AB 210

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law, the Early Education Act, among other things, has a purpose of supporting the cognitive and social-emotional development of all children, including children with exceptional needs. The act defines children with exceptional needs as, among other things, children who require the special attention of adults while in a childcare setting. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to provide an inclusive and cost-effective preschool program, known as the California State Preschool Program. Existing law provides that a family shall be considered to meet all eligibility and need requirements for these services for not less than 12 months, shall receive those services for not less than 12 months, and shall not be required to report changes for at least 12 months, as provided. Existing law requires each state preschool program applicant or contracting agency to give priority for part-day and full-day programs according to a specified priority ranking. Existing law establishes adjustment factors to reflect the additional expense of serving full-day preschool children, including children with exceptional needs, children with severe disabilities, and dual language leaner children, as provided. This bill would revise and recast provisions of the act to, among other things, remove from the definition of "children with exceptional needs," children who require the special attention of adults while in a childcare setting. The bill would additionally expand eligibility to the program to include those families where a child has exceptional needs, as provided. The bill would provide that a family shall be considered to meet all eligibility and need requirements for these services for not less than 24 months, shall receive those services for not less than 24 months, and shall not be required to report changes for at least 24 months, as provided. This bill would revise and reorder the priority ranking for part-day and full-day preschool programs and establish a new 2nd priority for all 3- and 4-year-old children with exceptional needs from families with incomes below the income eligible threshold, as provided. The bill would increase specified adjustment factors for purposes of reflecting the additional expense of serving specified full-day preschool children, as provided. The bill would prohibit family fees from being collected for the 2022–23 fiscal year. The act requires the Superintendent to develop procedures for state preschool contractors to identify and report data on dual language learners enrolled in a California state preschool program. This bill would require, for any child enrolled in a state preschool program who has been identified as a dual language learner, a family language and interest interview to be conducted by the child's teacher or other designated staff, as provided. The act requires the State Department of Education, in collaboration with the State Department of Social Services, to implement a reimbursement system that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates, as provided. The bill would require, for the 2022–23 fiscal year only, the contracting agency operating a California state preschool program to be reimbursed 100% of the contract maximum reimbursable amount or net reimbursable program contracts, whichever is less, as provided. Existing law requires organizations that contract with the department to provide preschool services or other support services, as specified, to annually undergo a single independent financial and compliance audit, unless the contractor receives less than $25,000 from a state agency, in which case, an audit is to be conducted biennially. This bill would increase that threshold by $75,000. (2) Existing law establishes the Inclusive Early Education Expansion Program for the purpose of increasing access to inclusive early care and education programs. Existing law requires the department to convene a stakeholder workgroup, until June 30, 2023, relating to the program. This bill would appropriate $250,000,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent for allocation to local educational agencies for purposes of the program. The bill would authorize the Superintendent to allocate up to $50,000,000 of the $500,000,000 to address state-level systems building and align local practice with the research and practice-based strategies that best promote pupil outcomes and program quality. The bill would require the workgroup to be maintained until June 30, 2027. (3) Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to, among other duties, establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Existing law authorizes the commission to issue or renew emergency teaching and specialist permits if certain conditions are met, including that the applicant passes the state basic skills proficiency test. The commission may issue and renew a one-year emergency specialist teaching permit in early childhood education that authorizes teaching all subjects in a self-contained transitional kindergarten general education classroom if certain conditions are met, including that the applicant satisfies the subject matter requirement and the commission approves the justification for the emergency permit, as specified. (4) Existing law establishes the California Prekindergarten Planning and Implementation Grant Program as a state early learning initiative with the goal of expanding access to classroom-based prekindergarten programs at local educational agencies, as defined, and requires the Superintendent to allocate grant funding to local educational agencies as base grants, enrollment grants, and supplemental grants for specified purposes. This bill would, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, establish the California Universal Preschool Planning Grant Program with the goal of expanding access universally to preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-old children across the state through a mixed-delivery system, as defined, and would require the Superintendent to develop and administer a grant process and award grant funds to each county, as specified. The bill would provide local planning councils and resource and referral agencies with first and 2nd priority, respectfully, for grant awards, and would require the Superintendent to provide a report to the Department of Finance and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before October 1, 2026, on the expenditure of funds and relevant outcome data in order to evaluate the impact of the grants awarded under the program. (5) The Early Education Act has a further purpose of supporting children experiencing developmental delays. This bill would make available $2,000,000 of specified funds appropriated in the Budget Act of 2022 to the State Department of Education to develop a process and tools, to be used in all state preschool programs and available and appropriate for use in transitional kindergarten, and kindergarten programs, for early identification of children at risk for developmental delays or learning disabilities, as provided, and would make that funding available for encumbrance until June 30, 2024. The bill would require the department, on or before October 5, 2023, to submit a report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, appropriate policy committees of the Legislature, and the Department of Finance to identify, among other things, the process