ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 498
(Senators Plymale, Prezioso, Kessler, Wells, Foster, Jenkins, Stollings and
Unger, original sponsors)
____________
[Passed April 11, 2009; in effect from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §18-5-44 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto a
new article, designated §49-2E-1, §49-2E-2, §49-2E-3 and
§49-2E-4
, all relating to early childhood; requiring county
boards to report certain information to the Secretary of the
Department of Health and Human Resources and the state
superintendent
relating to the use of community-based programs
to provide early childhood education services; quality rating
and improvement system applicable to certain child care
providers; findings and intent; Secretary of Department of
Health and Human Resources rules; Quality Rating and
Improvement System Advisory Council; statewide quality rating system rules; statewide implementation; system components;
review, reduction, suspension or disqualification; statewide
quality improvement system; financial plan for implementation
and quality improvement; plan components; pilot projects;
third-party evaluator; reports to Legislature; gradual
implementation; conditioning requirements on legislative
appropriation; prioritization of components for funding; and
PIECES advisory council.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-5-44 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding
thereto a new article, designated §49-2E-1, §49-2E-2, §49-2E-3 and
§49-2E-4
, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 18. EDUCATION.
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-44. Early childhood education programs.
(a) For the purposes of this section, "early childhood
education" means programs for children who have attained the age of
four prior to September 1 of the school year in which the pupil
enters the program created in this section.
(b)
Findings. --
(1) Among other positive outcomes, early childhood education
programs have been determined to:
(A) Improve overall readiness when children enter school;
(B) Decrease behavioral problems;
(C) Improve student attendance;
(D) Increase scores on achievement tests;
(E) Decrease the percentage of students repeating a grade; and
(F) Decrease the number of students placed in special
education programs;
(2) Quality early childhood education programs improve school
performance and low-quality early childhood education programs may
have negative effects, especially for at-risk children;
(3) West Virginia has the lowest percentage of its adult
population twenty-five years of age or older with a bachelor's
degree and the education level of parents is a strong indicator of
how their children will perform in school;
(4) During the 2006-2007 school year, West Virginia ranked
thirty-ninth among the fifty states in the percentage of school
children eligible for free and reduced lunches and this percentage
is a strong indicator of how the children will perform in school;
(5) For the school year 2008-2009, thirteen thousand one
hundred thirty-five students were enrolled in prekindergarten, a
number equal to approximately sixty-three percent of the number of
students enrolled in kindergarten;
(6) Excluding projected increases due to increases in
enrollment in the early childhood education program, projections
indicate that total student enrollment in West Virginia will decline by one percent, or by approximately two thousand seven
hundred four students, by the school year 2012-2013;
(7) In part, because of the dynamics of the state aid formula,
county boards will continue to enroll four-year old students to
offset the declining enrollments;
(8) West Virginia has a comprehensive kindergarten program for
five-year olds, but the program was established in a manner that
resulted in unequal implementation among the counties which helped
create deficit financial situations for several county boards;
(9) Expansion of current efforts to implement a comprehensive
early childhood education program should avoid the problems
encountered in kindergarten implementation;
(10) Because of the dynamics of the state aid formula,
counties experiencing growth are at a disadvantage in implementing
comprehensive early childhood education programs; and
(11) West Virginia citizens will benefit from the
establishment of quality comprehensive early childhood education
programs.
(c) Beginning no later than the school year 2012-2013, and
continuing thereafter, county boards shall provide early childhood
education programs for all children who have attained the age of
four prior to September 1 of the school year in which the pupil
enters the early childhood education program.
(d) The program shall meet the following criteria:
(1) It shall be voluntary, except, upon enrollment, the
provisions of section one, article eight of this chapter apply to
an enrolled student; and
(2) It may be for fewer than five days per week and may be
less than full day.
(e) Enrollment of students in Head Start, in any other program
approved by the state superintendent as provided in subsection (k)
of this section shall be counted toward satisfying the requirement
of subsection (c) of this section.
(f) For the purposes of implementation financing, all counties
are encouraged to make use of funds from existing sources,
including:
(1) Federal funds provided under the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act pursuant to 20 U. S. C. §6301,
et seq.;
(2) Federal funds provided for Head Start pursuant to 42 U. S.
