Senate Bill No. 498
(By Senators Plymale, Prezioso, Kessler, Wells, Foster, Jenkins,
Stollings and Unger)
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[Introduced March 6, 2009; referred to the Committee on
Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL 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,
§49-2E-4, §49-2E-5, §49-2E-6, §49-2E-7, §49-2E-8 and §49-2E-9,
all relating to early childhood development; early childhood
education; findings; early childhood education program
providers; use of existing sources; county collaborative
plans; annual submission for approval; creating a review board
for the purpose of receiving complaints from community-based
programs; changes to an approved county collaborative plan;
implementation waiver; reports to Legislative Oversight
Commission on Education Accountability and the Joint Committee
on Government and Finance; enrolling students less than four
years of age; State Board of Education rule; community-based programs ceasing to provide services; community-based programs
choosing to provide services after initially electing not to;
waiver of annual plan submission requirement; quality rating
and improvement system; findings, purpose and intent;
Secretary of Department of Health and Human Resources rules;
pilot projects; statewide implementation; potential gradual
implementation; program standards; levels of quality; system
participation; accountability measures; evaluations;
practitioner and outreach support; parent education and public
awareness; financial incentives; wage supports and benefits;
scholarships; professional development plans; grants;
internet-based management information system; financial
assistance for child care consumers; and ongoing quality
rating and improvement system evaluation.
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,
§49-2E-4, §49-2E-5, §49-2E-6, §49-2E-7, §49-2E-8 and §49-2E-9, 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) Economic research indicates that high quality child care
centers are essential to maintain economic stability, attract
outside investments and support working families and their
employers;
(3) (4) West Virginia has the lowest percentage of its adult
population
twenty-five years of age or older with a
college
bachelor's degree and the education level of parents is a strong
indicator of how their children will perform in school;
(4) (5) During the 2006-07 school year, West Virginia
currently ranks forty-fourth 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) (6) For the school year
two thousand one-two thousand two
2008-2009, six thousand eight hundred fifty-three thirteen thousand
one hundred thirty-five students
less than five years of age were
enrolled in
the public schools prekindergarten, a number equal to
approximately
thirty-three sixty-three percent of the number of
five-year-old students enrolled in kindergarten;
(6) (7) 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
as much as eighteen percent one percent, or by
approximately
fifty thousand two thousand seven hundred four
students, by the school year 2012-2013;
(7) (8) 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) (9) 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
school boards;
(9) (10) Expansion of current efforts to implement a
comprehensive early childhood education program should avoid the
problems encountered in kindergarten implementation;
(10) (11) 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) (12) West Virginia citizens will benefit from the
establishment of quality comprehensive early childhood education
programs;
and
(13) While expanding comprehensive early childhood education
programs will benefit the state, a collaborative approach between
all early childhood programs, including, but not limited to,
education, Head Start and child care is essential to avoid
potential loss of federal funds or reductions in the availability
of child care for working families.
(c) Beginning no later than the school year 2012-2013, and
continuing thereafter, county boards shall
provide make available
in accordance with this section 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 shall
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 or
child care
licensed by the Department of Health and Human Resources and
approved in any other program approved by the state superintendent
as provided in subsection
(k) (l) 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 county boards shall make use of funds
and
resources 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 and private funds
and resources.
(g)
Prior to the school year beginning two thousand three,
Annually, each county
board shall develop a
county collaborative
plan for implementing the program required by this section.
The
plan shall be developed using a team of community partners which
includes, at a minimum, representatives from the county school
system; the county preschool special needs program, Head Start and
child care; the local Department of Health and Human Resources; and
parents. 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
and child care, to
maximize federal and other sources of revenue;
(5) Identification of potential resources and documentation of
the efficient use of currently existing resources;
(6) Documentation that county boards are maximizing resources
by using the existing capacity of community-based programs,
including, but not limited to, Head Start and child care, within
the county before opening new classrooms operated solely by the county board. This documentation shall include at least the
following:
(A) A letter of participation from each community-based
program that is contracted with to provide the early childhood
education services required by this section; and
(B) Budgets and contracts for the upcoming year indicating
that all of the existing capacity of community-based programs is
used to provide the early childhood education services;
(7) Plans demonstrating how, by full implementation, the
county board shall phase in classrooms incrementally so that no
less than fifty percent of the classrooms for eligible children are
provided through contractual agreements with community-based
programs, including, but not limited to, Head Start and child
care.
(8) Written documentation of the exceptions to the fifty
percent requirement which can be made in the following situations:
(A) Community-based programs do not exist in the county, can
never meet program requirements or choose not to participate; or
(B) The county board has requested and received a written
waiver of this requirement from both the State superintendent and
the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources.
