SECTIONS 8200-8209 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 8200-8209

8200. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Child
Care and Development Services Act.

8201. The purpose of this chapter is as follows:
(a) To provide a comprehensive, coordinated, and cost-effective
system of child care and development services for children to age 13
and their parents, including a full range of supervision, health, and
support services through full- and part-time programs.
(b) To encourage community-level coordination in support of child
care and development services.
(c) To provide an environment that is healthy and nurturing for
all children in child care and development programs.
(d) To provide the opportunity for positive parenting to take
place through understanding of human growth and development.
(e) To reduce strain between parent and child in order to prevent
abuse, neglect, or exploitation.
(f) To enhance the cognitive development of children, with
particular emphasis upon those children who require special
assistance, including bilingual capabilities to attain their full
potential.
(g) To establish a framework for the expansion of child care and
development services.
(h) To empower and encourage parents and families of children who
require child care services to take responsibility to review the
safety of the child care program or facility and to evaluate the
ability of the program or facility to meet the needs of the child.

8202. It is the intent of the Legislature that:
(a) All families have access to child care and development
services, through resource and referral services, where appropriate,
regardless of ethnic status, cultural background, or special needs.
It is further the intent that subsidized child care and development
services be provided to persons meeting the eligibility criteria
established under this chapter to the extent funding is made
available by the Legislature and Congress.
(b) The healthy physical, cognitive, social, and emotional growth
and development of children be supported.
(c) Families achieve and maintain their personal, social,
economic, and emotional stability through an opportunity to attain
financial stability through employment, while maximizing growth and
development of their children, and enhancing their parenting skills
through participation in child care and development programs.
(d) Community-level coordination in support of child care and
development services be encouraged.
(e) Families have a choice of programs that allow for maximum
involvement in planning, implementation, operation, and evaluation of
child care and development programs.
(f) Parents and families be fully informed of their rights and
responsibilities to evaluate the quality and safety of child care
programs, including, but not limited to, their right to inspect child
care licensing files.
(g) Planning for expansion of child care and development programs
be based on ongoing local needs assessments.
(h) The Superintendent of Public Instruction, in providing funding
to child care and development agencies, promote a range of services
which will allow parents the opportunity to choose the type of care
most suited to their needs. The program scope may include the
following:
(1) Programs located in centers, family day care homes, or in the
child's own home.
(2) Services provided part-day, full-day, and during nonstandard
hours including weekend care, night and shift care, before and after
school care, and care during holidays and vacation.
(3) Child care services provided for infants, preschool, and
schoolage children.
(i) The Superintendent of Public Instruction be responsible for
the establishment of a public hearing process or other public input
process that ensures the participation of those agencies directly
affected by a particular section or sections of this chapter.

8203. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall develop
standards for the implementation of quality programs. Indicators of
quality shall include, but not be limited to:
(a) A physical environment that is safe and appropriate to the
ages of the children and that meets applicable licensing standards.
(b) Program activities and services that are age appropriate and
meet the developmental needs of each child.
(c) Program activities and services that meet the cultural and
linguistic needs of children and families.
(d) Family and community involvement.
(e) Parent education.
(f) Efficient and effective local program administration.
(g) Staff that possesses the appropriate and required
qualifications or experience, or both. The appropriate staff
qualifications shall reflect the diverse linguistic and cultural
makeup of the children and families in the child care and development
program. The use of intergenerational staff shall be encouraged.
(h) Program activities and services that meet the needs of
children with exceptional needs and their families.
(i) Support services for children, families, and providers of
care.
(j) Resource and referral services.
(k) Alternative payment services.
(l) Provision for nutritional needs of children.
(m) Social services that include, but are not limited to,
identification of child and family needs and referral to appropriate
agencies.
(n) Health services that include referral of children to
appropriate agencies for services.

