Texas 2023 - 88th Regular

Texas House Bill HB62 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

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1	1	By: Talarico H.B. No. 62
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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").
13	13	The Office is vested with all powers and duties transferred to it
14	14	under this law and such other powers and duties as may be authorized
15	15	by law. The Office shall be within the Department of Health and
16	16	Human 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 their
31	31	families to ensure optimal health, safety and learning for each
32	32	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 all young
38	38	children receiving early care and education services from any local
39	39	or regional board of education or school readiness program,
40	40	(2) the characteristics of the existing and potential
41	41	workforce serving such children, and
42	42	(3) the characteristics of such programs serving such
43	43	children;
44	44	(iii) Developing and reporting on the early childhood
45	45	accountability plan. Such plan shall:
46	46	(1) identify and define appropriate population indicators
47	47	and program and system performance measures of the health, safety
48	48	and readiness of children to enter kindergarten, and early school
49	49	success of children, and shall identify any new or improved data
50	50	required for such purposes; and
51	51	(2) include aggregate information on the characteristics of
52	52	children and programs tracked by the early childhood information
53	53	system established by subsection (c, ii) of this act;
54	54	(3) the characteristics of such programs serving such
55	55	children;
56	56	(iv) Implementing a communications strategy for outreach to
57	57	families, service providers and policymakers;
58	58	(v) Not later than 6 months from the effective date of this
59	59	act, beginning a state-wide longitudinal evaluation of the school
60	60	readiness program examining the educational progress of children
61	61	from prekindergarten programs through grade four;
62	62	(vi) Developing, coordinating and supporting public and
63	63	private partnerships to aid early childhood initiatives;
64	64	(vii) Developing and implementing a state-wide
65	65	developmentally appropriate kindergarten assessment tool that
66	66	measures a child's level of preparedness for kindergarten, but
67	67	shall not be used as a measurement tool for program accountability;
68	68	(viii) Creating a unified set of reporting requirements for
69	69	the purpose of collecting the data elements necessary to perform
70	70	quality assessments and longitudinal analysis;
71	71	(ix) Comparing and analyzing data collected pursuant to
72	72	reporting requirements created under subdivision (viii) of this
73	73	subsection with the data collected in state-wide public school
74	74	information systems to enable population-level analysis of
75	75	children and families and the impacts of supported programs;
76	76	(x) Continually monitoring and evaluating all early care
77	77	and education and child development programs and services, focusing
78	78	on program outcomes in satisfying the health, safety, developmental
79	79	and educational needs of all children, while retaining distinct
80	80	separation between quality improvement services and child day care
81	81	licensing services;
82	82	(xi) Coordinating home visitation services across programs
83	83	for young children;
84	84	(xii) Providing information and technical assistance to
85	85	persons seeking early care and education and child development
86	86	programs and services;
87	87	(xiii) Assisting state agencies and municipalities in
88	88	obtaining federal funding for early care and education and child
89	89	development programs and services, including to maximize federal
90	90	dollars coming into Texas for federally-funded meals, home
91	91	visiting, and other early childhood programs;
92	92	(xiv) Providing technical assistance to providers of early
93	93	care and education programs and services to obtain licensing and
94	94	improve program quality;
95	95	(xv) Establishing a quality rating and improvement system
96	96	that covers home-based, center-based and school-based early child
97	97	care and day care;
98	98	(xvi) Maintaining an accreditation facilitation initiative
99	99	to assist early childhood care and education and day care program
100	100	and service providers in achieving national standards and program
101	101	improvement;
102	102	(xvii) Managing early childhood care and education and day
103	103	care licensing to the extent such is under state jurisdiction;
104	104	(xviii) Ensuring a coordinated and comprehensive statewide
105	105	system of professional development for providers and staff of early
106	106	childhood care and education, child development, and day care
107	107	programs and services;
108	108	(xix) Developing early learning and development standards
109	109	to be used by early childhood care and education and day care
110	110	providers; and
111	111	(xx) Providing families with opportunities for choice in
112	112	services including quality child care and community-based
113	113	family-centered services;
114	114	(xxi) Integrating early childhood care and education and
115	115	special education services;
116	116	(xxii) Promoting universal access to early childhood care
117	117	and education; and
118	118	(xxiii) Performing any other activities that will assist in
119	119	the provision of early care and education and child development
120	120	programs and services.
121	121	(d) The Director of Early Childhood shall be responsible for
122	122	implementing the policies and directives of the Office of Early
123	123	Childhood. The director may seek and shall be entitled to receive
124	124	from other state agencies such assistance as may be required to
125	125	perform such director's duties pursuant to this subsection.
126	126	(i) The Director may appoint such officers, employees,
127	127	agents and consultants as he or she may deem necessary.
128	128	(ii) To the extent practicable, the Director shall appoint
129	129	the officers, employees, agents and consultants for the office of
130	130	early childhood, from among the existing officers and employees of
131	131	existing agencies and departments currently housing early
132	132	childhood programs, as supervision for those programs is moved into
133	133	the Office of Early Childhood.
134	134	SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
135	135	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
136	136	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
137	137	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
138	138	Act takes effect September 1, 2023.