(9) For those county boards that are including eligible
children attending approved, contracted community-based programs in
their net enrollment for the purpose 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. County boards shall explore all feasible
supports to enable community-based programs to participate,
including providing certified teachers into the programs, before
determining that the programs cannot meet the mandates;
(10) A detailed statement of the progress made in implementing
its plan;
(5) (11) Specific time lines for implementation; and
(6) (12) Such other items as the state board by policy may
require.
(h)
Prior to the school year beginning two thousand three
Annually, 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) (l) of this section;
and
(3) The county board provides quantifiable evidence that the
plan meets all requirements included in subsections (c) through (h)
of this section; and
(3) (4) 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)
Prior to the school year beginning two thousand three
Annually, the county board shall submit its plan for approval to
the
state board state superintendent. The
state board state
superintendent 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) A review board shall be established for the purpose of
receiving complaints from community-based programs.
(1) The complaints that may be heard by the review board
include:
(A) Allegations that a community-based program has been
compelled to enter into an unsatisfactory agreement with a county
board to provide early childhood education services due to the
community-based program having an unequal bargaining position;
(B) Allegations that a community-based program has been
wrongfully excluded from a county board's plan or from the fifty percent calculation required pursuant to subsection (g) of this
section; and
(C) Any other allegations by a community-based program of
wrongdoing by a county board that resulted in harm to the
community-based program.
(2) The review board shall consist of a representative of the
state superintendent, a representative of the Secretary of the
Department of Health and Human Resources and the Director of the
West Virginia Head Start Collaboration Office. The state
superintendent shall appoint his or her representative, and the
secretary shall appoint his or her representative. The state
superintendent and the secretary are not required to appoint the
same representative to the review board to address all complaints.
(3) A community-based program shall file their complaint with
the review board in writing and may request a hearing to testify
before the review board. The review board shall grant the
community-based program's request for a hearing.
(4) When a community-based program files a complaint with the
review board, the state superintendent shall provide notice to the
county board that is a party to the contested agreement and shall
fax or electronically transfer a copy of the complaint within seven
days of receiving the complaint. If a complaint is heard from a
community-based program, the review board also shall give the
county board an opportunity to testify before the review board, submit a report to the review board in writing or both, at the
county board's discretion.
(5) The review board shall report it's findings to both the
state superintendent and the secretary and advise both on a course
of action within forty-five days after the complaint is received.
Both the report and advice to the state superintendent and the
secretary shall be made at least in writing.
(6) If the state superintendent or the secretary find that a
community-based program's complaint is justified, either or both
the state superintendent and the secretary may rescind their prior
approval of the county board's plan within fourteen days of
receiving the review board's report and advice.
(7) The state superintendent, the secretary and the director
shall agree on a process for implementing the requirements of this
subsection which shall at least include:
(A) A designated office or person to handle all clerical
duties related to these provisions such as receiving initial
complaints and coordinating meetings of the review board; and
(B) Educating community-based programs throughout the state
about the existence of the review board and where initial
complaints are required to be filed.
(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) All changes of substance to an approved county
collaborative plan must be submitted with the signatures of all
required collaborative partners for approval to the Secretary of
the Department of Health and Human Resources and the state
superintendent thirty days prior to the implementation of the
changes. If a county board fails to submit its plan to the
secretary and the state superintendent within thirty days prior to
the implementation of the changes, the county board's plan is
considered disapproved until the changes are approved by both the
secretary and the state superintendent or the county board
reverses its implementation of the changes.
(k) (l) Commencing with the school year beginning on July 1,
2004, and thereafter, no county board may increase the total number
of students enrolled in the county in an early childhood program
until its
program county collaborative plan is approved by the
Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources and the
state board has been granted state superintendent.
(l) (m) The
state board state superintendent annually may grant a county board a waiver for total or partial implementation
if the
state board state superintendent 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 must 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) (n) The provisions of subsections (b), (c) and (d),
section eighteen of this article relating to kindergarten shall
apply to early childhood education programs in the same manner in
which they apply to kindergarten programs.
(n) (o) On or before
the first day of December, two thousand
four December 1, 2009, and each year thereafter, the
state board
state superintendent shall report to the Legislative Oversight
Commission on Education Accountability on the progress of implementation of this section.
(o) (p) During or after the school year beginning in
two
thousand four 2009, and except as
may be required by federal law or
regulation, no county
board shall enroll students who will be less
than four years of age prior to September 1 for the year they enter
school,
regardless of the source of funds, unless such funds are a
necessary support for children with special needs or are dedicated
solely for education of children under the age of four: Provided,
That nothing in this subsection shall be construed to include
children less than four years of age enrolled under the dedicated
funding source exception in the definition of "net enrollment" set
forth in section two, article nine-a of this chapter.
