Florida Senate - 2010                      CS for CS for SB 1382
       
       
       
       By the Committees on Health and Human Services Appropriations;
       and Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and Senator Rich
       
       
       
       603-04848-10                                          20101382c2
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to child care facilities; amending s.
    3         402.281, F.S.; providing that certain child care
    4         facilities, large family child care homes, and family
    5         day care homes that are accredited by a nationally
    6         recognized accrediting association may apply to the
    7         Department of Children and Family Services to receive
    8         a “Gold Seal Quality Care” designation; requiring the
    9         department to use certain standards and to consult
   10         with specified organizations when developing the Gold
   11         Seal Quality Care program standards; requiring the
   12         department to notify accrediting associations if the
   13         department proposes to revise the Gold Seal Quality
   14         Care program standards; requiring each accrediting
   15         association to notify the department within a stated
   16         time of its intent to revise its accreditation
   17         standards or discontinue participation in the Gold
   18         Seal Quality Care program; requiring an accrediting
   19         association that intends to revise its accreditation
   20         standards to do so within 90 days after notification
   21         from the department; amending s. 402.305, F.S.;
   22         prohibiting a person under the age of 18 from being
   23         the operator of a child care facility; requiring the
   24         department to address minimum age requirements for
   25         before-school and after-school care; providing
   26         exceptions; stating the minimum educational standards
   27         for child care facility employees; providing
   28         exceptions; requiring employees who do not meet the
   29         minimum educational standards by a specified date to
   30         do so within 1 year; requiring child care staff to
   31         possess specified credentials; reenacting s.
   32         1007.23(5), F.S., relating to child development
   33         associate credentials, to incorporate the amendment
   34         made to s. 402.305, F.S., in a reference thereto;
   35         providing an effective date.
   36  
   37  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   38  
   39         Section 1. Section 402.281, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   40  read:
   41         402.281 Gold Seal Quality Care program.—
   42         (1) Child care facilities, large family child care homes,
   43  or family day care homes that are accredited by a nationally
   44  recognized accrediting association whose standards substantially
   45  meet or exceed the National Association for the Education of
   46  Young Children (NAEYC), the National Association of Family Child
   47  Care, or and the National Early Childhood Program Accreditation
   48  Commission, as applicable, may apply to the department to shall
   49  receive a separate “Gold Seal Quality Care” designation to
   50  operate as a gold seal child care facility, large family child
   51  care home, or family day care home.
   52         (2) In developing the Gold Seal Quality Care program
   53  standards, the department shall use the current standards of
   54  each accrediting association, as applicable, specified in
   55  subsection (1) and consult with the Department of Education, the
   56  Agency for Workforce Innovation, the Florida Head Start
   57  Directors Association, the Florida Association of Child Care
   58  Management, the Florida Family Day Care Association, the Florida
   59  Children’s Forum, the State Coordinating Council for School
   60  Readiness Programs, the Early Childhood Association of Florida,
   61  the National Association for Child Development Education,
   62  providers receiving exemptions under s. 402.316, and parents,
   63  for the purpose of approving the accrediting associations.
   64         (a)Upon the adoption of additional or revised standards by
   65  any accrediting association specified in subsection (1), the
   66  department shall notify each accrediting association that has
   67  been approved to participate in the Gold Seal Quality Care
   68  program of the applicable changes and of the department’s intent
   69  to revise the Gold Seal Quality Care program standards
   70  accordingly.
   71         (b)Upon such notification, each accrediting association
   72  must, within 30 days, notify the department of its intent to
   73  revise its accreditation standards or discontinue participation
   74  in the Gold Seal Quality Care program.
   75         1.Upon notification by an accrediting association that it
   76  intends to discontinue participation in the Gold Seal Quality
   77  Care program, the department shall notify any participating
   78  child care provider accredited by that association that the
   79  provider must obtain accreditation from another Gold Seal
   80  accrediting association by the time the provider’s current
   81  accreditation expires in order to maintain designation as a Gold
   82  Seal Quality Care provider.
   83         2.An accrediting association that intends to revise its
   84  accreditation standards must do so within 90 days after the
   85  notification provided pursuant to paragraph (a) and must ensure
   86  that each provider accredited by that association is in
   87  compliance with the revised accreditation standards upon the
   88  provider’s renewal of accreditation.
   89         (3) In order to obtain and maintain a designation as a Gold
   90  Seal Quality Care provider, a child care facility, large family
   91  child care home, or family day care home must meet the following
   92  additional criteria:
   93         (a) The child care provider must not have had any class I
   94  violations, as defined by rule, within the 2 years preceding its
   95  application for designation as a Gold Seal Quality Care
   96  provider. Commission of a class I violation shall be grounds for
   97  termination of the designation as a Gold Seal Quality Care
