2005 California Education Code Sections 8340-8346 Article 15.3. Individualized County Child Care Subsidy Plan

8340.  The County of San Mateo may, as a pilot project, develop and
implement an individualized county child care subsidy plan.  The plan
shall ensure that child care subsidies received by the county are
used to address local needs, conditions, and priorities of working
families in the community.
8341.  Prior to implementing the local subsidy plan, the County of
San Mateo, in consultation with the department, shall develop an
individualized county child care subsidy plan that includes the
following four elements:
   (a) An assessment to identify the county's goal for its subsidized
child care system.  The assessment shall examine whether the current
structure of subsidized child care funding adequately supports
working families in the county and whether the county's child care
goals coincide with the state's requirements for funding,
eligibility, priority, and reimbursement.  The assessment shall also
identify barriers in the state's child care subsidy system that
inhibit the county from meeting its child care goals.  In conducting
the assessment, the county shall consider all of the following:
   (1) The general demographics of families who are in need of child
care, including employment, income, language, ethnic, and family
composition.
   (2) The current supply of available subsidized child care.
   (3) The level of need for various types of subsidized child care
services including, but not limited to, infant care, after-hours
care, and care for children with exceptional needs.
   (4) The county's self-sufficiency income level.
   (5) Income eligibility levels for subsidized child care.
   (6) Family fees.
   (7) The cost of providing child care.
   (8) The regional market rates, as established by the department,
for different types of child care.
   (9) The standard reimbursement rate or state per diem for centers
operating under contracts with the department.
   (10) Trends in the county's unemployment rate and housing
affordability index.
   (b) Development of a local policy to eliminate state-imposed
regulatory barriers to the county's achievement of its desired
outcomes for subsidized child care.
   (1) The local policy shall do all of the following:
   (A) Prioritize lowest income families first.
   (B) Follow the family fee schedule established pursuant to
subdivision (f) of Section 8263 for those families that are income
eligible, as defined by Section 8263.1.
   (C) Meet local goals that are consistent with the state's child
care goals.
   (D) Identify existing policies that would be affected by the
county's child care subsidy plan.
   (E) (i) Authorize any agency that provides child care and
development services in San Mateo County through a contract with the
department to apply to the department to amend existing contracts in
order to benefit from the local policy once it is adopted.
   (ii) The department shall approve an application to amend an
existing contract if the child care subsidy plan is approved pursuant
to subdivision (b) of Section 8342, or modified pursuant to
subdivision (c) of Section 8342.
   (iii) The contract of a department contractor who does not elect
to request an amendment to its contract remains operative and
enforceable.
   (2) (A) The County of San Mateo shall, by the end of the first
fiscal year of operation under the approved child care subsidy plan,
demonstrate an increase in the aggregate child days of enrollment in
the county as compared to the enrollment in the final quarter of the
2002-03 fiscal year.
   (B) The amount of the increase shall be at least equal to the
aggregate child days of enrollment in the final quarter of the
2002-03 fiscal year for all contracts amended as provided in
subparagraph (E) of paragraph 1, under which the contractor receives
an increase in its reimbursement rate, times 2 percent.
   (3) The local policy may supersede state law concerning child care
subsidy programs with regard only to the following factors:
   (A) Eligibility criteria including, but not limited to, age,
family size, time limits, income level, inclusion of former and
current CalWORKs participants, and special needs considerations,
except that the local policy may not deny or reduce eligibility of a
family that qualifies for child care pursuant to Section 8353.  Under
the local policy, a family that qualifies for child care pursuant to
Section 8354 shall be treated for purposes of eligibility and fees
in the same manner as a family that qualifies for subsidized child
care on another basis pursuant to the local policy.
   (B) Fees including, but not limited to, family fees, sliding scale
fees, and copayments for those families that are not income
eligible, as defined by Section 8263.1.
   (C) Reimbursement rates.
   (D) Methods of maximizing the efficient use of subsidy funds,
including, but not limited to, multiyear contracting with the
department for center-based child care, and interagency agreements
that allow for flexible and temporary transfer of funds among
agencies.
   (c) Recognition that all funding sources utilized by direct
service contractors that provide child care and development services
in San Mateo County are eligible to be included in the child care
subsidy plan of the county.
   (d) Establishment of measurable outcomes to evaluate the success
of the plan to achieve the county's child care goals and to overcome
any barriers identified in the state's child care subsidy system.
The Department of Social Services shall have an opportunity to review
and comment on the proposed measurable outcomes before they are
submitted to the local child care planning council for approval
pursuant to Section 8342.
8341.5.  To ensure that the annual and final reports required
pursuant to Section 8343 provide useful comparative information, the
Legislative Analyst and the Senate Office of Research shall review
the evaluation design, the baseline data, and the data collection
proposed in the child care subsidy plan of the county before the plan
is submitted to the local child care planning council for approval.
8342.  (a) The plan shall be submitted to the local child care
planning council for approval.  Upon approval of the plan by the
local child care planning council, the county board of supervisors
shall hold at least one public hearing on the plan.  Following the
hearing, if the county board of supervisors votes in favor of the
plan, the plan shall be submitted to the Child Development Division
of the department for review.
   (b) Within 30 days of receiving the plan, the Child Development
Division shall review and either approve or disapprove the plan.
   (c) Within 30 days of receiving any modification to the plan, the
Child Development Division shall review and either approve or
disapprove that modification to the plan.
   (d) The Child Development Division may disapprove only those
portions of the plan or modifications to the plan that are not in
conformance with this article or that are in conflict with federal
law.
8343.  (a) Upon approval of the plan by the Child Development
Division, the County of San Mateo shall annually prepare and submit
to the Legislature, the Department of Social Services, and the
department a report that summarizes the success of the pilot project
and the county's ability to maximize the use of funds and to improve
and stabilize child care in the county.
   (b) On or before December 31, 2008, the County of San Mateo shall
submit a final report to the Legislature, the Department of Social
Services, and the department summarizing the impact of the plan on
the child care needs of working families.
8344.  The County of San Mateo may implement its individualized
county child care subsidy plan until January 1, 2009, at which date
the County of San Mateo shall terminate the plan.  Between January 1,
2009, and January 1, 2011, the County of San Mateo shall phase out
the individualized county child care subsidy plan and, as of January
1, 2011, shall implement the state's requirements for child care
subsidies.  A child enrolling for the first time for subsidized child
care in San Mateo County after January 1, 2009, may not be enrolled
in the pilot program established pursuant to this article and is
subject to existing state laws and regulations regarding child care
eligibility and priority.
8345.  A participating contractor shall receive any increase or
decrease in funding that the contractor would have received if the
contractor had not participated in the local subsidy plan.
8346.  This article shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2011, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, which is enacted before January 1, 2011, deletes or extends
that date.