education system.
Recently, the Legislature adopted the 2014-15 state budget,
which includes an estimated additional $70 million for the
state's early care and education system. This is a good step
forward in recovering the nearly $700 million in cuts the system
has endured during the "Great Recession." Of its many
highlights, the state budget declares legislative intent to
provide all low-income four-year-old children from working
families with full-day, full-year early education and child care
services, increases the SRR for General Child Care and state
---------------------------
<1> Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, et al, "The Third
Shift: Child Care Needs and Access for Working Mothers in
Restaurants, New York, NY: Restaurant Opportunities Centers
United, Jul. 9 2013.
http://rocunited.org/files/2013/07/ChildCare-Report-Final.pdf
<2> Sacramento County Child Care and Development Planning
Council. "Promoting Excellence in Child Care & Education" -
2012, page 22.
http://www.sac-lpc.org/pdfs/Child%20Care%Plan%202012-2017/LPC%20P
LAN_Chapter_3.pdf
SB 1123
Page J
preschool providers by 5%, and increases the RMR by basing rates
on the 85th percentile of the 2009 survey, minus 13%. It is
estimated that this should amount to a rate increase of 9% on
average. However, unfortunately, these increases do not make
existing state contracted early care and education providers
whole, especially those that serve children aged zero to three.
It is important to note the impact that CalWORKs child care
vouchers have on early care and education programs, i.e. Title 5
centers and the low-income and otherwise underrepresented and
underprivileged communities they benefit. Because Title 5
programs are required to accept CalWORKs child care vouchers,
many programs that could not otherwise afford to operate in
low-income communities can now afford to operate. Conversely,
without the financial support provided by the voucher, many
families would not be able to afford child care. As a result, a
significant portion of the state's early care and education
system now exists in communities and benefit the children who
need it the most.
Under the bill, early care and education programs will be
required to hire a credential teacher who has a child
development permit by July 1, 2019. It also provides a
requirement that has the potential of establishing a tiered
early care and education system by creating separate staffing
ratio requirements for those programs with or without a
credentialed teacher in each classroom. This is problematic for
two reasons. First, it would create a financial disincentive for
programs to not hire a credentialed teacher. Second, without
additional funding and support for programs that operate in
low-income, underrepresented, and underprivileged areas, it
would leave these programs struggling to hire a credentialed
teacher.
It is also unclear how the bill's language can achieve the
requirement that each early care and education program have one
credentialed teacher per classroom while also meeting separate
teacher-to-child and adult-to-child ratio requirements. Current
law already allows programs to have either adults or teachers in
classrooms with varying staff-to-child ratio requirements.
However, this bill would mandate that each program have a
credentialed teacher in each classroom. Specifically,
commencing with the 2019-20 school year, the bill generally
maintains current child-to-adult ratio requirements for Title 5
programs, but provides increased child-to-teacher ratio
SB 1123
Page K
requirements. When considered together, the requirements create
ambiguity around the staffing ratio requirements with which a
program should comply; having a teacher in each classroom or an
adult.
This bill is ambitious and is reflective of the trajectory the
state needs to follow in improving the quality of its early care
and education system. However, when taken in totality, without
additional funding, and if adopted into law, this measure could
place substantial and additional costs on early care and
education program providers who are already struggling to keep
their program fiscally stable and operating within current
requirements. Although this committee does not normally take
into consideration fiscal factors, the fiscal impact has a
direct correlation with the ability of the state's early care
and education system to maintain access to eligible children and
their families, especially those who are participating in and
receiving child care vouchers through CalWORKs.
Further complicating matters is this bill's interaction with SB
192 (Liu), SB 837 (Steinberg), and the education budget trailer
bill SB 858 (Committee on Budget). SB 192 recasts and revises
the how the state's early care and education system is
referenced in statute; essentially rebranding the states
existing general child care, family child care, and preschool
programs as "early learning and educational support services"
programs. In its current form SB 837 (Steinberg) seeks to
establish and then provide universal access to pre-kindergarten
programs for all eligible four-year-old children in California.
At the time this analysis was written, it was unclear whether SB
837 would be pursued. Lastly, 2014-15 budget trailer bill
language states the Legislature's intent to provide all
low-income four-year-old children with full-day, full-year early
education and child care services. However, there is no funding
provided in the budget to meet that intent.
