Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HB51 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	By: Talarico H.B. No. 51
2	2
3	3
4	4	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
5	5	AN ACT
6	6	relating to establishing an Office of Early Childhood to
7	7	coordinate, consolidate and integrate early childhood programs.
8	8	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
9	9	SECTION 1. Chapter 1001, Health and Safety Code, is amended
10	10	by adding Subsection 1001.266 to read as follows:
11	11	Sec. 1001.266. OFFICE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD. (a) There is
12	12	hereby established an Office of Early Childhood ("the Office"). The
13	13	Office is vested with all powers and duties transferred to it under
14	14	this law and such other powers and duties as may be authorized by
15	15	law. The Office shall be within the Department of State Health
16	16	Services for administrative and budget purposes.
17	17	(b) The Office of Early Childhood shall be headed by the
18	18	Director of Early Childhood who shall be appointed within three
19	19	months of the effective date of this Act by a committee composed of
20	20	designees for the Governor, the speaker of the house of
21	21	representatives, the president of the senate, the minority leader
22	22	of the house of representatives and the minority leader of the
23	23	senate; if the Committee cannot agree on an appointee, then the
24	24	Governor shall make the appointment.
25	25	(c) The primary duties of the Office of Early Childhood are
26	26	to coordinate and integrate child care, early childhood, and early
27	27	care and learning programs in Texas in order to administer programs
28	28	and funding as efficiently as possible. The Office's duties shall
29	29	include, but are not limited to:
30	30	(i) The delivery of services to young children and
31	31	their families to ensure optimal health, safety and learning for
32	32	each young child;
33	33	(ii) Developing and implementing an early childhood
34	34	information system. Such early childhood information system shall
35	35	facilitate and encourage the sharing of data between and among
36	36	early childhood service providers by tracking:
37	37	(1) the health, safety and school readiness of
38	38	all young children receiving early care and education services from
39	39	any local or regional board of education or school readiness
40	40	program,
41	41	(2) the characteristics of the existing and
42	42	potential workforce serving such children, and
43	43	(3) the characteristics of such programs serving
44	44	such children;
45	45	(iii) Developing and reporting on the early childhood
46	46	accountability plan. Such plan shall:
47	47	(1) identify and define appropriate population
48	48	indicators and program and system performance measures of the
49	49	health, safety and readiness of children to enter kindergarten, and
50	50	early school success of children, and shall identify any new or
51	51	improved data required for such purposes; and
52	52	(2) include aggregate information on the
53	53	characteristics of children and programs tracked by the early
54	54	childhood information system established by subsection (c, ii) of
55	55	this act;
56	56	(3) the characteristics of such programs serving
57	57	such children;
58	58	(iv) Implementing a communications strategy for
59	59	outreach to families, service providers and policymakers;
60	60	(v) Not later than 6 months from the effective date of
61	61	this act, beginning a state-wide longitudinal evaluation of the
62	62	school readiness program examining the educational progress of
63	63	children from prekindergarten programs through grade four;
64	64	(vi) Developing, coordinating and supporting public
65	65	and private partnerships to aid early childhood initiatives;
66	66	(vii) Developing and implementing a state-wide
67	67	developmentally appropriate kindergarten assessment tool that
68	68	measures a child's level of preparedness for kindergarten, but
69	69	shall not be used as a measurement tool for program accountability;
70	70	(viii) Creating a unified set of reporting
71	71	requirements for the purpose of collecting the data elements
72	72	necessary to perform quality assessments and longitudinal
73	73	analysis;
74	74	(ix) Comparing and analyzing data collected pursuant
75	75	to reporting requirements created under subdivision (viii) of this
76	76	subsection with the data collected in state-wide public school
77	77	information systems to enable population-level analysis of
78	78	children and families and the impacts of supported programs;
79	79	(x) Continually monitoring and evaluating all early
80	80	care and education and child development programs and services,
81	81	focusing on program outcomes in satisfying the health, safety,
82	82	developmental and educational needs of all children, while
83	83	retaining distinct separation between quality improvement services
84	84	and child day care licensing services;
85	85	(xi) Coordinating home visitation services across
86	86	programs for young children;
87	87	(xii) Providing information and technical assistance
88	88	to persons seeking early care and education and child development
89	89	programs and services;
90	90	(xiii) Assisting state agencies and municipalities in
91	91	obtaining federal funding for early care and education and child
92	92	development programs and services, including to maximize federal
93	93	dollars coming into Texas for federally-funded meals, home
94	94	visiting, and other early childhood programs;
95	95	(xiv) Providing technical assistance to providers of
96	96	early care and education programs and services to obtain licensing
97	97	and improve program quality;
98	98	(xv) Establishing a quality rating and improvement
99	99	system that covers home-based, center-based and school-based early
100	100	child care and day care;
101	101	(xvi) Maintaining an accreditation facilitation
102	102	initiative to assist early childhood care and education and day
103	103	care program and service providers in achieving national standards
104	104	and program improvement;
105	105	(xvii) Managing early childhood care and education and
106	106	day care licensing to the extent such is under state jurisdiction;
107	107	(xviii) Ensuring a coordinated and comprehensive
108	108	statewide system of professional development for providers and
109	109	staff of early childhood care and education, child development, and
110	110	day care programs and services;
111	111	(xix) Developing early learning and development
112	112	standards to be used by early childhood care and education and day
113	113	care providers; and
114	114	(xx) Providing families with opportunities for choice
115	115	in services including quality child care and community-based
116	116	family-centered services;
117	117	(xxi) Integrating early childhood care and education
118	118	and special education services;
119	119	(xxii) Promoting universal access to early childhood
120	120	care and education; and
121	121	(xxiii) Performing any other activities that will
122	122	assist in the provision of early care and education and child
123	123	development programs and services.
124	124	(d) The Director of Early Childhood shall be responsible for
125	125	implementing the policies and directives of the Office of Early
126	126	Childhood. The director may seek and shall be entitled to receive
127	127	from other state agencies such assistance as may be required to
128	128	perform such director's duties pursuant to this subsection.
129	129	(i) The Director may appoint such officers, employees,
130	130	agents and consultants as he or she may deem necessary.
131	131	(ii) To the extent practicable, the Director shall
132	132	appoint the officers, employees, agents and consultants for the
133	133	office of early childhood, from among the existing officers and
134	134	employees of existing agencies and departments currently housing
135	135	early childhood programs, as supervision for those programs is
136	136	moved into the Office of Early Childhood.
137	137	SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
138	138	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
139	139	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
140	140	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
141	141	Act takes effect September 1, 2021.