SB498 HFIN AM 4-8McO
The Committee on Finance moves to amend the bill on page
three, following the enacting clause, by striking out the remainder
of the bill and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
"That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §49-2E-1, §49-2E-2,
§49-2E-3 and §49-2E-4, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2E. QUALITY RATING AND IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM.
§49-2E-1. Findings and intent; advisory council.
(a) The Legislature finds that:
(1) High quality early childhood development substantially
improves the intellectual and social potential of children and
reduces societal costs;
(2) A child care program quality rating and improvement system
provides incentives and resources to improve the quality child care
programs; and
(3) A child care program quality rating and improvement system
provides information about the quality of child care programs to
parents so they may make more informed decisions about the
placement of their children.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to:
(1) Require the Secretary of the Department of Health and
Human Resources promulgate a legislative rule and establish a plan
for the phased implementation of a child care program quality rating and improvement system not inconsistent with the provisions
of this article.
(c) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall create a quality rating and improvement system
advisory council to provide advice on the development of the rule
and plan for the phased implementation of a child care program
quality rating and improvement system and the on-going program
review and policies for quality improvement. The secretary shall
facilitate meetings of the advisory council. The advisory council
shall include representatives from the provider community, advocacy
groups, the Legislature, providers of professional development
services for the early childhood community, regulatory agencies and
others who may be impacted by the creation of a quality rating and
improvement system.
(d) Nothing in this article requires an appropriation, or any
specific level of appropriation, by the Legislature.
§49-2E-2. Creation of statewide quality rating system; legislative
rule required; minimum provisions.
(a) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall propose rules for legislative approval in
accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code to implement a quality rating and
improvement system. The quality rating and improvement system
shall be applicable to licensed child care centers and facilities and registered family child care homes. If other types of child
care settings such as school-age child care programs become
licensed after the implementation of a statewide quality rating and
improvement system, the secretary may develop quality criteria and
incentives that will allow the other types of child care settings
to participate in the quality rating and improvement system. The
rules shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) A four star rating system for registered family child care
homes and a four star rating system for all licensed programs,
including family child care facilities and child care centers, to
easily communicate to consumers four progressively higher levels of
quality child care. One star indicating meeting the minimum
acceptable standard and four stars indicating meeting or exceeding
the highest standard. The system shall reflect the cumulative
attainment of the standards at each level and all lesser levels.
Any program accredited by the National Association for the
Education of Young Children or the National Association for Family
Child Care, as applicable, on the date of implementation of the
rating shall automatically be awarded four star status until its
next re-accreditation visit. Thereafter, the standards set forth
in the rule required by this section must be met notwithstanding
national accreditation;
(2) Program standards for registered family child care homes
and program standards for all licensed programs, including family child care facilities and child care centers, that are each divided
into four levels of attributes that progressively improve the
quality of childcare beginning with basic state registration and
licensing requirements at level one, through achievement of a
national accreditation by the appropriate organization and other
standards as set forth in the rule at the fourth level.
Participation beyond the first level is voluntary. The program
standards shall be categorized using the West Virginia State
Training and Registry System Core Knowledge Areas or its
equivalent;
(3) Accountability measures that provide for a fair, valid,
accurate and reliable assessment of compliance with quality
standards, including, but not limited to:
(A) Evaluations conducted by trained evaluators with
appropriate early childhood education and training on the selected
assessment tool and with a demonstrated inter-rater reliability of
eighty-five percent or higher. The evaluations shall include an
on-site inspection conducted at least annually to determine whether
programs are rated correctly and continue to meet the appropriate
standards. The evaluations and observations shall be conducted on
at least a statistically valid percentage of center classrooms,
with a minimum of one class per age group;
(B) The use of valid and reliable observation and assessment
tools, such as environmental rating scales for early childhood, infant and toddler, school-age care and family child care as
appropriate for the particular setting and age group;
(C) An annual self-assessment using the proper observation and
assessment tool for programs rated at two stars; and
(D) Model program improvement planning shall be designed to
help programs improve their evaluation results and level of program
quality.