C. §9831,
et seq.;
(3) Federal funds for temporary assistance to needy families
pursuant to 42 U. S. C. §601,
et seq.;
(4) Funds provided by the School Building Authority pursuant
to article nine-d of this chapter;
(5) In the case of counties with declining enrollments, funds
from the state aid formula above the amount indicated for the
number of students actually enrolled in any school year; and
(6) Any other public or private funds.
(g) Each county board shall develop a plan for implementing
the program required by this section. The plan shall include the
following elements:
(1) An analysis of the demographics of the county related to
early childhood education program implementation;
(2) An analysis of facility and personnel needs;
(3) Financial requirements for implementation and potential
sources of funding to assist implementation;
(4) Details of how the county board will cooperate and
collaborate with other early childhood education programs
including, but not limited to, Head Start, to maximize federal and
other sources of revenue;
(5) Specific time lines for implementation; and
(6) Any other items the state board may require by policy.
(h) A county board shall submit its plan to the Secretary of
the Department of Health and Human Resources. The secretary shall
approve the plan if the following conditions are met:
(1) The county board has maximized the use of federal and
other available funds for early childhood programs;
(2) The county board has provided for the maximum
implementation of Head Start programs and other public and private
programs approved by the state superintendent pursuant to the terms
of subsection (k) of this section; and
(3) If the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources finds that the county board has not met one or more of
the requirements of this subsection, but that the county board has
acted in good faith and the failure to comply was not the primary
fault of the county board, then the secretary shall approve the
plan. Any denial by the secretary may be appealed to the circuit
court of the county in which the county board is located.
(i) The county board shall submit its plan for approval to the
state board. The state board shall approve the plan if the county
board has complied substantially with the requirements of
subsection (g) of this section and has obtained the approval
required in subsection (h) of this section.
(j) Every county board shall submit its plan for reapproval by
the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources and
by the state board at least every two years after the initial
approval of the plan and until full implementation of the early
childhood education program in the county. As part of the
submission, the county board shall provide a detailed statement of
the progress made in implementing its plan. The standards and
procedures provided for the original approval of the plan apply to
any reapproval.
(k) A county board may not increase the total number of
students enrolled in the county in an early childhood program until
its program is approved by the Secretary of the Department of
Health and Human Resources and the state board.
(l) The state board annually may grant a county board a waiver
for total or partial implementation if the state board finds that
all of the following conditions exist:
(1) The county board is unable to comply either because:
(A) It does not have sufficient facilities available; or
(B) It does not and has not had available funds sufficient to
implement the program;
(2) The county has not experienced a decline in enrollment at
least equal to the total number of students to be enrolled; and
(3) Other agencies of government have not made sufficient
funds or facilities available to assist in implementation.
Any county board seeking a waiver shall apply with the
supporting data to meet the criteria for which they are eligible on
or before March 25 for the following school year. The state
superintendent shall grant or deny the requested waiver on or
before April 15 of that same year.
(m) The provisions of subsections (b), (c) and (d), section
eighteen of this article relating to kindergarten apply to early
childhood education programs in the same manner in which they apply
to kindergarten programs.
(n) Annually, the state board shall report to the Legislative
Oversight Commission on Education Accountability on the progress of
implementation of this section.
(o) Except as required by federal law or regulation, no county board may enroll students who will be less than four years of age
prior to September 1 for the year they enter school.
(p) Neither the state board nor the state department may
provide any funds to any county board for the purpose of
implementing this section unless the county board has a plan
approved pursuant to subsections (h), (i) and (j) of this section.
(q) The state board shall promulgate a rule in accordance with
the provisions of article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code for the purposes of implementing the provisions of this
section. The state board shall consult with the Secretary of the
Department of Health and Human Resources in the preparation of the
rule. The rule shall contain the following:
(1) Standards for curriculum;
(2) Standards for preparing students;
(3) Attendance requirements;
(4) Standards for personnel; and
(5) Any other terms necessary to implement the provisions of
this section.
