237A.22 - DUTIES OF STATE CHILD CARE ADVISORY COUNCIL AND DEPARTMENT. - Iowa Statutes

237A.22 DUTIES OF STATE CHILD CARE ADVISORY COUNCIL AND DEPARTMENT. 1. The state child care advisory council shall advise and make recommendations to the department, governor, and general assembly concerning child care. In fulfilling this responsibility the advisory council shall do all of the following: a. Consult with the department and make recommendations concerning policy issues relating to child care. b. Advise the department concerning services relating to child care, including but not limited to any of the following: (1) Resource and referral services. (2) Provider training. (3) Quality improvement. (4) Public-private partnerships. (5) Standards review and development. (6) The federal child care and development block grant, state funding, grants, and other funding sources for child care. c. Assist the department in developing an implementation plan to provide seamless service to recipients of public assistance, which includes child care services. For the purposes of this subsection, "seamless service" means coordination, where possible, of the federal and state requirements which apply to child care. d. Advise and provide technical services to the director of the department of education or the director's designee relating to prekindergarten, kindergarten, and before and after school programming and facilities. e. Make recommendations concerning child care expansion programs that meet the needs of children attending a core education program by providing child care before and after the core program hours and during times when the core program does not operate. f. Make recommendations for improving collaborations between the child care programs involving the department and programs supporting the education and development of young children including but not limited to the federal head start program, the statewide preschool program for four-year-old children and the early childhood, at-risk, and other early education programs administered by the department of education. g. Make recommendations for eliminating duplication and otherwise improving the eligibility determination processes used for the state child care assistance program and other programs supporting low-income families, including but not limited to the federal head start, early head start, and even start programs; the early childhood, at-risk, and preschool programs administered by the department of education; the family and self-sufficiency grant program; and the family investment program. h. Make recommendations as to the most effective and efficient means of managing the state and federal funding available for the state child care assistance program. i. Review departmental program data concerning child care as deemed to be necessary by the advisory council, although the department shall not provide personally identifiable data or information. j. Advise and assist the early childhood Iowa council in developing the strategic plan required pursuant to section 135.173. 2. The department shall provide information to the advisory council semiannually on all of the following: a. Federal, state, local, and private revenues and expenditures for child care, including but not limited to updates on the current and future status of the revenues and expenditures. b. Financial information and data relating to regulation of child care by the department and the usage of the state child care assistance program. c. Utilization and availability data relating to child care regulation, quantity, and quality from consumer and provider perspectives. d. Statistical and demographic data regarding child care providers and the families utilizing child care. e. Statistical data regarding the processing time for issuing notices of decision to state child care assistance applicants and for issuing payments to child care providers. 3. The advisory council shall coordinate with the early childhood Iowa council in reporting annually to the governor and general assembly in December concerning the status of child care in the state, providing findings, and making recommendations. The annual report may be personally presented to the general assembly's standing committees on human resources by a representative of the advisory council.          Section History: Early Form [C75, § 237A.12; C77, 79, 81, § 237A.22]          Section History: Recent Form 89 Acts, ch 206, § 4; 92 Acts, ch 1083, § 4; 99 Acts, ch 192, §20; 2009 Acts, ch 115, §7 Referred to in § 237A.1