(b) The rules required pursuant to this section shall include
policies relating to the review, reduction, suspension or
disqualification of child care programs from the quality rating and
improvement system.
(c) The rules shall provide for implementation of the
statewide quality rating system effective July 1, 2011, subject to
section four of this article.
§49-2E-3. Creation of statewide quality improvement system;
financial plan to support implementation and quality
improvement required as part of rules.
(a) Attached to the proposed rules required in section two of
this article, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall submit a financial plan to support the
implementation of a statewide quality rating and improvement system
and help promote quality improvement. The financial plan shall be
considered a part of the rule and shall include specific proposals
for implementation of the provisions of this section as determined by the Secretary. The plan shall address, but is not limited to,
the following:
(1) State agency staffing requirements, including, but not
limited to:
(A) Highly trained evaluators to monitor the assessment
process and ensure inter-rater reliability of eighty-five percent
or higher;
(B) Technical assistance staff responsible for career
advising, accreditation support services, improvement planning,
portfolio development and evaluations for improvement planning
only. The goal for technical assistance staffing is to ensure that
individualized technical assistance is available to participating
programs;
(C) A person within the department to collaborate with other
professional development providers to maximize funding for
training, scholarships and professional development. The person
filling this position also shall encourage community and technical
colleges to provide courses through nontraditional means such as
online training, evening classes and off-campus training;
(D) Additional infant and toddler specialists to provide high
level professional development for staff caring for infants and to
provide on-site assistance with infant and toddler issues;
(E) At least one additional training specialist at each of the
child care resource and referral agencies to support new training topics and to provide training for school-age child care programs.
Training providers such as the child care resource and referral
agencies shall purchase new training programs on topics such as
business management, the Devereux Resiliency Training and Mind in
the Making; and
(F) Additional staff necessary for program administration;
(2) Implementation of a broad public awareness campaign and
communication strategies that may include, but are not limited to:
(A) Brochures, internet sites, posters, banners, certificates,
decals and pins to educate parents; and
(B) Strategies such as earned media campaigns, paid
advertising campaigns, e-mail and internet-based outreach,
face-to-face communication with key civic groups and grassroots
organizing techniques; and
(3) Implementation of an internet-based management information
system that meets the following requirements:
(A) The system shall allow for multiple agencies to access and
input data;
(B) The system shall provide the data necessary to determine
if the quality enhancements result in improved care and better
outcomes for children;
(C) The system shall allow access by Department of Health and
Human Resources subsidy and licensing staff, child care resource
and referral agencies, the agencies that provide training and scholarships, evaluators and the child care programs;
(D) The system shall include different security levels in
order to comply with the numerous confidentiality requirements;
(E) The system shall assist in informing practice; determining
training needs; and tracking changes in availability of care, cost
of care, changes in wages and education levels; and
(F) The system shall provide accountability for child care
programs and recipients and assure funds are being used
effectively;
(4) Financial assistance for child care programs needed to
improve learning environments, attain high ratings and sustain
long-term quality without passing additional costs on to families
that may include, but are not limited to:
(A) Assistance to programs in assessment and individual
program improvement planning and providing the necessary
information, coaching and resources to assist programs to increase
their level of quality;
(B) Subsidizing participating programs for providing child
care services to children of low-income families in accordance with
the following:
(i) Base payment rates shall be established at the seventy-
fifth percentile of market rate; and
(ii) A system of tiered reimbursement shall be established
which increases the payment rates by a certain amount above the base payment rates in accordance with the rating tier of the child
care program;
(C) Grants for helping with the cost of national accreditation
shall be awarded to child care centers on an equitable basis. The
amount of the grants shall be based on the amount of funding
available. Two types of grants shall be awarded to child care
programs in accordance with the following:
(i) An incentive grant shall be awarded based on the type of
child care program and the level at which the child care program is
rated with the types of child care programs having more children;
and
(ii) Child care programs rated at higher tiers being awarded
a larger grant than the types of child care programs having less
children and child care programs rated at lower tiers;
(5) Support for increased salaries and benefits for program
staff to increase educational levels essential to improving the
quality of care that may include, but are not limited to:
(A) Wage supports and benefits provided as an incentive to
increase child care programs ratings and as an incentive to
increase staff qualifications in accordance with the following:
(i) The cost of salary supplements shall be phased in over a
five-year period;
(ii) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall establish a salary scale for each of the top three rating tiers that varies the salary support based on the education
of the care giver and the rating tier of the program; and
(iii) Any center with at least a tier two rating that employs
at least one staff person participating in the scholarship program
required pursuant to paragraph (B) of this subsection or employs
degree staff may apply to the Secretary of the Department of Health
and Human Resources for funding to provide health care benefits
based on the Teacher Education and Compensation Helps model in
which insurance costs are shared among the employees, the employer
and the state; and
(B) The provision of scholarships and establishment of
professional development plans for center staff that would promote
increasing the credentials of center staff over a five-year period;
and
(6) Financial assistance to the child care consumers whose
income is at two hundred percent of the federal poverty level or
under to help them afford the increased market price of child care
resulting from increased quality.