and tools developed. By extending the period of time in which previously appropriated funds are available for encumbrance, the bill would make an appropriation. (6) Existing law provides for various programs, responsibilities, services, and systems relating to childcare and childhood development that are administered by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law requires any regulations developed by the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Education to implement various provisions relating to early childhood development to be adopted by each department no later than December 31, 2023. This bill would extend the deadline for each department to adopt regulations to December 31, 2025. (7) Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age, which includes various programs and services, including, among others, CalWORKs stage 2 and stage 3 childcare, migrant childcare, childcare and development services for children with special needs, the alternative payment program, and head start programs. Existing law requires the department to develop standards for the implementation of quality programs and specifies indicators of quality, including, among others, program activities and services that meet the cultural and linguistic needs of children and families and staff that possess the appropriate and required qualifications or experience, or both. Existing law provides various definitions for purposes of the act, including a definition of "limited-English-speaking-proficient and non-English-speaking-proficient children." This bill would require that the above-described program activities include program activities that meet the needs of dual language learners, as defined. The bill would also require staff to possess the appropriate and required training, or any combination of qualifications, experience, or training. The bill would repeal the definition of "limited-English-speaking-proficient and non-English-speaking-proficient children." (8) Under existing law, for purposes of establishing initial income eligibility for services under the act, "income eligible" means that a family's adjusted monthly income is at or below 85% of the state median income, adjusted for family size. Existing law, for purposes of determining eligibility for childcare under the act, excludes income from federal supplemental security income benefits and state supplemental program benefits. Existing law establishes, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, the California Guaranteed Income Pilot Program, to provide grants to eligible entities for the purpose of administering pilot programs and projects that provide a guaranteed income to designated recipients. This bill would additionally exclude specified foster care payments made on behalf of a child, and guaranteed payments from income for purposes of determining eligibility for childcare under the act. The bill would define "guaranteed payment" to include, but not be limited to, payments received pursuant to the California Guaranteed Income Pilot Program. (9) Existing law requires an alternative payment program to provide notice to a childcare provider of a change in reimbursement amounts for childcare services, a change in the hours of care, rates, or schedules, an increase or decrease in parent fees, or a termination of services, including, but not limited to, a family's change in provider. Existing law requires the notice to be delivered, as well as the effective date of any change, on the same day a notice of action is issued to a family. This bill would make those notice requirements applicable to all child care and development programs funded pursuant to the federal Child Care and Development Fund, on September 1, 2022. The bill would require a child care and development program to give a provider the notice and the effective date of any change no later than the day the program becomes aware that the change will occur. The bill would authorize the department to implement and administer these provisions by all-county letter or similar directive until regulations are adopted, and would require the department to adopt emergency regulations by July 1, 2026. (10) Existing law requires the department to contract with local contracting agencies for alternative payment programs for childcare services to be provided throughout the state. Existing law authorizes a contractor to retain a reserve fund balance for alternative payment model and certificate childcare contracts, as provided. Existing law prohibits these funds from exceeding either 2% of the sum of the parts of each contract, as provided, or $1,000, whichever is greater. This bill would instead prohibit the funds from exceeding either 8% of the sum of the parts of each contract, as provided, or $1,000, whichever is greater. (11) Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the State Department of Education, to establish a fee schedule for families using preschool and child care and development services pursuant to those provisions and requires families who utilize those services to be assessed a family fee that is based on income, certified family need for full-time or part-time care services, and enrollment. Existing law also prohibits those family fees from being collected in the 2021–22 fiscal year. This bill would extend the prohibition on the collection of those family fees to the 2022–23 fiscal year and would authorize a reimbursement to contractors for family fees not received during that fiscal year. (12) Existing law establishes the California Child Care Initiative Project to expand the role and functions of resource and referral agencies to aid communities in increasing their capability in the number of childcare spaces available and the quality of childcare services offered. Existing law requires that the project ensure that each $1 of state funds allocated for the purpose of making grants to specified childcare resource and referral agencies is matched by $2 from other sources, such as private corporations or local governments. This bill would delete the above-described matching-funds requirement and would authorize the department to issue grants of state funds only or state funds in combination with other funds. The bill would also authorize the department to implement this change by all-county letter or similar directive until regulations are adopted. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations implementing these changes no later than July 1, 2025. (13) Existing law allocates $70,000,000 in previously appropriated federal funds to provide reimbursement for childcare providers based on families' certified need, through June 30, 2022, to alternative payment programs and to state-subsidized childcare providers that serve children through an alternative payment program. Existing law also allocates $6,000,000 in previously appropriated state funding to provide reimbursement for childcare providers based on families' certified need, through June 30, 2022, to counties and alternative payment programs, and to state-subsidized childcare providers that serve children through the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children. This bill would extend those reimbursements for childcare based on families' certified need through June 30, 2023, and would allocate $107,636,000 in federal funds and $6,000,000 in state funds, as specified, for that purpose. (14) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.