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Jan 29, 2021
The Master Plan for Early Learning and Care: Making California For All Kids: A High-Level Overview
The Master Plan:
- Outlines a roadmap for building comprehensive and equitable early learning system over the next decade.
- Builds on more than $500 million in federal funds allocated by the Governor and Legislature to increase access to childcare vouchers, waive family fees and support the child care workforce with PPE.
Recommendations include expanding access to paid family leave, providing universal preschool for all 4-year-olds and income eligible 3-year-olds and prohibiting suspensions and expulsions in subsidized early learning programs. The plan builds upon the Assembly Blue Ribbon Commission report and others and is rooted in the understanding that access to high-quality early learning and care improves outcomes for all children and families and helps address racial and economic inequities. The plan outlines specific recommendations for creating a comprehensive, family-centric system driven by equity, including:
- Unifying programs for infants and toddlers and improving access to Paid Family Leave.
- Providing universal preschool for all 4-year-olds and income eligible 3-year-olds and those with disabilities.
- Prohibiting suspensions and expulsions in subsidized early learning programs, which has disproportionately impacted young Black boys.
- Supporting the development of dual language learners who represent 60 percent of California’s young children.
- Building a licensure and workforce development system based on the knowledge and skills of the workforce that supports and rewards the workforce.
- Implementing funding reform to address regional cost of care differences, help sustain a high-quality workforce and allow for sliding fees for more private-pay families to participate.
- Growing shared services networks to support childcare providers and help their small businesses grow; and
- Improving data sharing to advance equity, efficiency, and continuous improvement.
Questions? Please contact Jamie Mauhay on our team at jamie@headstartca.org.
