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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 60th Legislature (2025)
HOUSE BILL 1979 By: Ranson
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to children; creating the Early
Childhood Task Force; providing for task force
membership; providing for election of chai r and vice-
chair; permitting the selection of honorary chair;
directing task force to provide reports; disallowing
certain members from receiving compensation or
reimbursement; permitting certain members to claim
certain expenses; requiring task force to b e subject
to the Oklahoma Open Records Act and Oklahoma Open
Meeting Act; providing that task force documents and
recommendations shall only be considered advice;
providing a vision statement; providing a mission;
providing principles the task force is to be guided
by; providing tasks for the task force; providing for
codification; and providing an effective date..
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 390 of Title 10, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. There is hereby created the Early Childhood Task Force to
study and make recommendations to improve access to and increase the
quantity of high-quality early childhood services.
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B. The task force shall be comprised of seventeen (17) members
to be appointed as follows:
1. The Secretary of Human Services, or a designee;
2. The State Commissioner of Health, or a designee;
3. The Secretary of Commerce, or a designee;
4. The Secretary of Education, or a desi gnee;
5. A representative of business selected by the State Chamber
of Oklahoma;
6. A representative of a philanthropic organization dedicated
to early childhood selected by the Director of Oklahoma Partnership
for School Readiness ;
7. A representative selected by the Director of Oklahoma Head
Start;
8. A representative selected by the Licensed Child Care
Association of Oklahoma;
9. A representative selected by the Oklahoma C hild Care
Association;
10. The Executive Director of Oklahoma Partnership for School
Readiness;
11. A representative of an early childhood advocacy
organization appointed by the Early Childhood Education Institute or
the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advo cacy;
12. An Oklahoma State Senator selected by the Pro Tempore of
the Senate;
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13. An Oklahoma State Representative selected by the Speaker of
the House of Representatives;
14. A representative of parents with young children selected by
the Oklahoma Early Childhood Program (OECP);
15. A representative responsible for programs un der Part C of
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) selected by
the State Commissioner of Health;
16. A representative from Oklahoma State University 's
Department of Human Development and Family Science selected by the
Department Head of the Department of Human Development and Family
Science; and
17. A pediatric specialist selected by the Oklahoma Chapter of
the American Academy of Pediatrics (OKAAP) .
C. The Early Childhood Task Force shall elect a chair and vice -
chair, or co-chairs, from the Task Force's membership, and the chair
or co-chairs shall establish rules for the Task Force 's meetings and
the conducting of business. Upon the absence or vacancy of the
chair, the vice-chair shall serve as chair in an acting capacity.
D. An honorary chair may be selected to serve in a ceremonial
capacity. The honorary chair shall not serve as a voting member of
the Task Force but may engage with the work of the Task For ce in an
advisory role or in a manner deemed appropriate by the chair or co -
chairs.
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E. The Task Force shall develop and submit an initial report to
the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House
of Representatives by November 202 5 and a final report by November
2025.
F. Members shall receive no compensation or reimbursement for
expenses and shall serve voluntarily. Officers or employees of
state agencies who are appointed to the Task Force as part of their
duties shall be authorized to participate on the Task Force and may
claim subsistence, allowance, mileag e, or associated expenses from
their respective agency budgets as permitted by law.
G. The Task Force shall be subject to the Oklahoma Open Records
Act and the Oklahoma Open Mee ting Act.
H. Plans, reports, or recommendations of any nature adopted by
the Task Force shall be considered advice to the Legislature and
shall not be construed as official policies, positions, or
interpretations of laws, rules, or regulations by any depa rtment or
agency of state government, nor shall any such department or agency
be bound in any manner to consider such advice when conducting their
advisory and regulatory affairs.
I. The Task Force shall be guided by the following vision
statement: Oklahoma children, especially those between zero (0) and
five (5) years of age deserve healthy childhoods that are supported
by a robust early childhood system which improves outcomes and
effectively provides high -quality early care and education, improves
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and enhances school readiness, adapts to the needs of families and
communities, and is equitably accessible to all communities across
the state.
J. The Task Force shall work towards the mission of creating a
framework for a more efficient and effective govern ance structure
for early childhood programming, such as a coordinated,
consolidated, or new independent agency.
