WEST virginia Legislature

2020 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 4897

By Delegate S. Brown

[Introduced February 11, 2020; Referred to the Committee on Health and Human Resources then Finance]

A BILL to amend and reenact the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §49-2-125a, relating to the establishment of a Child Care Access Work Group; making legislative findings; establishing the work group within the Department of Health and Human Resources; defining membership; specifying duties; requiring the submission of a report; providing for administration, support, and reimbursement of members; and providing for automatic termination of the group.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 2. STATE RESPONSIBILITIES FOR CHILDREN.

§49-2-125a. Child care access working group; findings; membership; administration; duties; report; termination.

(a) (1) The Legislature finds that child care is a sector that is critical to the vitality and economic security of our state and communities and families, and that families in West Virginia face significant barriers to accessing and affording high quality child care. The Legislature finds that West Virginia’s committed caregivers and state investments and advancements in our quality rating and improvement system ensure that quality, culturally relevant child care supports children’s healthy development and prepares them for success in school and in life. The Legislature recognizes that provider diversity and cultural relevance are fundamental components of quality, and that parent choice is a priority throughout the state’s early learning system.

(2) The Legislature finds that the cost of quality child care is unaffordable for many families and state support is needed to ensure that all children and families in West Virginia can access safe, enriching child care.

(3) The Legislature recognizes that expanding access to quality child care requires ensuring that the market of child care providers is prepared to meet existing and expanded demand. The Legislature finds that the market of child care providers is shrinking, that child care deserts are emerging, and that fewer providers are offering services to needy families, as the costs, associated with ensuring safe, healthy environments where children are loved and learning, are unaffordable to families and underfunded by subsidy rates. The Legislature additionally finds that child care providers are unable to recruit and retain a qualified workforce because there are not sufficient resources to competitively compensate qualified caregivers; that wages in the industry remain among the lowest of all professions, at or near minimum wage, even as the relationship between a child and a qualified caregiver is of paramount importance to parents; and, according to a rapidly accumulating body of brain science, it is foundational to supporting healthy development.

(4) Therefore, the Legislature intends to promote high quality child care from diverse providers that is accessible and affordable to all families of West Virginia’s children ages birth to five by:

(A) Capping family child care expenses at seven percent of a family’s income for subsidized child care; and

(B) Establishing the goal of universal child care access for all West Virginia families by 2025.

(b) (1) The Child Care Access Work Group is established within the Department of Health and Human Resources. Work group membership shall consist of the secretary of the department or his or her representative, and an additional eight members, appointed by the Governor, representing:

(A) Three child care center providers;

(B) Two child care workers;

(C) A parent representative;

(D) An early learning advocacy organization; and

(E) An early learning policy expert.

(F) The secretary of the department or his or her representative.

(2) The secretary or his or her representative shall preside as chair of the working group and may schedule meetings of the work group or smaller groups thereof as the secretary deems appropriate.

(3) Meetings of the work group shall not require a quorum except that a quorum of at least six members shall be required for the adoption of the final report and recommendations of the work group.

(c) The work group shall:

(1) Develop a regional mechanism to measure the cost of quality that can be used to determine child care subsidy rates;

(2) Consider how the measure of area median income could be used in place of federal poverty level when determining eligibility for child care subsidy;

(3) Evaluate compensation for child care workers, including consideration of pay scale changes, to achieve pay parity with K-12 teachers by January 1, 2025. In conducting its evaluation, the work group shall further develop policy recommendations for the department that:

(A) Endeavor to preserve and increase racial and ethnic equity and diversity in the child care workforce and recognize the value of cultural competency and multilingualism;

(B) Include a salary floor that supports recruitment and retention of a qualified workforce in every early learning setting, determined by an analysis of fields that compete to recruit workers with comparable skills, competencies, and experience of early childhood educators;

(C) Index salaries for providers against the salary for a typical preschool lead teacher, differentiating base compensation for varying levels of responsibility within the early childhood workplace including consideration of center directors, assistant directors, lead teachers, assistant teachers, paraprofessionals family child care owners, and family home assistants;

(D) Incentivize advancements in relevant higher education credentials and credential equivalencies, training, and years of experience, by increasing compensation for each of these, including early learning certificates, associate degrees, bachelors’ degrees, masters’ degrees, and doctoral degrees;

(E) Develop credential equivalencies and criteria, including certified demonstration of competencies developed through apprenticeships, peer learning models, community-based training, and other strategies;

(F) Consider a provider’s years of experience in the field and years of experience at his or her current site;

(G) Differentiate subsidy rates by region; and

(H) Provide additional compensation to providers serving a high proportion of children with outstanding and special needs, providers demonstrating additional linguistic or cultural competency, and providers serving populations furthest from opportunity, including:

(i) Families enrolled in early childhood education and assistance programs;

(ii) Underserved geographic communities;

(iii) Underserved ethnic or linguistic communities;

(iv) Underserved age groups such as infants and toddlers; and

(v) Populations with specialized health or educational needs.

(d) Members of the committee, other than the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources, are entitled to the same daily per diem allowance and reimbursement for their expenses as is authorized for members of the Legislature in accordance with the performance of their interim duties as provided in §4-2A-7 of this code.

(e) Staff support for the work group shall be provided by the Department of Health and Human Resources.

(f) By July 1, 2022, the work group must submit its findings and required implementation plan to the Governor and to the Legislature.

(g) The Child Care Access Work Group shall terminate and this section shall expire December 1, 2022.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish a Child Care Access Work Group to evaluate the availability and costs of child care centers across the state and to make recommendations regarding access, credentialing, and subsidies to improve access to child care.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.