| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to child care; creating s. 402.3012, F.S.; |
| 3 | establishing the Florida's Sunshine State Stars Quality |
| 4 | Rating System, a voluntary rating system, in the Agency |
| 5 | for Workforce Innovation; providing quality rating |
| 6 | requirements for early learning programs, child care |
| 7 | facilities, and facilities participating in the Voluntary |
| 8 | Prekindergarten Education Program; establishing a |
| 9 | voluntary pilot program in specified counties; providing |
| 10 | financial incentives for advancement in quality rating; |
| 11 | providing for technical support; providing for expiration |
| 12 | of the program; requiring the Office of Early Learning |
| 13 | within the Agency for Workforce Innovation to develop a |
| 14 | workforce development plan; providing an appropriation; |
| 15 | providing an effective date. |
| 16 |
|
| 17 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 18 |
|
| 19 | Section 1. Section 402.3012, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 20 | to read: |
| 21 | 402.3012 Florida's Sunshine State Stars Quality Rating |
| 22 | System.-- |
| 23 | (1) FLORIDA'S SUNSHINE STATE STARS QUALITY RATING |
| 24 | SYSTEM.--The Office of Early Learning within the Agency for |
| 25 | Workforce Innovation shall establish the Florida's Sunshine |
| 26 | State Stars Quality Rating System to provide a voluntary, |
| 27 | statewide standard rating system for licensed early learning |
| 28 | programs, child care facilities as defined in s. 402.302, and |
| 29 | facilities participating in the Voluntary Prekindergarten |
| 30 | Education Program created under s. 1002.53. |
| 31 | (a) The rating system shall consist of five tiers. For the |
| 32 | purposes of this section, a "tier" refers to each level of |
| 33 | progression and represents a higher level of quality within the |
| 34 | quality rating system. To communicate the level of quality to |
| 35 | parents, consumers, and the participating early learning |
| 36 | program, a star symbol shall be used. Programs that meet the |
| 37 | highest level of quality in the rating system shall be awarded |
| 38 | five stars. |
| 39 | (b) Programs must meet all the criteria of a tier before |
| 40 | advancing to the next tier. The office shall be responsible for |
| 41 | implementing the requirements for each tier in each category |
| 42 | based upon recommendations of the Early Learning Advisory |
| 43 | Council's Quality Rating System Task Force and recommendations |
| 44 | from organized meetings to gather local input from parent and |
| 45 | provider focus groups and interviews. |
| 46 | (2) REQUIREMENTS FOR CHILD CARE FACILITIES AND FACILITIES |
| 47 | PARTICIPATING IN THE VOLUNTARY PREKINDERGARTEN EDUCATION |
| 48 | PROGRAM.-- |
| 49 | (a) Overall quality rating assessment shall be based on |
| 50 | the following major components that have been documented by |
| 51 | research or best practices to positively impact child and family |
| 52 | outcomes: |
| 53 | 1. Learning environment. |
| 54 | 2. Curricula, screening, and assessment. |
| 55 | 3. Staff qualifications. |
| 56 | 4. Professional development. |
| 57 | 5. Business practices. |
| 58 | 6. Family involvement. |
| 59 | (b) Advancement through the tiers in each major component |
| 60 | shall be based on the following: |
| 61 | 1. Learning environment, verified through document |
| 62 | submission or use of the appropriate Early Childhood Environment |
| 63 | Rating Scales (Harms, Clifford, and Cryer). |
| 64 | 2. Curricula, screening, and assessment, verified through |
| 65 | document review and observation. |
| 66 | 3. Staff qualifications, verified by linkage with |
| 67 | licensing and document review. |
| 68 | 4. Professional development for the director, lead |
| 69 | teacher, and assistant teacher, verified by linkage with |
| 70 | licensing and document review. |
| 71 | 5. Business practices, verified by document review and |
| 72 | observation. Consideration shall be given to child care |
| 73 | providers possessing a Gold Seal Quality Care designation and |
| 74 | Head Start and Early Head Start programs of quality and |
| 75 | excellence. |
| 76 | 6. Family involvement, verified through document review. |
| 77 | Section 2. Florida's Sunshine State Stars Quality Rating |
| 78 | System Voluntary Pilot Program.-- |
| 79 | (1) FLORIDA'S SUNSHINE STATE STARS QUALITY RATING SYSTEM |
| 80 | VOLUNTARY PILOT PROGRAM.--Florida's Sunshine State Stars Quality |
| 81 | Rating System voluntary pilot program is created for the |
| 82 | implementation of the rating system tier program in the |
| 83 | following counties: Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Leon, Miami- |
| 84 | Dade, Orange, Palm Beach, and Pinellas. The identified counties |
| 85 | include urban counties and rural counties that have established |
| 86 | or are in the process of establishing quality rating systems. |
| 87 | (2) FINANCIAL INCENTIVES FOR ADVANCEMENT IN THE RATING |
| 88 | SYSTEM.-- |
| 89 | (a) Centers and programs in tiers 1, 2, and 3 shall be |
| 90 | eligible for grants and awards to improve quality. |
| 91 | (b) Centers and programs in tiers 4 and 5 shall be |
| 92 | eligible for merit awards to maintain high quality. |
| 93 | (3) TECHNICAL SUPPORT.--Technical support shall be |
| 94 | provided to programs to ensure successful entry into the rating |
| 95 | system and movement through the system. The Office of Early |
| 96 | Learning within the Agency for Workforce Innovation shall |
| 97 | coordinate with the participating early learning coalitions to |
| 98 | facilitate the successful participation of child care facilities |
| 99 | in the pilot program and with those programs currently |
| 100 | implementing a quality rating system. |
| 101 | (4) OTHER COUNTIES.--Nothing in this section shall |
| 102 | preclude early learning coalitions from implementing a quality |
| 103 | rating system in other counties. |
| 104 | (5) EXPIRATION OF THE PILOT PROGRAM.--The pilot program |
| 105 | shall expire on July 1, 2009. |
| 106 | Section 3. In order to ensure the availability of |
| 107 | qualified teachers to meet the needs associated with higher |
| 108 | standards, the Office of Early Learning within the Agency for |
| 109 | Workforce Innovation shall develop a workforce development plan. |
| 110 | The plan shall include recommendations for the funding and |
| 111 | expansion of current child care professional development |
| 112 | credentialing programs, such as the Teacher Education and |
| 113 | Compensation Helps program (TEACH), as well as other programs |
| 114 | designed to provide professional development, credentialing, and |
| 115 | advanced education. |
| 116 | Section 4. The sum of $25 million is appropriated from the |
| 117 | General Revenue Fund to the Agency for Workforce Innovation for |
| 118 | the 2007-2008 fiscal year to implement the provisions of this |
| 119 | act. |
| 120 | Section 5. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law. |