POLICY CONSIDERATIONS
The bill proposes to adjust staff-to-child ratios for all age
ranges, including collapsing ratios for children between the
ages of five and 13 into one staff-to-child ratio requirement.
Current law provides separate staffing ratio requirements in
roughly three year increments for children between the ages of
five and 13 years of age. Recognizing that the developmental
needs of children change substantially during that time, should
SB 1123
Page L
the committee choose to pass this measure, it should encourage
the author to work closely with the CDE and stakeholders to
determine whether it is necessary to collapse the ratio
requirements or whether a more stratified ratio requirement
would be appropriate based upon the developmental needs of
children based upon age.
Additionally, at the time this analysis was published the
Legislature had just adopted SB 858 and SB 192, and SB 837 had
not yet been heard by the Assembly Education Committee. Should
the committee choose to pass this measure, it should encourage
the author to resolve any irregularities or policy areas that
are out of alignment with the corresponding measures.
RECOMMENDED AMENDMENTS
Amendment #1
When taken into consideration with past budget cuts and the fact
that the state has just begun to recover from the "Great
Recession," without additional funding to support the
requirement of a teacher in every early care and program
classroom, it will likely have the opposite of its intended
impact; fewer programs able to meet statutory requirements and
thus fewer programs to serve children who need these services
the most.
Specifically, committee staff recommends that the mandatory
requirement that there be one credential teacher in each early
care and education classroom should be made contingent upon
funding being made available in the budget for that purpose.
Amendment #2
At the request of the author, make amendments to do the
following:
1)Clarify that TK eligible four-year old children are deemed
eligible for wraparound services, as specified.
2)Make the family engagement and home visitation supplemental
grants contingent upon a budget appropriation.
3)Clarify that the CTC amend Child Development Permit
requirements to include six units of infant and toddler
development, rather than require that each credentialed
SB 1123
Page M
teacher obtain the certificate with the additional six units.
2013-14 RELATED LEGISLATION
SB 192 (Liu), 2014, reorganizes and renames the CCDSA as the
Early Learning and Educational Support Act, and requires the
SSPI to develop standards for the implementation of high-quality
early learning and educational support programs, including, but
not limited to, program activities and services that meet the
needs of children with exceptional needs and diverse abilities.
Also requires certain information to be given to parents who
receive services from resource and referral programs and
alternative payment programs.
SB 837 (Steinberg), 2014, establishes the California
Pre-Kindergarten Program (CPKP), with specific requirements for
local education agencies to provide certain programming, and to
meet quality standards, which would be required to target
low-income and English learner four-year-olds, and specifies
eligibility requirements, and requires the expansion to be
funded annually by the Legislature.
SB 858 (Committee on Budget), 2014, is the education budget
trailer bill for the 2014-15 budget, which, among other things
declares legislative intent to provide all low-income
four-year-old children from working families with full-day,
full-year early education and child care services, creates a
block grant program to support local consortia efforts to
develop early learning quality rating and improvement systems,
sets income eligibility limits for early childhood education
programs at 70% at the state median income that was in use in
2007-08, increases the SRR for General Child Care and state
preschool providers by 5%, and increases the RMR by 9% on
average.
DOUBLE REFERRAL . This bill has been double-referred. Should
this bill pass out of this committee, it will be referred to the
Assembly Committee on Education.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Advancement Project
Alameda County Superintendent of Schools
SB 1123
Page N
American Academy of Pediatrics, California
Bay Area First 5
Californians Together
Child Abuse Prevention Center (CAP Center)
Common Sense Media
Early Edge California (sponsor)
East Bay Community Foundation
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
First Five Fresno County
First Five Santa Clara
First Five Solano Children and Families Commission
Inner City Struggle
Kids' Club Preschool
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles Urban League
Mission Readiness
National Council of Jewish Women
Next Generation
Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE)
Ready Nation/America's Edge California
Santa Barbara County Child Care Planning Council
Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE)
St Elizabeth's Day Home, and Early Education Organization
Stanford University Graduate School of Education
State Public Affairs Committee (SPAC
State Public Affairs Committee if Jr. Leagues of CA
ZERO TO THREE Western Office
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Chris Reefe / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089