The Budget Act of 2007 appropriated over $2.5 billion for the California Department of Education's (CDE), Child Development Programs in a mix of 77 percent state funds and 23 percent federal funds. Over 1,500 contracts are dispersed through approximately 786 public and private agencies statewide to support and provide services to almost 500,000 children.
General Child Care and Development
General child care and development programs are state and federally funded programs that use centers and family child care home networks operated or administered by either public or private agencies and local educational agencies. These agencies provide child development services for children from birth through 12 years of age and older children with exceptional needs. These programs provide an educational component that is developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate for the children served. The programs also provide meals and snacks to children, parent education, referrals to health and social services for families, and staff development opportunities to employees.
Migrant Child Care and Development
Migrant child care and development programs serve the children of agricultural workers while their parents are at work. The centers are open for varying lengths of time during the year, depending largely on the harvest activities in the area. In addition to these center-based programs, the budget for fiscal year 2007-08 continues to provide for the Migrant Alternative Payment Network Program that allows eligibility and funding for services that follow migrant families as they move from place to place to find work in the Central Valley.
State Preschool
State preschool programs are part-day comprehensive developmental programs for three- to five-year-old children from low-income families. The programs emphasize parent education and encourage parent involvement. In addition to preschool education activities that are developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate for the children served, the state preschool programs provide meals or snacks to children, referrals to health and social services for families, and staff development opportunities to employees. These programs are administered through local educational agencies, colleges, community-action agencies, and private nonprofit agencies.
State Preschool Full-Day Program
The Budget Act of 1997 allowed state preschool program contractors the opportunity to extend their half-day programs to full-day programs with certain restrictions. Some current state preschool providers chose this wrap-around of their existing half-day programs to provide families with the extended services parents needed to maintain employment, meet work participation requirements, or to participate in education or job training. Agencies providing full-day services continue to operate in a half-day mode as a state preschool program but must follow general child care rules and regulations for the remainder of the program day.
Prekindergarten and Family Literacy
Chapter 211, Statutes of 2006, Assembly Bill 172, created the Prekindergarten and Family Literacy (PKFL) program. These programs, operating between 175 and 180 days, and designed to facilitate a child's transition to kindergarten, provide part-day age and developmentally appropriate activities the year before they are eligible to be enrolled in kindergarten. The programs provide a literacy component and encourage parents to work on interactive literacy activities both in the classroom and at home with their children. The programs also include a parenting education and staff development component. PKFL programs must be located in the attendance area of elementary schools in deciles 1 to 3, inclusive. Families must meet income eligibility criteria, however, after all income eligible children are served, 20% of children may be from families whose income exceeds the income eligibility limits.
Prekindergarten and Family Literacy Full-Day
The enacted legislation that created the PKFL program also contained provisions for a full-day, full-year program (PKFLFD) with a combination of part-day preschool funding and part-day general child care and development funds. The PKFLFD program has all of the same programmatic requirements of the PKFL program however, these programs are expected to provide services for 246 days per year. Families are eligible for the PKFLFD programs if they have a need for full-day child development services. Eligibility determination is made for the family only at the beginning of the program year and a child continues to remain eligible for the entire year.
Severely Handicapped Program
The severely handicapped programs located in the San Francisco Bay Area provide care and supervision, age and developmentally appropriate activities, therapy, youth guidance, and parental counseling to eligible children and young adults from birth to 21 years of age. Recipients of these services must have an individualized education plan (IEP) or an individualized family service plan (IFSP) issued through special education programs.
School Age Community Child Care Services (Latchkey)
School-age community child care programs provide a safe environment with age- and developmentally appropriate activities for school-age children during the hours immediately before and after the normal school day and during school vacations. These programs must have a minimum of 50 percent enrollment from families that can pay the full cost of care, although this requirement may be waived when the agency can demonstrate the impracticality of such a requirement.
Alternative Payment Program
Alternative payment programs (APPs), funded with state and federal funds, offer an array of child care arrangements for parents, such as in-home care, family child care, and center-based care. The APP helps families arrange child care services and makes payment for those services directly to the child care provider selected by the family. The APP is intended to increase parental choice and accommodate the individual needs of the family.
CalWORKs Child Care
Recipients of the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility
to Kids (CalWORKs) grant program are required to engage in work
or work preparation activities. CalWORKs programs provide an array
of welfare-to-work services. Child care is provided with state
and federal funds in three stages.
Stage 1 is administered by the California Department of Social
Services through county welfare departments (CWDs). Stage 1 begins
when a participant enters the CalWORKs grant program and engages
in activities pursuant to a welfare-to-work plan developed by
the CWD for each family. The CWDs refer families to resource and
referral agencies to assist them in finding child care providers.
Some CWDs pay those providers directly for the services performed.
Many CWDs have a sub-contract with APPs to pay for the child development
services.
Stage 2 is administered by CDE through its APPs. CalWORKs families
are transferred into Stage 2 when the CWD deems the family to
be stable. Participation in Stage 1 and/or Stage 2 is limited
to two years after the family stops receiving a CalWORKs grant.
In addition to the services that CDE provides, small portions
of the services in Stage 2 are administered by the California
community colleges through its centers or an AP delivery system
for the benefit of students.
Stage 3 is also administered by CDE through its APPs. A family
can move to this stage when it has exhausted its two-year limit
in Stage 1 and/or Stage 2 (referred to as timing out), and for
as long as the family remains otherwise eligible for child care
programs.
Resource and Referral
Resource and referral programs provide information to all parents and the community about the availability of child care in their area. The programs assist potential providers in the licensing process; provide direct services, including training; and they coordinate community resources for the benefit of parents and local child care providers. These services are available in all 58 California counties.
Quality Improvement Plan Activities
California's commitment to early childhood education and child development spans five decades. California continues to promote a positive child- and family-focused philosophy. Service to low-income families remains a priority, and state program goals demand that high-quality child development programs and services be made available. The quality improvement plan for federal fiscal year 2006 includes the federal mandates for infant/toddler capacity building, resource and referral programs, and school-age capacity building. The quality improvement plan projects are described in detail in Part 5 of the Final Child Care and Development Fund State Plan (DOC; 800KB; 92 pp.).
Local Child Care and Development Planning Councils
Local child care and development planning councils (LPCs) support the overall coordination of child care services in each of the 58 counties. The LPCs are mandated to conduct assessments of county child care needs and to prepare plans to address identified needs. These assessments must contain information on the supply and demand for child care, including the need for both subsidized and nonsubsidized care.
