| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to child care; creating s. 402.3012, F.S.; |
| 3 | providing for the Office of Early Learning within the |
| 4 | Agency for Workforce Innovation to establish Florida's |
| 5 | Sunshine State Stars Quality Rating System, subject to |
| 6 | specific appropriation; providing for the rating system to |
| 7 | be voluntary; providing quality rating requirements for |
| 8 | early learning programs, child care facilities, and |
| 9 | facilities participating in the Voluntary Prekindergarten |
| 10 | Education Program; establishing a voluntary pilot program |
| 11 | in specified counties; providing financial incentives for |
| 12 | advancement in quality rating; providing for technical |
| 13 | support; providing for expiration of the program; |
| 14 | requiring the Office of Early Learning within the Agency |
| 15 | for Workforce Innovation to develop an early education |
| 16 | workforce development plan; providing an effective date. |
| 17 |
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| 18 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 19 |
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| 20 | Section 1. Section 402.3012, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 21 | to read: |
| 22 | 402.3012 Florida's Sunshine State Stars Quality Rating |
| 23 | System.-- |
| 24 | (1) FLORIDA'S SUNSHINE STATE STARS QUALITY RATING |
| 25 | SYSTEM.--Subject to specific legislative appropriation, the |
| 26 | Office of Early Learning within the Agency for Workforce |
| 27 | Innovation shall establish Florida's Sunshine State Stars |
| 28 | Quality Rating System to provide a voluntary, statewide standard |
| 29 | rating system for licensed early learning programs, child care |
| 30 | facilities as defined in s. 402.302, and facilities |
| 31 | participating in the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program |
| 32 | created under s. 1002.53. |
| 33 | (a) The rating system shall consist of five tiers. For the |
| 34 | purposes of this section, a "tier" refers to each level of |
| 35 | progression and represents a higher level of quality within the |
| 36 | quality rating system. To communicate the level of quality to |
| 37 | parents, consumers, and the participating early learning |
| 38 | programs, a star symbol shall be used. Programs that meet the |
| 39 | highest level of quality in the rating system shall be awarded |
| 40 | five stars. |
| 41 | (b) Programs must meet all the criteria of a tier before |
| 42 | advancing to the next tier. The office shall be responsible for |
| 43 | implementing the requirements for each tier in each category |
| 44 | based upon recommendations of the Early Learning Advisory |
| 45 | Council's Quality Rating System Task Force and recommendations |
| 46 | from organized meetings and interviews conducted to gather local |
| 47 | input from parent and provider focus groups. |
| 48 | (2) REQUIREMENTS FOR CHILD CARE FACILITIES AND FACILITIES |
| 49 | PARTICIPATING IN THE VOLUNTARY PREKINDERGARTEN EDUCATION |
| 50 | PROGRAM.-- |
| 51 | (a) Overall quality rating assessments shall be based on |
| 52 | the following major components that have been documented by |
| 53 | research or best practices to positively impact child and family |
| 54 | outcomes: |
| 55 | 1. Learning environment. |
| 56 | 2. Curricula, screening, and assessment. |
| 57 | 3. Staff qualifications. |
| 58 | 4. Professional development. |
| 59 | 5. Business practices. |
| 60 | 6. Family involvement. |
| 61 | (b) Advancement through the tiers in each major component |
| 62 | shall be based on the following: |
| 63 | 1. Learning environment, verified through document |
| 64 | submission or use of an appropriate environment rating scale. |
| 65 | 2. Curricula, screening, and assessment, verified through |
| 66 | document review and observation. |
| 67 | 3. Staff qualifications, verified by linkage with |
| 68 | licensing and document review. |
| 69 | 4. Professional development for the director, lead |
| 70 | teacher, and assistant teacher, verified by linkage with |
| 71 | licensing and document review. |
| 72 | 5. Business practices, verified by document review and |
| 73 | observation. Consideration shall be given to child care |
| 74 | providers possessing a Gold Seal Quality Care designation and |
| 75 | Head Start and Early Head Start programs of quality and |
| 76 | excellence. |
| 77 | 6. Family involvement, verified through document review. |
| 78 | Section 2. Florida's Sunshine State Stars Quality Rating |
| 79 | System Voluntary Pilot Program.-- |
| 80 | (1) FLORIDA'S SUNSHINE STATE STARS QUALITY RATING SYSTEM |
| 81 | VOLUNTARY PILOT PROGRAM.--Subject to specific legislative |
| 82 | appropriation, Florida's Sunshine State Stars Quality Rating |
| 83 | System Voluntary Pilot Program is created for the implementation |
| 84 | of the rating system tier program in the following counties: |
| 85 | Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Leon, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm |
| 86 | Beach, and Pinellas. The identified counties include urban |
| 87 | counties and rural counties that have established or are in the |
| 88 | process of establishing quality rating systems. |
| 89 | (2) FINANCIAL INCENTIVES FOR ADVANCEMENT IN THE RATING |
| 90 | SYSTEM.-- |
| 91 | (a) Centers and programs in tiers 1, 2, and 3 shall be |
| 92 | eligible for grants and awards to improve the quality of their |
| 93 | programs, subject to appropriation. |
| 94 | (b) Centers and programs in tiers 4 and 5 shall be |
| 95 | eligible for merit awards to maintain high quality programs, |
| 96 | subject to appropriation. |
| 97 | (3) TECHNICAL SUPPORT.--Subject to specific legislative |
| 98 | appropriation, technical support shall be provided to programs |
| 99 | to ensure successful entry into the rating system and movement |
| 100 | through the system. The Office of Early Learning within the |
| 101 | Agency for Workforce Innovation shall coordinate with the |
| 102 | participating early learning coalitions to facilitate the |
| 103 | successful participation of child care facilities in the pilot |
| 104 | program and with those programs currently implementing a quality |
| 105 | rating system. |
| 106 | (4) OTHER COUNTIES.--Nothing in this section shall |
| 107 | preclude early learning coalitions from implementing a quality |
| 108 | rating system in other counties. |
| 109 | (5) EXPIRATION OF THE PILOT PROGRAM.--The pilot program |
| 110 | shall expire on July 1, 2009. |
| 111 | Section 3. In order to ensure the availability of |
| 112 | qualified teachers to meet the needs associated with higher |
| 113 | standards, the Office of Early Learning within the Agency for |
| 114 | Workforce Innovation, in collaboration with the Department of |
| 115 | Education and the Department of Children and Family Services, |
| 116 | shall develop an early education workforce development plan. The |
| 117 | plan shall include recommendations for the funding and expansion |
| 118 | of current child care professional development credentialing |
| 119 | programs, such as the Teacher Education and Compensation Helps |
| 120 | (TEACH) scholarship program, as well as other programs designed |
| 121 | to provide professional development, credentialing, and advanced |
| 122 | education. |
| 123 | Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law. |