By: Talarico H.B. No. 51
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to establishing an Office of Early Childhood to
coordinate, consolidate and integrate early childhood programs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 1001, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Subsection 1001.266 to read as follows:
Sec. 1001.266. OFFICE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD. (a) There is
hereby established an Office of Early Childhood ("the Office"). The
Office is vested with all powers and duties transferred to it under
this law and such other powers and duties as may be authorized by
law. The Office shall be within the Department of State Health
Services for administrative and budget purposes.
(b) The Office of Early Childhood shall be headed by the
Director of Early Childhood who shall be appointed within three
months of the effective date of this Act by a committee composed of
designees for the Governor, the speaker of the house of
representatives, the president of the senate, the minority leader
of the house of representatives and the minority leader of the
senate; if the Committee cannot agree on an appointee, then the
Governor shall make the appointment.
(c) The primary duties of the Office of Early Childhood are
to coordinate and integrate child care, early childhood, and early
care and learning programs in Texas in order to administer programs
and funding as efficiently as possible. The Office's duties shall
include, but are not limited to:
(i) The delivery of services to young children and
their families to ensure optimal health, safety and learning for
each young child;
(ii) Developing and implementing an early childhood
information system. Such early childhood information system shall
facilitate and encourage the sharing of data between and among
early childhood service providers by tracking:
(1) the health, safety and school readiness of
all young children receiving early care and education services from
any local or regional board of education or school readiness
program,
(2) the characteristics of the existing and
potential workforce serving such children, and
(3) the characteristics of such programs serving
such children;
(iii) Developing and reporting on the early childhood
accountability plan. Such plan shall:
(1) identify and define appropriate population
indicators and program and system performance measures of the
health, safety and readiness of children to enter kindergarten, and
early school success of children, and shall identify any new or
improved data required for such purposes; and
(2) include aggregate information on the
characteristics of children and programs tracked by the early
childhood information system established by subsection (c, ii) of
this act;
(3) the characteristics of such programs serving
such children;
(iv) Implementing a communications strategy for
outreach to families, service providers and policymakers;
(v) Not later than 6 months from the effective date of
this act, beginning a state-wide longitudinal evaluation of the
school readiness program examining the educational progress of
children from prekindergarten programs through grade four;
(vi) Developing, coordinating and supporting public
and private partnerships to aid early childhood initiatives;
(vii) Developing and implementing a state-wide
developmentally appropriate kindergarten assessment tool that
measures a child's level of preparedness for kindergarten, but
shall not be used as a measurement tool for program accountability;
(viii) Creating a unified set of reporting
requirements for the purpose of collecting the data elements
necessary to perform quality assessments and longitudinal
analysis;
(ix) Comparing and analyzing data collected pursuant
to reporting requirements created under subdivision (viii) of this
subsection with the data collected in state-wide public school
information systems to enable population-level analysis of
children and families and the impacts of supported programs;
(x) Continually monitoring and evaluating all early
care and education and child development programs and services,
focusing on program outcomes in satisfying the health, safety,
developmental and educational needs of all children, while
retaining distinct separation between quality improvement services
and child day care licensing services;
(xi) Coordinating home visitation services across
programs for young children;
(xii) Providing information and technical assistance
to persons seeking early care and education and child development
programs and services;
(xiii) Assisting state agencies and municipalities in
obtaining federal funding for early care and education and child
development programs and services, including to maximize federal
dollars coming into Texas for federally-funded meals, home
visiting, and other early childhood programs;
(xiv) Providing technical assistance to providers of
early care and education programs and services to obtain licensing
and improve program quality;
(xv) Establishing a quality rating and improvement
system that covers home-based, center-based and school-based early
child care and day care;
(xvi) Maintaining an accreditation facilitation
initiative to assist early childhood care and education and day
care program and service providers in achieving national standards
and program improvement;
(xvii) Managing early childhood care and education and
day care licensing to the extent such is under state jurisdiction;
(xviii) Ensuring a coordinated and comprehensive
statewide system of professional development for providers and
staff of early childhood care and education, child development, and
day care programs and services;
(xix) Developing early learning and development
standards to be used by early childhood care and education and day
care providers; and
(xx) Providing families with opportunities for choice
in services including quality child care and community-based
family-centered services;
(xxi) Integrating early childhood care and education
and special education services;
(xxii) Promoting universal access to early childhood
care and education; and
(xxiii) Performing any other activities that will
assist in the provision of early care and education and child
development programs and services.
(d) The Director of Early Childhood shall be responsible for
implementing the policies and directives of the Office of Early
Childhood. The director may seek and shall be entitled to receive
from other state agencies such assistance as may be required to
perform such director's duties pursuant to this subsection.
(i) The Director may appoint such officers, employees,
agents and consultants as he or she may deem necessary.
(ii) To the extent practicable, the Director shall
appoint the officers, employees, agents and consultants for the
office of early childhood, from among the existing officers and
employees of existing agencies and departments currently housing
early childhood programs, as supervision for those programs is
moved into the Office of Early Childhood.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2021.