State Legislation Impacting Head Start on Our Radar

" width="1600" height="320" alt="Background Image" class="bnr-b" role="presentation">

Mar 03, 2020

State Legislation Impacting Head Start on Our Radar

The 2020 legislative session is in full swing, and Feb. 21 was the final day for new bills to be introduced in the California State Legislature. Below are summaries of a few early childhood bills on our radar that impact Head Start:

AB 2594 (Aguiar-Curry) This bill would authorize the Superintendent, to the extent consistent with federal law, to waive staffing ratios established under existing state law for center-based programs that meet federal Head Start program performance standards. This proposed legislation is consistent with recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission Report: “Align state regulations with Head Start requirements to simplify administrative challenges.” (You can find our summary of the recommendations that impact Head Start directly here.)

AB 2581 (Reyes) would establish the Department of Early Child Development within the California Health and Human Services Agency, first proposed in the Governor’s January Budget.

On the funding side, the Early Childhood Workforce and Facilities grants funded for FY 19-20 state budget are moving forward, and we remain optimistic that information regarding the application process for both from CDE is on the horizon for this spring. Stay tuned.