8203.3. (a) On or before June 30, 1999, the State Department of
Education shall develop prekindergarten learning development
guidelines. The development of these guidelines shall be funded from
funds appropriated for this purpose in the Budget Act of 1998. The
guidelines shall focus on preparing four- and five-year-old children
for kindergarten. The guidelines shall identify appropriate
developmental milestones for each age, how to assess where children
are in relation to the milestones, and suggested methods for
achieving the milestones. In addition, the guidelines shall identify
any basic beginning skills needed to prepare children for
kindergarten or first grade, and methods for teaching these basic
skills. The guidelines shall be articulated with the academic content
and performance standards adopted by the State Board of Education
for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. The State Department
of Education may contract with an appropriate public or private
agency to develop the guidelines.
(b) In future expenditure plans for quality improvement
activities, the State Department of Education shall include funding
for periodically updating the guidelines consistent with academic and
performance standards and relevant research, broadly distributing
the guidelines, and providing education, outreach, and training
services to implement the guidelines.
(c) Programs funded by the State Department of Education under
Article 6 (commencing with Section 8230), Article 7 (commencing with
Section 8235), and Article 8 (commencing with Section 8240) shall use
the prekindergarten learning development guidelines developed
pursuant to this section.

8203.5. (a) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall ensure
that each contract entered into under this chapter to provide child
care and development services, or to facilitate the provision of
those services, provides support to the public school system of this
state through the delivery of appropriate educational services to the
children served pursuant to the contract.
(b) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall ensure that all
contracts for child care and development programs include a
requirement that each public or private provider maintain a
developmental profile to appropriately identify the emotional,
social, physical, and cognitive growth of each child served in order
to promote the child's success in the public schools. To the extent
possible, the State Department of Education shall provide a
developmental profile to all public and private providers using
existing profile instruments that are most cost efficient. The
provider of any program operated pursuant to a contract under Section
8262 shall be responsible for maintaining developmental profiles
upon entry through exit from a child development program.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, "moneys to be
applied by the state," as used in subdivision (b) of Section 8 of
Article XVI of the California Constitution, includes funds
appropriated for the Child Care and Development Service Act pursuant
to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 8200) of Part 6, whether or not
those funds are allocated to school districts, as defined in Section
41302.5, or community college districts.
(d) This section is not subject to Part 34 (commencing with
Section 62000).

8204. In recognition of the demonstrated relationship between food
and good nutrition and the capacity of children to develop and learn,
it is the policy of this state that no child shall be hungry while
in attendance in child care and development facilities as defined in
Section 8208 and that child development facilities have an obligation
to provide for the nutritional needs of children in attendance.

8205. It is the intent of the Legislature that in providing child
development programs the Superintendent of Public Instruction give
priority to children of families that qualify under applicable
federal statutes or regulations as recipients of public assistance
and other low-income and disadvantaged families. Federal
reimbursement shall be claimed for any child receiving services under
this chapter for whom federal funds are available.

8206. (a) The State Department of Education is hereby designated as
the single state agency responsible for the promotion, development,
and provision of care of children in the absence of their parents
during the workday or while engaged in other activities which require
assistance of a third party or parties. The department shall
administer the federal Child Care and Development Fund.
(b) For purposes of this section, "Child Care and Development Fund"
has the same meaning as in Section 98.2 of Title 45 of the Code of
Federal Regulations.

8206.1. (a) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall
collaborate with the Secretary for Education and the Secretary of
Health and Human Services, with the advice and assistance of the
Child Development Programs Advisory Committee, in the development of
the state plan required pursuant to the federal Child Care and
Development Fund, prior to submitting or reporting on that plan to
the federal Secretary of Health and Human Services.
(b) (1) For purposes of this section, "Child Care and Development
Fund" has the same meaning as in Section 98.2 of Title 45 of the Code
of Federal Regulations.
(2) For the purposes of this section, "collaborate" means to
cooperate with and to consult with.
(c) As required by federal law, the State Department of Education
shall develop an expenditure plan that sets forth the final
priorities for child care. The department shall coordinate with the
State Department of Social Services, the California Children and
Families Commission, and other stakeholders, including the Department
of Finance, to develop the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)
Plan. On or before February 1 of the year that the CCDF Plan is due
to the federal government, the department shall release a draft of
the plan. The department shall then commence a 30-day comment period
that shall include at least one hearing and the opportunity for
written comments. Prior to the May budget revision, the department
shall provide the revised CCDF Plan to the chairs of the committees
of each house of the Legislature that consider appropriations, and
shall provide a report on the plan to the committees in each house of
the Legislature that consider the annual Budget Act appropriation.