K. The Task Force's work shall be guided by a commitment to the
following principles:
1. Children, family, and community well -being shall be centered
throughout the Early Childhood Task Force 's work;
2. Efforts shall be focused on maximizing efficiencies to
reduce the administrative burdens on families and improve access to
early childhood services through the creation of a new governance
structure;
3. Any possible consolidation of early childhood services shall
be informed by what families and communities say they want and need;
4. Access to programs and services shall be equitable and
available to all children and families regardless of soci oeconomic
status or geographic location;
5. Intentional focus shall be placed on developing strategies
to reach families and young children in care deserts or furthest
from opportunity and existing resources;
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6. Access to affordable and quality health care, nutrition,
early education and care, mental health, home visiting, early
intervention, support for families, early learning, and other
services in the critical prenatal to five (5) age period will
decisively impact academic success, economic opportunit ies, and the
prosperity of Oklahoma;
7. Efforts shall be made to use data -informed approaches and
explore better ways to develop shared data systems;
8. Work shall focus on strengthening and expanding the early
education and care delivery system already in use in Oklahoma;
9. Alignment across sectors and state agencies will increase
capacity, maximize funding, and create a more streamlined delivery
of services;
10. The importance of growing a diverse and well -supported
early childhood workforce shall re main at the forefront and be
informed by the Task Force 's work;
11. While focusing on advancing the delivery system, work shall
highlight the importance of defining quality care and expanding
capacity and access to create a greater quantity of quality
services;
12. To incentivize innovation and respond to family needs,
communities must be empowered to develop local, community -based
solutions that take a whole -child and whole-family approach in
responding to needs;
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13. To ensure holistic childhood well -being and improve health
outcomes, there must be alignment between state efforts to improve
early learning and care and existing prenatal and maternal health
initiatives; and
14. Strengthening early childhood developmental health is vital
to ensuring that children are prepared to achieve academic success
and are setup for lifelong learning.
L. The Task Force's duties shall include:
1. Conducting an analysis of the current early childhood
delivery system in Oklahoma and how it is financed with specific
focus on gaps, inefficiencies, and redundancies. This work should
focus on how creating a new governance structure for early childhood
services could overcome these challenges and improve how care is
delivered, accessed, and funded. This analysis must specif ically
include:
a. a review of current early childhood programs and
policies dispersed between the Department of Human
Services, State Department of Health, Oklahoma
Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Services, and the State Department of Educ ation. The
review should pay special attention to where current
statutory authority over certain operations exists and
where possible areas of redundancy occur,
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b. a review of how current funding systems blend and
various funding opportunities, with speci al attention
as to how funding streams are currently utilized for
early childhood programs that are housed across
departments. This fiscal review should map the routes
all private, public, federal, and state funding
streams take from funding authority to program
application,
c. a review of how Oklahoma might integrate existing
programming into a consolidated delivery system and
what needs might exist for new programming that the
state currently lacks,
d. recommendations on how cross -agency collaboration an d
partnerships can be fostered to develop a whole -of-
government approach to strengthening the delivery of
early childhood services, specifically ensuring that
data infrastructure is integrated across agencies,
account for both qualitative and quantitative methods,
and can be widely utilized by multiple state agencies,
e. recommendations on how a new governance structure
might maximize efficiencies for early childhood
providers and their workforce. This work should
determine how licensing, workforce develop ment and
support, and facility review can be improved to
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eliminate barriers to entry for providers and
professionals. This should also include a review of
current regulatory structures that complicate the
process of entering the early childhood sector,
f. recommendations on how a new governance structure can
strengthen the existing health care workforce to
better support the development of young children and
well-being of mothers through improved access to
comprehensive and preventive care. This should al so
include a review of how to secure improved health
outcomes for children, financial sustainability of
delivery models, and cultivating workforce pipelines,
g. an analysis of key lessons learned from states already
advancing consolidated systems of early childhood
governance to inform Oklahoma 's own process;
2. Conducting a series of stakeholder engagement opportunities
to elicit feedback on the current early childhood governance
structure and better understand the needs of parents, families,
providers, and businesses;
3. Following the engagement of stakeholders, the Task Force
shall conduct a review that synthesizes feedback received from
families, providers, community leaders, and the business sector.
This review shall include recommendations on how th e state delivery
system and governance model can be improved to respond to fam ily and
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community needs. It shall also include recommendations for how the
state can better engage with parents, families, and communities on a
regular basis to ensure family voice is centered in the work of
state agencies;
4. Drafting a proposed transition plan to ensure the continuous
operation of state services upon the creation of a new governance
structure for early childhood. This plan shall:
a. include detailed recommend ations for what programs and
services should remain in their current place or
transition into a new governance structure. Each
recommendation shall consider the challenges and
benefits of moving programs,
b. focus on movement between agencies and how
collaboration can be strengthened with nonexecutive
agencies. It shall also include recommendations for
any necessary interagency agreements,
c. include a review of what additional funding and
resources might be needed to transition to a new
governance structure effectively and efficiently,
d. provide recommended goals and metrics for the new
entity to strive towards once operational; and
5. Drafting proposed legislation that creates a new governance
structure that oversees Oklahoma 's early childhood educatio n and
care programs.
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SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 2025.
60-1-11164 CMA 01/11/25