Florida Senate - 2011                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SPB 7202
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 772460                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                   Comm: WD            .                                
                  04/01/2011           .                                
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       The Committee on Budget (Wise) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Substitute for Amendment (203410) (with title
    2  amendment)
    3  
    4         Delete lines 14260 - 15081
    5  and insert:
    6         Section 247. Subsections (1) and (2), paragraph (a) of
    7  subsection (3), and subsection (4) of section 411.0101, Florida
    8  Statutes, are amended to read:
    9         411.0101 Child care and early childhood resource and
   10  referral.—
   11         (1) As a part of the school readiness programs, the
   12  Department of Children and Family Services Agency for Workforce
   13  Innovation shall establish a statewide child care resource and
   14  referral network that is unbiased and provides referrals to
   15  families for child care. Preference shall be given to using the
   16  already established early learning coalitions as the child care
   17  resource and referral agencies. If an early learning coalition
   18  cannot comply with the requirements to offer the resource
   19  information component or does not want to offer that service,
   20  the early learning coalition shall select the resource and
   21  referral agency for its county or multicounty region based upon
   22  a request for proposal pursuant to s. 411.01(5)(e)1.
   23         (2) At least one child care resource and referral agency
   24  must be established in each early learning coalition’s county or
   25  multicounty region. The Department of Children and Family
   26  Services Agency for Workforce Innovation shall adopt rules
   27  regarding accessibility of child care resource and referral
   28  services offered through child care resource and referral
   29  agencies in each county or multicounty region which include, at
   30  a minimum, required hours of operation, methods by which parents
   31  may request services, and child care resource and referral staff
   32  training requirements.
   33         (3) Child care resource and referral agencies shall provide
   34  the following services:
   35         (a) Identification of existing public and private child
   36  care and early childhood education services, including child
   37  care services by public and private employers, and the
   38  development of a resource file of those services through the
   39  single statewide information system developed by the Department
   40  of Children and Family Services Agency for Workforce Innovation
   41  under s. 411.01(5)(c)1.e. These services may include family day
   42  care, public and private child care programs, the Voluntary
   43  Prekindergarten Education Program, Head Start, the school
   44  readiness program, special education programs for
   45  prekindergarten children with disabilities, services for
   46  children with developmental disabilities, full-time and part
   47  time programs, before-school and after-school programs, vacation
   48  care programs, parent education, the Temporary Cash Assistance
   49  Program, and related family support services. The resource file
   50  shall include, but not be limited to:
   51         1. Type of program.
   52         2. Hours of service.
   53         3. Ages of children served.
   54         4. Number of children served.
   55         5. Significant program information.
   56         6. Fees and eligibility for services.
   57         7. Availability of transportation.
   58         (4) The Department of Children and Family Services Agency
   59  for Workforce Innovation shall adopt any rules necessary for the
   60  implementation and administration of this section.
   61         Section 248. Subsections (2), (6), and (7) of section
   62  411.01013, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   63         411.01013 Prevailing market rate schedule.—
   64         (2) The Department of Children and Family Services Agency
   65  for Workforce Innovation shall establish procedures for the
   66  adoption of a prevailing market rate schedule. The schedule must
   67  include, at a minimum, county-by-county rates:
   68         (a) At the prevailing market rate, plus the maximum rate,
   69  for child care providers that hold a Gold Seal Quality Care
   70  designation under s. 402.281.
   71         (b) At the prevailing market rate for child care providers
   72  that do not hold a Gold Seal Quality Care designation.
   73         (6) The Department of Children and Family Services Agency
   74  for Workforce Innovation may contract with one or more qualified
   75  entities to administer this section and provide support and
   76  technical assistance for child care providers.
   77         (7) The Department of Children and Family Services Agency
   78  for Workforce Innovation may adopt rules pursuant to ss.
   79  120.536(1) and 120.54 for establishing procedures for the
   80  collection of child care providers’ market rate, the calculation
   81  of a reasonable frequency distribution of the market rate, and
   82  the publication of a prevailing market rate schedule.
   83         Section 249. Subsection (1) of section 411.01014, Florida
   84  Statutes, is amended to read:
   85         411.01014 School readiness transportation services.—
   86         (1) The Department of Children and Family Services Agency
   87  for Workforce Innovation, pursuant to chapter 427, may authorize
   88  an early learning coalition to establish school readiness
   89  transportation services for children at risk of abuse or neglect
   90  participating in the school readiness program. The early
   91  learning coalitions may contract for the provision of
   92  transportation services as required by this section.