8206.2. The superintendent shall consult with the Commission on
Teacher Credentialing, and the office of the Chancellor of the
California Community Colleges in development of the state plan, where
appropriate.

8206.6. It is the intent of the Legislature that federal funds
received pursuant to the federal Child Care and Development Fund be
allocated according to federal regulations. For purposes of this
section, "Child Care and Development Fund" has the same meaning as in
Section 98.2 of Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

8208. As used in this chapter:
(a) "Alternative payments" includes payments that are made by one
child care agency to another agency or child care provider for the
provision of child care and development services, and payments that
are made by an agency to a parent for the parent's purchase of child
care and development services.
(b) "Alternative payment program" means a local government agency
or nonprofit organization that has contracted with the department
pursuant to Section 8220.2 to provide alternative payments and to
provide support services to parents and providers.
(c) "Applicant or contracting agency" means a school district,
community college district, college or university, county
superintendent of schools, county, city, public agency, private
nontax-exempt agency, private tax-exempt agency, or other entity that
is authorized to establish, maintain, or operate services pursuant
to this chapter. Private agencies and parent cooperatives, duly
licensed by law, shall receive the same consideration as any other
authorized entity with no loss of parental decisionmaking
prerogatives as consistent with the provisions of this chapter.
(d) "Assigned reimbursement rate" is that rate established by the
contract with the agency and is derived by dividing the total dollar
amount of the contract by the minimum child day of average daily
enrollment level of service required.
(e) "Attendance" means the number of children present at a child
care and development facility. "Attendance," for the purposes of
reimbursement, includes excused absences by children because of
illness, quarantine, illness or quarantine of their parent, family
emergency, or to spend time with a parent or other relative as
required by a court of law or that is clearly in the best interest of
the child.
(f) "Capital outlay" means the amount paid for the renovation and
repair of child care and development facilities to comply with state
and local health and safety standards, and the amount paid for the
state purchase of relocatable child care and development facilities
for lease to qualifying contracting agencies.
(g) "Caregiver" means a person who provides direct care,
supervision, and guidance to children in a child care and development
facility.
(h) "Child care and development facility" means any residence or
building or part thereof in which child care and development services
are provided.
(i) "Child care and development programs" means those programs
that offer a full range of services for children from infancy to 13
years of age for any part of a day, by a public or private agency, in
centers and family child care homes. These programs include, but are
not limited to, all of the following:
(1) General child care and development.
(2) Migrant child care and development.
(3) Child care provided by the California School Age Families
Education Program (Article 7.1 (commencing with Section 54740) of
Chapter 9 of Part 29 of Division 4 of Title 2).
(4) California state preschool program.
(5) Resource and referral.
(6) Child care and development services for children with
exceptional needs.
(7) Family child care home education network.
(8) Alternative payment.
(9) Schoolage community child care.
(j) "Child care and development services" means those services
designed to meet a wide variety of needs of children and their
families, while their parents or guardians are working, in training,
seeking employment, incapacitated, or in need of respite. These
services may include direct care and supervision, instructional
activities, resource and referral programs, and alternative payment
arrangements.
(k) "Children at risk of abuse, neglect, or exploitation" means
children who are so identified in a written referral from a legal,
medical, or social service agency, or emergency shelter.
(l) "Children with exceptional needs" means either of the
following:
(1) Infants and toddlers under three years of age who have been
determined to be eligible for early intervention services pursuant to
the California Early Intervention Services Act (Title 14 (commencing
with Section 95000) of the Government Code) and its implementing
regulations. These children include an infant or toddler with a
developmental delay or established risk condition, or who is at high
risk of having a substantial developmental disability, as defined in
subdivision (a) of Section 95014 of the Government Code. These
children shall have active individualized family service plans, shall
be receiving early intervention services, and shall be children who
require the special attention of adults in a child care setting.
(2) Children ages 3 to 21 years, inclusive, who have been
determined to be eligible for special education and related services
by an individualized education program team according to the special
education requirements contained in Part 30 (commencing with Section
56000) of Division 4 of Title 2, and who meet eligibility criteria
described in Section 56026 and Sections 56333 to 56338, inclusive,
and Sections 3030 and 3031 of Title 5 of the California Code of
Regulations. These children shall have an active individualized
education program, shall be receiving early intervention services or
appropriate special education and related services, and shall be
children who require the special attention of adults in a child care
setting. These children include children with mental retardation,
hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language
impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious
emotional disturbance (also referred to as emotional disturbance),
orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health
impairments, or specific learning disabilities, who need special
education and related services consistent with Section 1401(3)(A) of
Title 20 of the United States Code.
(m) "Closedown costs" means reimbursements for all approved
activities associated with the closing of operations at the end of
each growing season for migrant child development programs only.
(n) "Cost" includes, but is not limited to, expenditures that are
related to the operation of child care and development programs.
"Cost" may include a reasonable amount for state and local
contributions to employee benefits, including approved retirement
programs, agency administration, and any other reasonable program
operational costs. "Cost" may also include amounts for licensable
facilities in the community served by the program, including lease
payments or depreciation, downpayments, and payments of principal and
interest on loans incurred to acquire, rehabilitate, or construct
licensable facilities, but these costs shall not exceed fair market
rents existing in the community in which the facility is located.
"Reasonable and necessary costs" are costs that, in nature and
amount, do not exceed what an ordinary prudent person would incur in
the conduct of a competitive business.
(o) "Elementary school," as contained in Section 425 of Title 20
of the United States Code (the National Defense Education Act of
1958, Public Law 85-864, as amended), includes early childhood
