Bill Text: CA AB1754 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: State full-day preschool program: eligibility for enrollment: low income schools.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-08-16 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB1754 Detail]
Download: California-2017-AB1754-Amended.html
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Amended
IN
Senate
June 18, 2018 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
April 17, 2018 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION
| Assembly Bill | No. 1754 |
| Introduced by Assembly Members McCarty, Friedman, Eduardo Garcia, and Bonta (Coauthor: Assembly Member Gonzalez Fletcher) |
January 03, 2018 |
An act to add Section 8205.5 Sections 8236.02 and 8236.04 to the Education Code, relating to early care and education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1754, as amended, McCarty.
Pre-K for All Act of 2018. State full-day preschool program: eligibility for enrollment: low income schools.
The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer child care and development programs that offer a full range of services to eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age, inclusive. Existing law requires the Superintendent to administer all California state preschool programs, which include part-day age and developmentally appropriate programs for 3- and 4-year-old children, as provided. Existing law provides that 3- and 4-year-old children are eligible for the state part-day preschool program if the family meets one of several eligibility requirements, including income eligibility. Existing law provides that “income eligible,” for purposes of the Child Care and Development Services Act,
means that a family’s adjusted monthly income is at or below 70% of the state median income, adjusted for family size, and adjusted annually.
This bill, the Pre-K for All Act of 2018, would require the state to provide all 4-year-old children who meet those eligibility
requirements with access to early care and education programs.
This bill would revise the eligibility requirements for full-day preschool programs operated at any California public school, including a charter school, that has at least 40% of its pupils being from low-income families, as specified pursuant to Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965, or a community-based organization that contracts with the above-described school or school district.
This bill would require the State Department of Education to share participation data from the Medi-Cal program with local educational agencies. The bill would impose specified requirements on the State Department of Education and local educational agencies
relating to the privacy and confidentiality of that participation data. The bill would require a local educational agency participating in a full-day preschool program at a high poverty school, as defined, to use that participation data, commencing with the participation data of pupils in the 2019–20 school year, to directly certify pupils eligible for full-day preschool at a high poverty school, to the extent permitted under federal law. The bill would authorize a school district or county superintendent of schools to determine a pupil’s eligibility for full-day preschool at a high poverty school based on data including the direct certification match and alternative measures of poverty pursuant to specified state and federal law. This provision would become operative upon the receipt of federal funds to assist the state in implementing its provisions.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 8236.02 is added to the Education Code, to read:8236.02.
Commencing with the 2019–20 school year, and notwithstanding any other law, each school district or public school, including a charter school, operating a full-day preschool program at any school that has at least 40 percent of its pupils being from low-income families, as specified pursuant to Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), or a community-based organization that contracts with the above-described school or school district, shall enroll three-and four-year old children as defined by Section 8208, as follows:(a) First priority shall be given to children meeting the criteria in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 8236.
(b) Second
priority shall be given to children from income eligible families, pursuant to Section 8263.1.
(c) Third priority shall be given to children certified through the process established in subdivision (b) of Section 8236.04.
(d) Any remaining slots shall be open to enrollment without any requirement to substantiate income eligibility.
SEC. 2.
Section 8236.04 is added to the Education Code, to read:8236.04.
(a) The department, in consultation with the State Department of Health Care Services, shall develop and implement a process to use the participation data from the Medi-Cal program administered pursuant to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 14000) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to verify income as established in the federal Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-265) and, to the extent permitted under federal law, directly certify children whose families meet the applicable income criteria into the full-day preschool programs operated at any school that has at least 40 percent of its pupils being from low-income families, as specified pursuant to Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq), or a community-based organization that contracts with the above-described school or school district.(b) The department shall share the participation data described in subdivision (a) with local educational agencies. A local educational agency that participates in a full-day preschool program at a school described in subdivision (a) shall use the participation data described in subdivision (a), commencing with the participation data of pupils in the 2019–20 school year, to directly certify pupils eligible for full-day preschool, to the extent permitted under federal law.
(c) In the operation of this process, the department shall limit the information needed from the State Department of Health Care Services to identify families whose income falls below the eligibility cutoff for full-day preschool, and utilize the least amount of information needed to facilitate a match of local school
records. The State Department of Health Care Services shall conduct the data match of local school records, and return a list to the department, including only the data fields submitted by the department and an indicator of program eligibility, as required by federal law.
(d) The department and the State Department of Health Care Services shall design this process to maintain pupil privacy and the privacy of Medi-Cal recipients by establishing privacy and confidentiality procedures consistent with all applicable state and federal laws. Local educational agencies shall maintain pupil privacy and the privacy of Medi-Cal recipients through privacy and confidentiality procedures consistent with applicable state and federal laws. The department and local educational agencies shall utilize appropriate technical and security safeguards to ensure that any Medi-Cal participation data is protected, consistent with applicable state and federal laws. To
the extent permitted by state and federal law, the department and the State Department of Health Care Services may review the data only for the purposes of improving the effectiveness of the data matches made pursuant to this section and Section 49561.
(e) (1) The participation data described in subdivision (a) is exempt from the disclosure requirements of the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code). The participation data described in subdivision (a) shall be used only for the purposes of direct certification pursuant to this section, shall not be open to the public for inspection, and shall not be disclosed to any other party without the written consent of the parent or legal guardian of the pupil, except for the purpose of directly certifying children for full-day preschool pursuant to this section or as otherwise required or authorized by law or state or
federal court order.
(2) This subdivision does not prohibit the disclosure of aggregate data that does not reveal personally identifying information about a child or his or her family.
(f) The department specifically shall ensure that the process, and use and sharing of participation data from the Medi-Cal program, conforms to the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-191), the federal Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (Public Law 111-5) and its implementing regulations, and the Information Practices Act of 1977 (Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 1798) of Title 1.8 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code), by using strategies employed by other states’ Medicaid verification projects or by developing a new strategy that ensures conformity. If applicable, Medi-Cal participation data shall also be
subject to Section 49602 and its implementing regulations.
(g) The department shall seek all necessary approvals to establish this process and shall apply for available federal funds to support the work of this process.
(h) This section shall become operative upon the receipt of federal funds to assist the state in implementing the provisions of this section.
This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Pre-K for All Act of 2018.
(a)The Legislature finds and declares both of the following:
(1)Quality early learning and care for children from infancy to five years of ages, inclusive, is a sound and strategic investment to narrow achievement gaps that are present well before children enter kindergarten.
(2)In the annual Budget Act for the 2014–15 fiscal year, the Legislature and Governor committed to providing all low-income children with at least one year of early care and education programs.
(b)It is the intent of the state to ensure a fair start to all low-income children by providing quality early care and
education for all low-income children whose families wish to enroll them in early care and education programs.
The state shall provide all low-income four-year-old children, as provided in subdivision (a) of Section 8263, with access to early care and education programs.
