ENROLLED
ACT No. 223
2019 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 395
BY REPRESENTATIVES STEVE CARTER, BAGNERIS, BILLIOT, TERRY BROWN,
CARMODY, CARPENTER, COX, DUPLESSIS, GLOVER, JIMMY HARRIS,
HILFERTY, HILL, HOFFMANN, JACKSON, JAMES, JEFFERSON, JENKINS,
JORDAN, LEBAS, LEGER, LYONS, MARCELLE, MOORE, NORTON, SMITH,
STAGNI, STOKES, AND THOMAS
1 AN ACT
2 To amend and reenact R.S. 17:407.30(D) and (E), relative to funding for early childhood
3 education; to provide relative to the Louisiana Early Childhood Education Fund; to
4 provide relative to the use of money in the fund; and to provide for related matters.
5 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
6 Section 1. R.S. 17:407.30(D) and (E) are hereby amended and reenacted to read as
7 follows:
8 ยง407.30. Louisiana Early Childhood Education Fund
9 * * *
10 D.(1)(a) The fund shall be administered by the State Board of Elementary
11 and Secondary Education. Subject to legislative appropriation, Monies monies in the
12 fund shall be awarded annually to local entities approved by the board for the
13 purpose of funding projects that will expand the number of early childhood care and
14 education quality slots for families who are eligible for through the Child Care
15 Assistance Program in Type III early learning centers that have at least one
16 classroom with children age fifteen months or younger if a local entity provides
17 funds from nonstate and nonfederal sources. No such award shall be made unless
18 the local entity's financial commitment to the project proposed for funding provides
19 matching funds from nonstate and nonfederal sources at a rate of at least two to one
20 one-to-one.
21 (b) Each local entity shall establish eligibility criteria for the early childhood
22 care and education quality slots financed by local funds that serve as the match for
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1 the award. At a minimum, only children whose family income makes them
2 economically disadvantaged as defined by the board shall be eligible for the slots.
3 (2) If there is money in the fund after the board has funded every qualifying
4 project pursuant to Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, the board may award remaining
5 unallocated monies in the fund for the exclusive use of Type III early learning
6 centers to provide quality care for children who are ages birth through two and
7 whose parents are eligible for the Child Care Assistance Program. The board shall
8 consider the following in selecting the recipients of such an award: the Child Care
9 Assistance Program waitlist, child poverty rates, child care needs in terms of the
10 economic development needs of the parish where the center is located, and
11 increasing the availability of high quality early learning centers statewide.
12 E. If a local entity provides funding for the purpose of providing early
13 childhood care and education, the board may award additional funding in accordance
14 with the Child Care Assistance Program in the jurisdiction of the local entity. Any
15 such award shall not exceed fifty percent of the nonstate funds. Monies from the
16 fund shall not be used to displace, replace, or supplant the amount appropriated to
17 the Child Care Assistance Program.
18 * * *
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
APPROVED:
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CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions.