CS/CS/CS/SB 1690 — Child Care and Early Learning Services
by Appropriations Committee; Education Pre-K - 12 Committee; Children, Families, and Elder Affairs Committee; and Senator Calatayud
This summary is provided for information only and does not represent the opinion of any Senator, Senate Officer, or Senate Office.
Prepared by: Children, Families, and Elder Affairs Committee (CF)
The bill makes several statutory changes relating to early childhood education and child care regulation and directs initiatives to enhance early childhood education.
In child care regulation, the bill:
- Amends “family day care home” to “family child care home” throughout Florida Statutes.
- Amends s. 402.306, F.S., to require the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and local licensing agencies to disseminate electronically certain information regarding all child care facilities rather than only those that are licensed. This includes information regarding licensing standards and procedures, health and safety standards for school readiness providers, monitoring and inspection reports, and annual data on child deaths, serious injuries, and substantiated abuse that have occurred in child care settings.
- Amends ss. 402.313 and 402.3131, F.S., to remove the annual requirements for family day care homes and large family child care homes to provide parents with information related to flu shots and leaving children in a vehicle unattended.
- Amends s. 402.316, F.S., to require certain exempt child care facilities, specifically those that are an integral part of a church or parochial school and those that are run by businesses for the benefit of their employees, to include a specified statement regarding their exemption from licensure or regulation by the DCF on their website, promotional materials and facility-created documents and forms provided to families.
- Amends s. 627.70161, F.S., to add “large family child care” as a type of child care services where the cancellation, denial, or nonrenewal of residential property insurance is prohibited solely on the basis that those services are provided at the residence.
In early childhood education, the bill:
- Amends s. 1001.24, F.S., to add “early learning programs for children from birth to five years of age” to the definition of the Department of Education (DOE) direct-support organization (DSO), authorizing the DOE’s DSO, the Florida Education Foundation, Inc., to receive, hold, invest, and administer property and to make expenditures to or for the benefit of early learning programs for children birth to five, in addition to current law allowing for public prekindergarten through grade 12.
- Creates s. 1002.821, F.S., to establish the Florida Child Care Fund within the DOE’s DSO to support early learning and child care needs of Florida families, and requires the Division of Early Learning to annually prepare and the DOE to publish on its website a report on the performance of the program and the program’s fundraising activities by January 1 of each year, beginning January 1, 2027.
- Amends s. 1002.95, F.S., to expand, subject to appropriation, the role of the TEACH Scholarship Program administrator to establish and administer the Center for Early Childhood Professional Recognition. There is currently no such professional recognition entity for early childhood professionals designated or recognized in statute. In effect, the Center for Early Childhood Professional Recognition will ensure statewide alignment of training, trainer approval, and competency-based assessments for early learning professionals.
If approved by the Governor, or allowed to become law without the Governor's signature, these provisions take effect on July 1, 2026.
Vote: Senate 37-0; House 111-0