   93         Section 250. Subsections (1), (3), and (4) of section
   94  411.01015, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   95         411.01015 Consultation to child care centers and family day
   96  care homes regarding health, developmental, disability, and
   97  special needs issues.—
   98         (1) Contingent upon specific appropriations, the Department
   99  of Children and Family Services Agency for Workforce Innovation
  100  shall administer a statewide toll-free Warm-Line for the purpose
  101  of providing assistance and consultation to child care centers
  102  and family day care homes regarding health, developmental,
  103  disability, and special needs issues of the children they are
  104  serving, particularly children with disabilities and other
  105  special needs.
  106         (3) The Department of Children and Family Services Agency
  107  for Workforce Innovation shall annually inform child care
  108  centers and family day care homes of the availability of this
  109  service through the child care resource and referral network
  110  under s. 411.0101.
  111         (4) Contingent upon specific appropriations, the Department
  112  of Children and Family Services Agency for Workforce Innovation
  113  shall expand, or contract for the expansion of, the Warm-Line to
  114  maintain at least one Warm-Line site in each early learning
  115  coalition service area.
  116         Section 251. Subsections (2) and (3) of section 411.0103,
  117  Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
  118         411.0103 Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (TEACH)
  119  scholarship program.—
  120         (2) The Department of Children and Family Services Agency
  121  for Workforce Innovation may contract for the administration of
  122  the Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (TEACH) scholarship
  123  program, which provides educational scholarships to caregivers
  124  and administrators of early childhood programs, family day care
  125  homes, and large family child care homes.
  126         (3) The department agency shall adopt rules under ss.
  127  120.536(1) and 120.54 as necessary to administer this section.
  128         Section 252. Subsections (1) and (3) of section 411.0104,
  129  Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
  130         411.0104 Early Head Start collaboration grants.—
  131         (1) Contingent upon specific appropriations, the Department
  132  of Children and Family Services Agency for Workforce Innovation
  133  shall establish a program to award collaboration grants to
  134  assist local agencies in securing Early Head Start programs
  135  through Early Head Start program federal grants. The
  136  collaboration grants shall provide the required matching funds
  137  for public and private nonprofit agencies that have been
  138  approved for Early Head Start program federal grants.
  139         (3) The Department of Children and Family Services Agency
  140  for Workforce Innovation may adopt rules under ss. 120.536(1)
  141  and 120.54 as necessary for the award of collaboration grants to
  142  competing agencies and the administration of the collaboration
  143  grants program under this section.
  144         Section 253. Section 411.0106, Florida Statutes, is amended
  145  to read:
  146         411.0106 Infants and toddlers in state-funded education and
  147  care programs; brain development activities.—Each state-funded
  148  education and care program for children from birth to 5 years of
  149  age must provide activities to foster brain development in
  150  infants and toddlers. A program must provide an environment that
  151  helps children attain the performance standards adopted by the
  152  Department of Children and Family Services Agency for Workforce
  153  Innovation under s. 411.01(4)(d)8. and must be rich in language
  154  and music and filled with objects of various colors, shapes,
  155  textures, and sizes to stimulate visual, tactile, auditory, and
  156  linguistic senses in the children and must include classical
  157  music and at least 30 minutes of reading to the children each
  158  day. A program may be offered through an existing early
  159  childhood program such as Healthy Start, the Title I program,
  160  the school readiness program, the Head Start program, or a
  161  private child care program. A program must provide training for
  162  the infants’ and toddlers’ parents including direct dialogue and
  163  interaction between teachers and parents demonstrating the
  164  urgency of brain development in the first year of a child’s
  165  life. Family day care centers are encouraged, but not required,
  166  to comply with this section.
  167         Section 254. Subsection (1) and paragraph (g) of subsection
  168  (3) of section 411.011, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
  169         411.011 Records of children in school readiness programs.—
  170         (1) The individual records of children enrolled in school
  171  readiness programs provided under s. 411.01, held by an early
  172  learning coalition or the Department of Department of Children
  173  and Family Services Agency for Workforce Innovation, are
  174  confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I
  175  of the State Constitution. For purposes of this section, records
  176  include assessment data, health data, records of teacher
  177  observations, and personal identifying information.
  178         (3) School readiness records may be released to:
  179         (g) Parties to an interagency agreement among early
  180  learning coalitions, local governmental agencies, providers of
  181  school readiness programs, state agencies, and the Department of
  182  Children and Family Services Agency for Workforce Innovation for
  183  the purpose of implementing the school readiness program.
  184  
  185  Agencies, organizations, or individuals that receive school
  186  readiness records in order to carry out their official functions
  187  must protect the data in a manner that does not permit the
  188  personal identification of a child enrolled in a school
  189  readiness program and his or her parents by persons other than
  190  those authorized to receive the records.
  191  
  192  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  193         And the title is amended as follows:
  194         Delete line 335
  195  and insert:
  196         409.946, 411.0101, 411.01013, 411.01014,