(p) (q) 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)
and (k) of this
section.
(q) (r) The
state board state superintendent and the
Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources shall
jointly prepare a proposed rule to be recommended to the state
board for implementing the provisions of this section. The state
board shall promulgate the recommended rule, a modified version of
the recommended rule or a new rule 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) Guidelines for ensuring that the health and safety needs
of children under the age of five are provided for; and
(5) (6) Such other terms as may be necessary to implement the
provisions of this section.
(r) (s) 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, decision-making 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) (t) On or before the second day of January, two thousand
four Annually, 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
address 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
counties
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 and the impact on both public and private early childhood
programs and funding.
The intent of this subsection is to enable the Legislature to
proceed in a fiscally responsible manner, make any program
improvements as may be necessary based on reported information
prior to implementation of the early childhood education programs
and to monitor the progress with which county boards are using
existing community-based programs to provide the early childhood
education services.
(u) A community-based program providing early childhood
education services shall provide notice to the county board it is
under contract with to provide those services at least one year in
advance of ceasing to provide those services. If a community-based
program fails to provide the one year advance notice, the community-based program may not enter into a contract to provide
the early childhood education services and the community-based
program shall not be included in the fifty percent collaboration
calculation for three full school years after the community-based
program ceases to provide the early childhood education services.
(v) For any community-based program that originally chooses
not to provide early childhood education services and subsequently
chooses to provide the services:
(1) Subject to subdivision (2) of this subsection, the
classrooms of that community-based program shall not be included in
the fifty percent collaboration calculation for one full school
year after the community-based program provides notice to the
county board of its intent to provide early childhood education
services.
(2) If the county board has invested resources in the opening
of classrooms in reliance on the community-based program's initial
choice not to provide the early childhood education services and
the county board would not be able to comply with the fifty percent
collaboration requirement by full implementation without losing its
prior investments in the opening of the classrooms if the
classrooms of the community-based program were included, the
classrooms of the community-based program shall not be included in
the fifty percent collaboration calculation until enrollment
increases are sufficient to allow the classrooms to be included without causing the county board to lose its prior investments in
the opening of the classrooms.
(w) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the
contrary, the requirement that a county board submit its plan
annually to the state superintendent and the Secretary of the
Department of Health and Human Resources annually may be waived for
one or two years under the following conditions:
(1) Both the county board and the community-based programs
must request the waiver for either one or two years; and
(2) Both the state superintendent and the secretary must make
a finding at the time plan approval that the county board is making
a good faith effort to meet the fifty percent collaboration
requirement and that the county board is compensating all of the
community-based programs an appropriate amount.
CHAPTER 49. CHILD WELFARE.
ARTICLE 2E. QUALITY RATING AND IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM.
§49-2E-1. Findings; purpose; and intent.
(a) The Legislature finds that:
(1) The Partners Implementing an Early Care and Education
System (PIECES) Council found that a childcare quality rating and
improvement system should be a top priority;
(2) The West Virginia KIDS COUNT Fund also is advocating for
the creation of a quality rating and improvement system;
(3) According to a report prepared by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Marshall University in 2005, for every
dollar the state invests in high quality early childhood
development, an estimated rate of return of $5.20 in benefits can
be expected;
(4) Only eight percent of the child care programs in West
Virginia have national accreditation which is the gold standard of
quality for child care programs;
(5) West Virginia is only one of eight states that does not
have a quality rating and improvement system; and
(6) Longitudinal research indicates that high-quality child
care programs result in:
(A) Fewer special education placements;
(B) Reduced crime;
(C) Decreased substance abuse;
(D) Improved educational outcomes;
(E) Higher test scores and graduation rates;
(F) Decreased teen pregnancy; and
(G) Higher employment and college attendance.
(7) A study of the cost of implementing a quality rating and
improvement system statewide is expected to be conducted over the
next couple of years.
(b) The purpose of this legislation is to create a quality
rating and improvement system in West Virginia that will serve two
primary purposes:
(1) Parents would have information about the quality of child
care programs to make good decisions about the placement of their
children; and
(2) Child-care programs would have an incentive and resources
to improve quality.
(c) It is the intent of the Legislature to:
(1) Allow for the creation of a quality rating and improvement
system as a pilot project in three counties while a study of the
cost of implementing a statewide system is conducted; and
(2) Create a statewide quality rating and improvement system
to be effective July 1, 2011.
§49-2E-2. Quality rating and improvement system pilot projects.