(r) The rule shall include the following elements relating to
curriculum standards:
(1) A requirement that the curriculum be designed to address
the developmental needs of four-year old children, consistent with
prevailing research on how children learn;
(2) A requirement that the curriculum be designed to achieve long-range goals for the social, emotional, physical and academic
development of young children;
(3) A method for including a broad range of content that is
relevant, engaging and meaningful to young children;
(4) A requirement that the curriculum incorporate a wide
variety of learning experiences, materials and equipment, and
instructional strategies to respond to differences in prior
experience, maturation rates and learning styles that young
children bring to the classroom;
(5) A requirement that the curriculum be designed to build on
what children already know in order to consolidate their learning
and foster their acquisition of new concepts and skills;
(6) A requirement that the curriculum meet the recognized
standards of the relevant subject matter disciplines;
(7) A requirement that the curriculum engage children actively
in the learning process and provide them with opportunities to make
meaningful choices;
(8) A requirement that the curriculum emphasize the
development of thinking, reasoning, decisionmaking and
problem-solving skills;
(9) A set of clear guidelines for communicating with parents
and involving them in decisions about the instructional needs of
their children; and
(10) A systematic plan for evaluating program success in meeting the needs of young children and for helping them to be
ready to succeed in school.
(s) The secretary and the state superintendent shall submit a
report to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education
Accountability and the Joint Committee on Government and Finance
which addresses, at a minimum, the following issues:
(1) A summary of the approved county plans for providing the
early childhood education programs pursuant to this section;
(2) An analysis of the total cost to the state and county
boards of implementing the plans;
(3) A separate analysis of the impact of the plans on counties
with increasing enrollment; and
(4) An analysis of the effect of the programs on the
maximization of the use of federal funds for early childhood
programs.
The intent of this subsection is to enable the Legislature to
proceed in a fiscally responsible manner, make any necessary
program improvements based on reported information prior to
implementation of the early childhood education programs.
(t) After the school year 2012-2013, on or before July 1 of
each year, each county board shall report the following information
to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources
and the state superintendent:
(1) Documentation indicating the extent to which county boards are maximizing resources by using the existing capacity of
community-based programs, including, but not limited to Head Start
and child care; and
(2) For those county boards that are including eligible
children attending approved, contracted community-based programs in
their net enrollment for the purposes of calculating state aid
pursuant to article nine-a of this chapter, documentation that the
county board is equitably distributing funding for all children
regardless of setting.
CHAPTER 49. CHILD WELFARE.
ARTICLE 2E. QUALITY RATING AND IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM.
§49-2E-1. Findings and intent; advisory council.
(a) The Legislature finds that:
(1) High quality early childhood development substantially
improves the intellectual and social potential of children and
reduces societal costs;
(2) A child care program quality rating and improvement system
provides incentives and resources to improve the quality child care
programs; and
(3) A child care program quality rating and improvement system
provides information about the quality of child care programs to
parents so they may make more informed decisions about the
placement of their children.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to require the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources
promulgate a legislative rule and establish a plan for the phased
implementation of a child care program quality rating and
improvement system not inconsistent with the provisions of this
article.
(c) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall create a Quality Rating and Improvement System
Advisory Council to provide advice on the development of the rule
and plan for the phased implementation of a child care program
quality rating and improvement system and the ongoing program
review and policies for quality improvement. The secretary shall
facilitate meetings of the advisory council. The advisory council
shall include representatives from the provider community, advocacy
groups, the Legislature, providers of professional development
services for the early childhood community, regulatory agencies and
others who may be impacted by the creation of a quality rating and
improvement system.
(d) Nothing in this article requires an appropriation, or any
specific level of appropriation, by the Legislature.
§49-2E-2. Creation of statewide quality rating system; legislative
rule required; minimum provisions.
