PLANNING GRANTS FOR BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS TO INCREASE THE AVAILABILITY OF QUALITY CHILD CARE AND PREKINDERGARTEN SERVICES
DISCUSSION PAPER
Background
The Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014 (CCDBG Act) adds a new provision that requires states to describe in the state plan how the state encourages public-private partnerships to leverage existing child care and development services’ delivery systems to increase the supply and quality of child care services.
The CCDBG Act also encourages states to increase the number of children receiving subsidized care in quality child care settings and to develop quality improvement rating systems. In alignment with these goals, the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) has both strengthened the quality standards for the Texas Rising Star (TRS) program and provided additional financial and staff resources to assist providers in becoming TRS certified or moving toward higher levels of TRS certification.
Additionally, Texas Education Code (TEC) §29.158 requires independent school district (ISD) and prekindergarten (pre-K) programs to coordinate with the Texas Education Agency (TEA), TWC, and Local Workforce Development Boards to ensure, to the extent practicable, that full-day, full-year child care services are available to meet the needs of low-income families. Such coordination may include the provision of staff training and professional development, sharing facilities or staff, and increasing the enrollment capacity of the programs.
Therefore, TWC and TEA have the joint goals of incentivizing:
· child care providers to increase quality, benefiting all children in a program and increasing the number of children prepared to be successful in school; and
· ISDs to continue to partner with child care providers to increase the number of children receiving high-quality pre-K and entering kindergarten prepared to be successful in school.
The incentivizing efforts of both agencies center on developing partnerships between ISDs and TRS 4-Star Program Providers to expand capacity for pre-K services.
Recommendations
Staff recommends a total of $8 million of Child Care and Development Funds be made available for this new TWC TEA Pre-K Partnership initiative. Services under this initiative will be available for approximately 24 months, as follows:
· $7,800,000 be provided to TEA to support planning grants to build partnerships between ISDs and TRS 4-Star Program Providers to expand pre-K service capacity. The funds, which would continue to enhance the number and quality of TRS 4-Star Program Providers, would be available for 24 months. Partnership grants would provide the following:
Ø Financial assistance to ISDs initiating and/or expanding partnerships with TRS 4-Star Program Providers, with the incentive funding to ISDs increasing as the number of partnerships increases.
Ø A framework for initiating, implementing, and/or expanding a successful partnership model with TRS 4-Star Program Providers. This may include efforts to establish mentoring support between participating ISDs and others considering expansion.
Ø An opportunity for TRS 4-Star Program Providers to sustain their businesses and support other small business owners committed to high-quality child care in their communities.
· $200,000 will be used by TWC for the administration and coordination of grant activities.
TWC TEA Pre-K Partnerships (06 01 16) Notebook