The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources
may 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 in up to five
counties as pilot projects. The pilot quality rating and
improvement systems shall be in accordance with the provisions of
this article for the statewide system to the extent applicable to
pilot systems.
§49-2E-3. Creation of statewide quality rating and improvement
system.
(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 statewide pursuant to this article beginning on
July 1, 2011, subject to subsection (b) of this section.
(b) 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.
§49-2E-4. Program standards.
(a) Different sets of standards shall be developed for family
child care homes, family child care facilities and child care
centers.
(b) The system shall consist of four levels of quality.
(c) The standards for achieving the first level shall be the
basic state licensing requirements.
(d) Participation beyond the first level shall be voluntary.
(e) Child-care centers shall not be rated at the second level
unless it has a regular license.
(f) Family child care homes shall not be rated at the second
level unless they have been registered with the state for at least
six months.
(g) A child care center shall not be rated at the fourth level
unless it achieves national accreditation through the National
Association for the Education of Young Children or other equivalent accreditations and has received an overall score of five on an
evaluation using environmental rating scales.
(h) A Family child care home shall not be rated at the fourth
level unless it achieves national accreditation by the National
Association for Family Child Care plus additional standards to be
set forth in the rule required by sections two or three of this
article, as applicable.
(i) Program standards shall be categorized using the West
Virginia State Training and Registry System Core Knowledge Areas.
(j) Standards required for the lower level shall be included
in the standards required to reach the next level.
(k) Any program currently accredited by the National
Association for the Education of Young Children or the National
Association for Family Child Care, as applicable, shall
automatically have level four status initially, but lose their
level four status at the time of their next National Association
for the Education of Young Children or National Association for
Family Child Care visit unless it meets all the standards of the
first three levels by the time of that visit.
(l) School-age child care programs shall be eligible to
participate in the system after promulgation of school-age child
care rules.
(m) The rules required pursuant to sections two and three of
this article shall include policies relating to the review, reduction, suspension or disqualification of child care programs
from the quality rating and improvement system.
§49-2E-5. Accountability measures.
(a) On-site inspections shall be conducted at least annually
to determine whether programs are rated correctly and continue to
meet the appropriate standards.
(b) Environmental rating scales for early childhood, infant,
toddler, school-age care and facility child care shall be used in
accordance with the following:
(1) Family child care homes shall be evaluated using the
Family child care environmental rating scales;
(2) Child-care centers shall be evaluated using the Infant and
Toddler, Early Childhood or School-Age Environmental Rating Scales,
as appropriate, based on their enrollment;
(3) Family child care facilities shall be evaluated using the
most appropriate method based on their enrollment;
(4) Programs rated at level two shall do annual
self-assessments using the proper environmental rating scale;
(5) Environmental rating scale evaluations shall be conducted
by reliable evaluators for centers rated at levels three and four
annually and a program improvement plan designed to improve the
environmental rating score would be developed for those centers;
(6) Except for making an environmental rating scale score of
five a condition of level four status, a certain environmental rating scale score shall not be required so that the focus would be
on continuous quality improvement rather than obtaining a certain
score; and
(7) Evaluations shall be conducted on fifty percent of center
classrooms, with a minimum of one class per age group.
§49-2E-6. Practitioner and outreach support.
(a) Technical assistance staff shall have a Bachelor's Degree
in Early Childhood/Child Development or related field with a
classification of social service research assistant.
(b) Technical assistance staff shall be responsible for career
advising, accreditation support services, improvement planning,
portfolio development and environmental rating scale evaluations
for improvement planning only.
(c) Professional development shall be provided to the staff of
child care programs in accordance with the rule required pursuant
to section two or section three, as applicable.
(d) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall create a position within the department for the
purpose of collaborating with other professional development
providers to maximize funding for training, scholarships and
professional development.
(e) Each of the six child care resource and referral agencies
shall employ an additional infant and toddler specialists to
deliver a fifty-hour training course for staff caring for infants, to provide on-site assistance with infant and toddler issues and
provide higher level training.
(f) Community colleges are encouraged to provide courses
through nontraditional means such as online training, evening
classes and off campus training.
(g) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall purchase new training programs on topics such as
business management, the Devereux Resiliency Training, and Mind in
the Making, as well as provide training on the environmental rating
scales.
(h) Each of the child care resource and referral agencies
shall employ at least one additional training specialists to
support new training topics and to provide training for school-age
child care programs.
§49-2E-7. Parent education and public awareness.
(a) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall implement communication strategies to educate
parents. The communication strategies may include brochures,
Internet sites, posters, banners, certificates, decals and pins.
