California Senate Bill SB1123 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: SB 1123AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 26, 2014 INTRODUCED BY Senator Liu FEBRUARY 19, 2014 An act to  amend Section 8239 of the Education Code,  relating to child care and development. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1123, as amended, Liu. Child care and development:  California Strong Start program.   Ca   lifornia State Preschool Program: part-day preschool: fees.   Under existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act is enacted for, among other purposes, the purpose of providing a 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. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer all California state preschool programs. Existing law requires those programs to include, but not be limited to, part-day age and developmentally appropriate programs designed to facilitate the transition to kindergarten for 3- and 4- year-old children in educational development, health services, social services, nutritional services, parent education and parent participation, evaluation, and staff development.   Existing law requires fees to be assessed and collected for families with children in part-day preschool programs.   This bill would eliminate the requirement for families to be assessed these fees for part-day preschool programs and would make a conforming change.   The Child Care and Development Services Act requires the State Department of Education to be the single state agency responsible for the promotion, development, and provision of care of children in the absence of their parents during the workday or while engaged in activities that require assistance of a third party. The act requires the department to develop prekindergarten learning development guidelines. The act requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop standards for the implementation of quality programs.   This bill would state that it is the Legislature's intent to enact legislation that would establish the California Strong Start program by redesigning the General Child Care Program for infants and toddlers into a comprehensive, evidence-based, locally controlled program, in order to improve the healthy development and school readiness of California's most vulnerable children.  Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no   yes  . State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (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. 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 a greater risk for a variety of poorer outcomes and vulnerabilities, such as later school failure, learning disabilities, behavior problems, developmental delay, and health impairments. (b) Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer child care and development programs, including the General Child Care and Development Program that provides services to eligible low-income children from birth to 13 years of age. For children birth to three years of age, the General Child Care Program funds centers and family child care home networks to provide full-day, full year child care and development services that meet the State Department of Education's Infant/Toddler Learning and Development Foundations. (c) The federal Early Head Start program serves low-income infants and toddlers with a flexible program model intended to meet the varied needs of families, including child care and development services, family engagement and support, home visitation services, and health services. Research shows that children who participated in Early Head Start had significantly larger vocabularies and scored higher on standardized measures of cognitive development, and that children and parents had more positive interactions, and parents provided more support for learning. Many different home visiting programs have been shown to significantly reduce the occurrence of child maltreatment and abuse, and improve children's health and school success.  SEC. 2.   Section 8239 of the   Education Code   is amended to read:  8239. The Superintendent shall encourage state preschool program applicants or contracting agencies to offer full-day services through a combination of part-day preschool slots and wraparound general child care and development programs. In order to facilitate a full-day of services, all of the following shall apply: (a) Part-day preschool programs provided pursuant to this section shall operate between 175 and 180 days. (b) Wraparound general child care and development programs provided pursuant to this section may operate a minimum of 246 days per year unless the child development contract specified a lower minimum days of operation. Part-day general child care and development programs may operate a full-day for the remainder of the year after the completion of the preschool program. (c) Part-day preschool services combined with wraparound child care services shall be reimbursed at no more than the full-day standard reimbursement rate for general child care programs with adjustment factors, pursuant to Section 8265 and as determined in the annual Budget Act. (d) Three- and four-year-old children are eligible for wraparound child care services to supplement the part-day California state preschool program if the family meets at least one of the criteria specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 8263, and the parents meet at least one of the criteria specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 8263. (e) Fees shall be assessed and collected for families  with children in part-day preschool programs, or families  receiving wraparound child care services  , or both,  pursuant to Article 11.5 (commencing with Section 8273). (f) The Superintendent shall annually report to the Department of Finance, on or before October 1 of each year, the fees collected from families who have children enrolled in the California state preschool program.  The report shall distinguish between family fees collected for part-day preschool programs and fees collected for wraparound child care services.  (g) For purposes of this section, "wraparound child care services" and "wraparound general child care and development programs" mean services provided for the remaining portion of the day or remainder of the year following the completion of part-day preschool services that are necessary to meet the child care needs of parents eligible pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 8263. These services shall be provided consistent with the general child care and development programs provided pursuant to Article 8 (commencing with Section 8240).  SEC. 2.   It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would establish the California Strong Start program by redesigning the General Child Care Program for infants and toddlers into a comprehensive, evidence-based, locally controlled program, in order to improve the healthy development and school readiness of California's most vulnerable children.