education programs and all child development programs, for the
purpose of the cancellation provisions of loans to students in
institutions of higher learning.
(p) "Family child care home education network" means an entity
organized under law that contracts with the department pursuant to
Section 8245 to make payments to licensed family child care home
providers and to provide educational and support services to those
providers and to children and families eligible for state-subsidized
child care and development services. A family child care home
education network may also be referred to as a family child care home
system.
(q) "Health services" include, but are not limited to, all of the
following:
(1) Referral, whenever possible, to appropriate health care
providers able to provide continuity of medical care.
(2) Health screening and health treatment, including a full range
of immunization recorded on the appropriate state immunization form
to the extent provided by the Medi-Cal Act (Chapter 7 (commencing
with Section 14000) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code) and the Child Health and Disability Prevention
Program (Article 6 (commencing with Section 124025) of Chapter 3 of
Part 2 of Division 106 of the Health and Safety Code), but only to
the extent that ongoing care cannot be obtained utilizing community
resources.
(3) Health education and training for children, parents, staff,
and providers.
(4) Followup treatment through referral to appropriate health care
agencies or individual health care professionals.
(r) "Higher educational institutions" means the Regents of the
University of California, the Trustees of the California State
University, the Board of Governors of the California Community
Colleges, and the governing bodies of any accredited private
nonprofit institution of postsecondary education.
(s) "Intergenerational staff" means persons of various
generations.
(t) "Limited-English-speaking-proficient and
non-English-speaking-proficient children" means children who are
unable to benefit fully from an English-only child care and
development program as a result of either of the following:
(1) Having used a language other than English when they first
began to speak.
(2) Having a language other than English predominantly or
exclusively spoken at home.
(u) "Parent" means a biological parent, stepparent, adoptive
parent, foster parent, caretaker relative, or any other adult living
with a child who has responsibility for the care and welfare of the
child.
(v) "Program director" means a person who, pursuant to Sections
8244 and 8360.1, is qualified to serve as a program director.
(w) "Proprietary child care agency" means an organization or
facility providing child care, which is operated for profit.
(x) "Resource and referral programs" means programs that provide
information to parents, including referrals and coordination of
community resources for parents and public or private providers of
care. Services frequently include, but are not limited to: technical
assistance for providers, toy-lending libraries, equipment-lending
libraries, toy- and equipment-lending libraries, staff development
programs, health and nutrition education, and referrals to social
services.
(y) "Severely disabled children" are children with exceptional
needs from birth to 21 years of age, inclusive, who require intensive
instruction and training in programs serving pupils with the
following profound disabilities: autism, blindness, deafness, severe
orthopedic impairments, serious emotional disturbances, or severe
mental retardation. "Severely disabled children" also include those
individuals who would have been eligible for enrollment in a
developmental center for handicapped pupils under Chapter 6
(commencing with Section 56800) of Part 30 of Division 4 of Title 2
as it read on January 1, 1980.
(z) "Short-term respite child care" means child care service to
assist families whose children have been identified through written
referral from a legal, medical, or social service agency, or
emergency shelter as being neglected, abused, exploited, or homeless,
or at risk of being neglected, abused, exploited, or homeless. Child
care is provided for less than 24 hours per day in child care
centers, treatment centers for abusive parents, family child care
homes, or in the child's own home.
(aa) (1) "Site supervisor" means a person who, regardless of his
or her title, has operational program responsibility for a child care
and development program at a single site. A site supervisor shall
hold a permit issued by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing that
authorizes supervision of a child care and development program
operating in a single site. The Superintendent may waive the
requirements of this subdivision if the Superintendent determines
that the existence of compelling need is appropriately documented.
(2) For California state preschool programs, a site supervisor may
qualify under any of the provisions in this subdivision, or may
qualify by holding an administrative credential or an administrative
services credential. A person who meets the qualifications of a site
supervisor under both Section 8244 and subdivision (e) of Section
8360.1 is also qualified under this subdivision.
(ab) "Standard reimbursement rate" means that rate established by
the Superintendent pursuant to Section 8265.
(ac) "Startup costs" means those expenses an agency incurs in the
process of opening a new or additional facility prior to the full
enrollment of children.
(ad) "California state preschool program" means part-day and
full-day educational programs for low-income or otherwise
disadvantaged three- and four-year-old children.
(ae) "Support services" means those services that, when combined
with child care and development services, help promote the healthy
physical, mental, social, and emotional growth of children. Support
services include, but are not limited to: protective services, parent
training, provider and staff training, transportation, parent and
child counseling, child development resource and referral services,
and child placement counseling.
(af) "Teacher" means a person with the appropriate permit issued
by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing who provides program
supervision and instruction that includes supervision of a number of
aides, volunteers, and groups of children.
(ag) "Underserved area" means a county or subcounty area,
including, but not limited to, school districts, census tracts, or
ZIP Code areas, where the ratio of publicly subsidized child care and
development program services to the need for these services is low,
as determined by the Superintendent.
(ah) "Workday" means the time that the parent requires temporary
care for a child for any of the following reasons:
(1) To undertake training in preparation for a job.
(2) To undertake or retain a job.
(3) To undertake other activities that are essential to
maintaining or improving the social and economic function of the
family, are beneficial to the community, or are required because of
health problems in the family.
(ai) "Three-year-old children" means children who will have their
third birthday on or before December 2 of the fiscal year in which
they are enrolled in a California state preschool program.
(aj) "Four-year-old children" means children who will have their
fourth birthday on or before December 2 of the fiscal year in which
they are enrolled in a California state preschool program.
(ak) "Local educational agency" means a school district, a county
office of education, a community college district, or a school
district on behalf of one or more schools within the school district.