(a) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall propose rules for legislative approval in
accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to implement a quality rating and
improvement system. The quality rating and improvement system
shall be applicable to licensed child care centers and facilities
and registered family child care homes. If other types of child
care settings such as school-age child care programs become
licensed after the implementation of a statewide quality rating and
improvement system, the secretary may develop quality criteria and
incentives that will allow the other types of child care settings
to participate in the quality rating and improvement system. The
rules shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) A four-star rating system for registered family child care
homes and a four-star rating system for all licensed programs,
including family child care facilities and child care centers, to
easily communicate to consumers four progressively higher levels of
quality child care. One star indicating meeting the minimum
acceptable standard and four stars indicating meeting or exceeding
the highest standard. The system shall reflect the cumulative
attainment of the standards at each level and all lesser levels:
Provided, That any program accredited by the National Association
for the Education of Young Children or the National Association for
Family Child Care, as applicable, shall automatically be awarded
four-star status;
(2) Program standards for registered family child care homes
and program standards for all licensed programs, including family child care facilities and child care centers, that are each divided
into four levels of attributes that progressively improve the
quality of child care beginning with basic state registration and
licensing requirements at level one, through achievement of a
national accreditation by the appropriate organization at level
four. Participation beyond the first level is voluntary. The
program standards shall be categorized using the West Virginia
State Training and Registry System Core Knowledge Areas or its
equivalent;
(3) Accountability measures that provide for a fair, valid,
accurate and reliable assessment of compliance with quality
standards, including, but not limited to:
(A) Evaluations conducted by trained evaluators with
appropriate early childhood education and training on the selected
assessment tool and with a demonstrated inter-rater reliability of
eighty-five percent or higher. The evaluations shall include an
on-site inspection conducted at least annually to determine whether
programs are rated correctly and continue to meet the appropriate
standards. The evaluations and observations shall be conducted on
at least a statistically valid percentage of center classrooms,
with a minimum of one class per age group;
(B) The use of valid and reliable observation and assessment
tools, such as environmental rating scales for early childhood,
infant and toddler, school-age care and family child care as appropriate for the particular setting and age group;
(C) An annual self-assessment using the proper observation and
assessment tool for programs rated at two stars; and
(D) Model program improvement planning shall be designed to
help programs improve their evaluation results and level of program
quality.
(b) The rules required pursuant to this section shall include
policies relating to the review, reduction, suspension or
disqualification of child care programs from the quality rating and
improvement system.
(c) The rules shall provide for implementation of the
statewide quality rating system effective July 1, 2011, subject to
section four of this article.
§49-2E-3. Creation of statewide quality improvement system;
financial plan to support implementation and quality
improvement required as part of rules.
Attached to the proposed rules required in section two of this
article, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall submit a financial plan to support the
implementation of a statewide quality rating and improvement system
and help promote quality improvement. The financial plan shall be
considered a part of the rule and shall include specific proposals
for implementation of the provisions of this section as determined
by the Secretary. The plan shall address, but is not limited to, the following:
(1) State agency staffing requirements, including, but not
limited to:
(A) Highly trained evaluators to monitor the assessment
process and ensure inter-rater reliability of eighty-five percent
or higher;
(B) Technical assistance staff responsible for career
advising, accreditation support services, improvement planning,
portfolio development and evaluations for improvement planning
only. The goal for technical assistance staffing is to ensure that
individualized technical assistance is available to participating
programs;
(C) A person within the department to collaborate with other
professional development providers to maximize funding for
training, scholarships and professional development. The person
filling this position also shall encourage community and technical
colleges to provide courses through nontraditional means such as
online training, evening classes and off-campus training;
(D) Additional infant and toddler specialists to provide high
level professional development for staff caring for infants and to
provide on-site assistance with infant and toddler issues;
(E) At least one additional training specialist at each of the
child care resource and referral agencies to support new training
topics and to provide training for school-age child care programs. Training providers such as the child care resource and referral
agencies shall purchase new training programs on topics such as
business management, the Devereux Resiliency Training and Mind in
the Making; and
(F) Additional staff necessary for program administration;
(2) Implementation of a broad public awareness campaign and
communication strategies that may include, but are not limited to:
(A) Brochures, internet sites, posters, banners, certificates,
decals and pins to educate parents; and
(B) Strategies such as earned media campaigns, paid
advertising campaigns, e-mail and internet-based outreach,
face-to-face communication with key civic groups and grassroots
organizing techniques; and
(3) Implementation of an internet-based management information
system that meets the following requirements:
(A) The system shall allow for multiple agencies to access and
input data;
(B) The system shall provide the data necessary to determine
if the quality enhancements result in improved care and better
outcomes for children;
(C) The system shall allow access by Department of Health and
Human Resources subsidy and licensing staff, child care resource
and referral agencies, the agencies that provide training and
scholarships, evaluators and the child care programs;
(D) The system shall include different security levels in
order to comply with the numerous confidentiality requirements;
(E) The system shall assist in informing practice; determining
training needs; and tracking changes in availability of care, cost
of care, changes in wages and education levels; and
(F) The system shall provide accountability for child care
programs and recipients and assure funds are being used
effectively;
(4) Financial assistance for child care programs needed to
improve learning environments, attain high ratings and sustain
long-term quality without passing additional costs on to families
that may include, but are not limited to:
(A) Assistance to programs in assessment and individual
program improvement planning and providing the necessary
information, coaching and resources to assist programs to increase
their level of quality;
(B) Subsidizing participating programs for providing child
care services to children of low-income families in accordance with
the following:
(i) Base payment rates shall be established at the seventy-
fifth percentile of market rate; and
(ii) A system of tiered reimbursement shall be established
which increases the payment rates by a certain amount above the
base payment rates in accordance with the rating tier of the child care program;
(C) Two types of grants shall be awarded to child care
programs in accordance with the following:
(i) An incentive grant shall be awarded based on the type of
child care program and the level at which the child care program is
rated with the types of child care programs having more children
and child care programs rated at higher tiers being awarded a
larger grant than the types of child care programs having less
children and child care programs rated at lower tiers; and
(ii) Grants for helping with the cost of national
accreditation shall be awarded on an equitable basis.