(b) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall conduct a broad public awareness campaign that may
include 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.
§49-2E-8. Financial incentives.
(a) Wage supports and benefits shall be provided as an
incentive to increase child care programs ratings and as an
incentive to increase staff qualifications in accordance with the
following:
(1) The cost of salary supplements would be phased in over a
five-year period;
(2) The West Virginia Early Childhood Training Connections and
Resources at River Valley Child Development services shall create
an additional position to support the increase in wages;
(3) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall establish a salary scale for each of the top three
rating levels that varies the salary support based on the education
of the care giver and the rating level of the program;
(4) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall promote the provision of health care benefits for
all staff in level two or above programs that are either
participating in the scholarship component or who have attained the
Apprenticeship for Child Development Specialist credential or a
higher level on the career ladder. The secretary shall use the
Teacher Education and Compensation Helps model in the provision of
the health care benefits;
(5) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources shall establish base salary rates at the seventy-fifth
percentile of market rate; and
(6) A system of tiered reimbursement shall be established
which increases the salary rates of staff by a certain amount above
the base salary rates for rating level of the child care program.
(b) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall provide scholarships and establish professional
development plans that would promote increasing the credentials of
center staff over a five-year period to the following levels:
(1) Directors of small centers with up to thirty children
would obtain the Apprenticeship for Child Development Specialist
credential;
(2) Directors of medium centers with between thirty-one and
sixty children would obtain an Associate of Arts degree in Early
Childhood/Child Development;
(3) Directors of large centers with sixty-one or more children
would obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree in Early Childhood/Child
Development or business degree with eighteen to twenty-four hours
of Early Childhood/Child Development credits;
(4) Fifty percent of Teachers and Lead Teachers would obtain
an Associate of Arts degree in Early Childhood/Child Development
and twenty-five percent will be working toward a Bachelor of Arts
degree in Early Childhood/Child Development; and
(5) Fifty percent of assistant teachers would work toward an Apprenticeship for Child Development Specialist credential.
(c) Two types of grants shall be awarded to child care
programs in accordance with the following:
(1) 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 levels being awarded a
larger grant than the types of child care programs having less
children and child care programs rated at lower levels; and
(2) Grants for helping with the cost of national accreditation
shall be awarded to child care centers on an equitable basis. The
amount of the grants shall be based on the amount of funding
available.
§49-2E-9. Other related components for enhancing early care.
(a) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall establish an Internet-based management information
system that meets the following requirements:
(1) The system shall allow for multiple agencies to access and
input data;
(2) The system shall provide the data necessary to determine
if the quality enhancements result in improved care and better
outcomes for children;
(3) 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;
(4) The system shall include different security levels in
order to comply with the numerous confidentiality requirements;
(5) 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
(6) The system shall provide accountability for child care
programs and recipients and assure funds are being used
effectively.
(b) Since increasing the quality of child care will drive up
market prices, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall provide financial assistance to the child care
consumers whose income is at two hundred percent of the federal
poverty level or under.
(c) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall conduct an ongoing evaluation of the quality rating
and improvement system by contracting with a state research partner
to work with the Partners Implementing an Early Care and Education
System and the Department of Health and Human Resources to
establish viable measures. The state research partner shall have
access to data in the management information system created
pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. The secretary shall
establish a baseline evaluation of the current level of quality. The state research partner shall assist in establishing a reliable
sample of programs for environmental rating scale evaluations to
develop a base line which would be tracked by the management
information system. Child-care programs at level three status
shall undergo annual assessments using the environmental rating
scale so that ongoing tracking of improvements is possible.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to codify parts of State
Board Policy 2525; require county collaborative plans to be
submitted annually; add required elements to the county
collaborative plans; establish a review board to receive complaints
from community-based programs; address changes to an approved
county collaborative plan; address the prohibition against
enrolling students less than four years of age; involve the
Secretary of Health and Human Resources in preparing a rule for the
State Board of Education to consider; address community-based
providers ceasing to provide early childhood education services and
electing to provide those services after initially electing not to;
establish a process for waiving the annual county collaborative
plan submission and approval requirement; authorize the creation of
quality rating and improvement system pilot projects; require the
creation of a statewide quality rating and improvement system
beginning July 1, 2011; allow gradual implementation if
insufficient funds are available on July 1, 2011; and set forth the
components of the quality rating and improvement system and other
related provisions.
§49-2E-1, §49-2E-2, §49-2E-3, §49-2E-4, §49-2E-5, §49-2E-6,
§49-2E-7, §49-2E-8 and §49-2E-9 is new; therefore, strike-throughs
and underscoring have been omitted.