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.