(5) Support for increased salaries and benefits for program
staff to increase educational levels essential to improving the
quality of care that may include, but are not limited to:
(A) Wage supports and benefits provided as an incentive to
increase child care programs ratings and as an incentive to
increase staff qualifications in accordance with the following:
(i) The cost of salary supplements shall be phased in over a
five-year period;
(ii) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall establish a salary scale for each of the top three
rating tiers that varies the salary support based on the education
of the care giver and the rating tier of the program; and
(iii) Any center with at least a tier two rating that employs at least one staff person participating in the scholarship program
required pursuant to paragraph (B) of this subsection or employs
degree staff may apply to the Secretary of the Department of Health
and Human Resources for funding to provide health care benefits
based on the Teacher Education and Compensation Helps model in
which insurance costs are shared among the employees, the employer
and the state; and
(B) The provision of scholarships and establishment of
professional development plans for center staff that would promote
increasing the credentials of center staff over a five-year period;
and
(6) Financial assistance to the child care consumers whose
income is at two hundred percent of the federal poverty level or
under to help them afford the increased market price of child care
resulting from increased quality.
§49-2E-4. Quality rating and improvement system pilot projects;
independent third-party evaluation; modification of
proposed rule and financial plan; report to
Legislature; limitations on implementation.
(a) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources may promulgate emergency rules in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to
implement a quality rating and improvement system in up to five
counties as pilot projects beginning July 1, 2009. The pilot quality rating and improvement systems shall be in accordance with
the provisions of this article for the statewide system. The
purpose of the pilot projects is to test the rating system, assess
the quality of existing child care providers, provide a basis for
estimating the financial requirements of the various elements of a
statewide system as set forth in this article and to inform future
policy decisions. Notwithstanding any provision of this article to
the contrary, the rating or potential rating of a child care
provider participating in the study may not be individually
disclosed. The secretary may modify and develop additional
policies consistent with this article as appropriate.
(b) The secretary shall contract with an independent third-
party evaluator to assist the department and the Quality Rating and
Improvement System Advisory Council with establishing and
evaluating the pilot project quality rating and improvement system
and conducting research on statewide implementation. The secretary
also may contract with the evaluator for ongoing evaluation and
research for quality improvement. The evaluator shall have access
to all project data including data in the management information
system provided for in section two of this article.
(c) The secretary shall report annually to the Legislature on
the progress on development and implementation of a child care
quality rating and improvement system and its impact on improving
the quality of child care in the state. The secretary may propose amendments to the rules and financial plan necessary to promote
implementation of the quality rating and improvement system and
improve the quality of child care and may recommend needed
legislation. Nothing in this article requires the implementation
of a quality rating and improvement system unless funds are
appropriated therefore. The secretary may prioritize the
components of the financial plan for implementation and quality
improvement for funding purposes. If insufficient funds are
appropriated for full implementation of the quality rating and
improvement system beginning on July 1, 2011, the rules shall
provide for gradual implementation over a period of several years.
(d) The Legislature recognizes that expenditures, especially
one-time types of expenditures or expenditures of a limited
duration, may be funded with moneys derived through the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. A study of the cost of
implementing a quality rating and improvement system statewide is
expected to be conducted over the next two years.
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