   98  provider until the provider has no class I violations for a
   99  period of 2 years.
  100         (b) The child care provider must not have had three or more
  101  class II violations, as defined by rule, within the 2 years
  102  preceding its application for designation as a Gold Seal Quality
  103  Care provider. Commission of three or more class II violations
  104  within a 2-year period shall be grounds for termination of the
  105  designation as a Gold Seal Quality Care provider until the
  106  provider has no class II violations for a period of 1 year.
  107         (c) The child care provider must not have been cited for
  108  the same class III violation, as defined by rule, three or more
  109  times within the 2 years preceding its application for
  110  designation as a Gold Seal Quality Care provider. Commission of
  111  the same class III violation three or more times during a 2-year
  112  period shall be grounds for termination of the designation as a
  113  Gold Seal Quality Care provider until the provider has no class
  114  III violations for a period of 1 year.
  115         (4) The Department of Children and Family Services shall
  116  adopt rules pursuant to under ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54 which
  117  provide criteria and procedures for reviewing and approving
  118  accrediting associations for participation in the Gold Seal
  119  Quality Care program, conferring and revoking designations of
  120  Gold Seal Quality Care providers, and classifying violations.
  121         Section 2. Paragraphs (c) and (f) of subsection (2) and
  122  subsection (3) of section 402.305, Florida Statutes, are
  123  amended, and paragraph (g) is added to subsection (2) of that
  124  section, to read:
  125         402.305 Licensing standards; child care facilities.—
  126         (2) PERSONNEL.—Minimum standards for child care personnel
  127  shall include minimum requirements as to:
  128         (c) Minimum age requirements. The Such minimum standards
  129  must shall prohibit a person under the age of 21 from being the
  130  operator of a child care facility and a person under the age of
  131  18 16 from being employed at such facility unless he or she such
  132  person is under direct and constant supervision of screened and
  133  trained staff who are 18 years of age or older and he or she is
  134  not counted for the purposes of calculating computing the staff
  135  to-child personnel-to-child ratio. The standards established for
  136  before-school and after-school care pursuant to paragraph (1)(c)
  137  must address minimum age requirements.
  138         (f) By January 1, 2000, A credential for child care
  139  facility directors. By January 1, 2004, The credential is the
  140  shall be a required minimum standard for licensing child care
  141  facility directors.
  142         (g)Minimum education standards for child care personnel.
  143  Minimum education standards shall prohibit persons who have not
  144  obtained a high school diploma or high school equivalency
  145  diploma under s. 1003.435 from being employed as child care
  146  personnel unless such a person is:
  147         1.Under the direct and constant supervision of screened
  148  and trained staff and is not counted for purposes of calculating
  149  the staff-to-child ratio;
  150         2.Not serving in an instructional position and is not
  151  counted for purposes of calculating the staff-to-child ratio; or
  152         3.Employed in an instructional position on July 1, 2010,
  153  and has 10 or more continuous years of documented experience
  154  working with children in a child care setting or in a public
  155  school.
  156  
  157  Those child care personnel who are employed by a child care
  158  facility on July 1, 2010, who do not possess the minimum
  159  educational requirements set forth in this paragraph and who are
  160  not exempt from the requirements of this paragraph must complete
  161  the educational requirements by July 1, 2011. Persons who do not
  162  complete the appropriate educational requirements are prohibited
  163  from employment as child care personnel until such time as they
  164  are in compliance with this paragraph.
  165         (3) MINIMUM STAFF CREDENTIALS.—If a facility operates for 8
  166  or more hours per week By July 1, 1996, for every 20 children in
  167  the a licensed child care facility, beginning with the first
  168  child if the facility operates 8 hours or more per week, one of
  169  the child care personnel in the facility must have:
  170         (a) A current child development associate credential;
  171         (b) A current child care professional credential, unless
  172  the department determines that such child care professional
  173  credential is not equivalent to or greater than a child
  174  development associate credential; or
  175         (c) A current credential that is equivalent to or greater
  176  than the credential required in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b).
  177  
  178  The department shall establish by rule those hours of operation,
  179  such as during rest periods and transitional periods, when this
  180  subsection does not apply.
  181         Section 3. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment
  182  made by this act to section 402.305, Florida Statutes, in a
  183  reference thereto, subsection (5) of section 1007.23, Florida
  184  Statutes, is reenacted to read:
  185         1007.23 Statewide articulation agreement.—
  186         (5) The articulation agreement must guarantee the
  187  articulation of 9 credit hours toward a postsecondary degree in
  188  early childhood education for programs approved by the State
  189  Board of Education and the Board of Governors which:
  190         (a) Award a child development associate credential issued
  191  by the National Credentialing Program of the Council for
  192  Professional Recognition or award a credential approved under s.
  193  1002.55(3)(c)1.b. or s. 402.305(3)(c) as being equivalent to the
  194  child development associate credential; and
  195         (b) Include training in emergent literacy which meets or
  196  exceeds the minimum standards for training courses for
  197  prekindergarten instructors of the Voluntary Prekindergarten
  198  Education Program in s. 1002.59.
  199         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.