§49-2E-4. Quality rating and improvement system pilot projects;
independent third party evaluation; modification of
proposed rule and financial plan; report to
Legislature; limitations on implementation.
(a) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources may promulgate emergency rules in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to
implement a quality rating and improvement system in up to five
counties as pilot projects beginning July 1, 2009. The pilot
quality rating and improvement systems shall be in accordance with
the provisions of this article for the statewide system and in
accordance with the policies and procedures proposed by the
Partners Implementing an Early Care and Education System Advisory
Council report on Building a Child Care Quality Rating and
Improvement System for West Virginia to the extent those policies
and procedures are not in conflict with this article. The purpose
of the pilot projects is to test the rating system, assess the
quality of existing child care providers, provide a basis for
estimating the financial requirements of the various elements of a
statewide system as set forth in this article and to inform future
policy decisions. Notwithstanding any provision of this article to
the contrary, the rating or potential rating of a child care
provider participating in the study may not be individually
disclosed. The secretary may modify and develop additional
policies consistent with this article as appropriate.
(c) The Secretary shall contract with an independent third
party evaluator to assist the department and the quality rating and
improvement system advisory council with establishing and
evaluating the pilot project quality rating and improvement system
and conducting research on statewide implementation. The Secretary also may contract with the evaluator for on-going evaluation and
research for quality improvement. The evaluator shall have access
to all project data including data in the management information
system provided for in section two of this article.
(d) The Secretary shall report annually to the Legislature on
the progress on development and implementation of a child care
quality rating and improvement system and its impact on improving
the quality of childcare in the state. The Secretary may propose
amendments to the rules and financial plan necessary to promote
implementation of the quality rating and improvement system and
improve the quality of childcare and may recommend needed
legislation. Nothing in this article requires the implementation
of a quality rating and improvement system unless funds are
appropriated therefore. The Secretary may prioritize the
components of the financial plan for implementation and quality
improvement for funding purposes. If insufficient funds are
appropriated for full implementation of the quality rating and
improvement system beginning on July 1, 2011, the rules shall
provide for gradual implementation over a period of several years.
(e) The Legislature recognizes that expenditures, especially
one time types of expenditures or expenditures of a limited
duration, may be funded with moneys derived through the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. A study of the cost of
implementing a quality rating and improvement system statewide is expected to be conducted over the next two years.
(f) To accommodate its ongoing role and responsibility in
advising both the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources and the State Superintendent, the PIECES advisory group
will evaluate and update its current roles and responsibilities, as
well as update its current membership to reflect an equitable and
proportionate level of representation. PIECES, with the guidance
of the State Superintendent and the Secretary, will establish by-
laws for workgroups and processes for recommendations and reports
to be made to the superintendent and secretary concerning early
care and education in West Virginia. The superintendent and
secretary, with advisement from the West Virginia Head Start
Collaboration Office, will recommend a tri-chair management
structure comprised of designees of Head Start, the department of
education and the department of health and human resources that
allows for shared agenda development and rotating operational
responsibilities on an annual basis."