8208.1. Child care exempt from licensure is a valid parental choice
of care for all programs provided for under this part, and no
provision of this part shall be construed to exclude or discourage
the exercise of that choice.

8208.5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, child care and
development programs, as defined in Section 8208, shall include, but
not be limited to, respite child care and development.

8209. (a) If a state of emergency is declared by the Governor, the
Superintendent of Public Instruction may waive any requirements of
this code or regulations adopted pursuant to this code relating to
child care and development programs operated pursuant to this chapter
only to the extent that enforcement of the regulations or
requirements would directly impede disaster relief and recovery
efforts or would disrupt the current level of service in child care
and development programs.
(b) If a state of emergency is declared by the Governor, the
Superintendent of Public Instruction may waive, any requirements of
this code or regulations adopted pursuant to this code relating to
child nutrition programs in child care and development programs
operated pursuant to this chapter only to the extent that enforcement
of the regulations or requirements would directly impede disaster
relief and recovery efforts or would disrupt the current level of
service in child care and development programs.
(c) A waiver granted pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) shall not
exceed 45 calendar days.
(d) For purposes of this section, "state of emergency" includes
fire, flood, earthquake, or a period of civil unrest.
(e) If a request for a waiver pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b)
is for a child care and development program or child nutrition
program that receives federal funds and the waiver may be
inconsistent with the state plan or any federal law or regulations
governing the program, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall
seek and obtain approval of the waiver from the appropriate federal
agency prior to granting the waiver.