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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 04042000 - P1 P1 In the Matter of Proclaiming ) the Week of the Young Child) RESOLUTION NO. 2000/141 Whereas, the Contra Costa County Child Care Directors Association, and other local organizations, in conjunction with the National Association for the Education of Young Children, are celebrating the Week of the Young Child, April 9-15, 2000; and Whereas, by calling attention to the need for high-quality early childhood services for all children and families within our community and state, these groups hope to improve the quality and availability of such services; and Whereas, the future of our community and state depends on the quality of the early childhood experience provided to young children today; and Whereas, high-quality early childhood services represent a worthy commitment to our children's future; THE CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS does hereby proclaim April 9-15, 2000 as The Week of the Young Child in Contra Costa County and urges all citizens to recognize and support the needs of young children in our community and state. PASSED by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors members present this 4' day of April 2000. DONNA GER HAIR District III Su rvisor JOHN GIt71 GAYLE B. IL EMA, District I Supervisor District 11 Supervisor --agRg De AUULNIER )t3 CANCIAMILLA, District IV Supervisor istrict V Supervisor �t . i hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of supervisors on the date shown. ATTESTED- PHIL BATCHELOR,cleric of the Board of Supervisors and County Administrator By r l 1, t,,t., - Deputy SOLUTION NO. 2000/141 is RECEI ED APR - 4 2000 CLERK BOARD OF SUPERVISOR3 CONTRA COSTA CO. Contra Costa's BEST Early Care and Education Flan B = Building E = Education S = Stability T = Trust March 27, 2000 P/ Overview The Goal: To increase the number of child care-givers in Contra Costa County capable of providing the kind of care which will best prepare Contra Costa children for healthy productive futures. The proposed program would reward the pursuit of child development training among child care professionals,and promote retention of committed qualified teachers and providers. The B.E.S.T. Plan: An incentive system of bonuses rewarding early childhood educators who pursue and achieve higher education goals and who demonstrate long term commitment to the field and the programs with which they work. As research has shown,both education and the length of time working at the same program are linked to the provision of quality early care and education. Our proposal takes both these criteria into account. The Method: The Plan calls for the establishment of a Trust Fund for the receipt of funds and the dispersal of bonuses and incentives. The Trust Fund will eventually support a$8 million per year program. An administrative agency will establish an advisory committee, publicize the program, distribute, receive and review applications, distribute the stipends in accordance with the established priorities, and secure ongoing funding. 2 Rationale Every day there are approximately 28,000 children in 1850 licensed early care and education centers and family child care homes throughout Contra Costa County. These children deserve the BEST in the quality of their early care and education workforce. According to a growing body of research, the single most important determinant of quality is the presence of consistent,sensitive,well trained and well-compensated care givers. High quality child care is linked to advances in cognitive, language and social development in young children. Compelling evidence exits that aggression increases when children change providers and that children who have more provider change in their early years, show less positive peer interaction. In addition, a growing body of data links long-term adjustment in terms of positive relationships to future peers, teachers, and even spouses and employers to the quality of early relationships young children form with their care-givers. Why is there a staffing shortage? Each year hundreds of child care providers exit the field for more lucrative work within California's booming economy. Currently community colleges and universities train thousands of students to become child care professionals. Yet, many training dollars and resources are lost when students choose to pursue careers outside the early childhood profession. The flight by early educators with degrees to public school teaching is particularly damaging to the field, for it is they who traditionally provide the quality glue in our child care programs. According to data gathered by the Child Care Employee Project, in the last 20 years, the turnover rate nationally increased from 15%to 40%. Contra Costa is experiencing this crisis daily as directors of child care centers scramble for staff or are forced to close programs for lack of staff. "What kind of salary do early care and education providers currently make? Early care and education workers earn less than parking lot attendants and data entry keyers. Even highly educated child care teachers with college degrees often earn less than $20,000 per year. In real dollars, according to a recent study, the highest paid teachers have increased their salaries by only$1.30 an hour over the past 10 years. (The Local Planning Council has commissioned a salary survey for Contra Costa County. The results will be available in March, 2000) What training do child care providers need to provide quality care? Research studies definitively link college education in child development and early education with more positive child outcomes. Other researchers working in this arena have found that the most powerful predictor of quality care is the work environment and the compensation of teachers. As one director explains, "As little as seven years ago, I rarely asked a teacher with 12 units to lead a class. These teachers were generally assistants to BA level teachers. Now programs are forced to 3 ask teachers with as little as two to four early childhood classes to do the same job as BA level teachers did seven years ago. , No wonder they burn out so quickly, for they do not have the background to support and educate a classroom of preschool children. We need to bring people into this field who see it as a career, not just a temporary job. To keep professional level early childhood educators, we must recognize their contributions through pay." Why can't parents be responsible for the cost of their children's care? Excellent early care and education simply costs more than most parents can afford. It is expensive because young children need close attention and supervision in order to thrive and grow. The higher the quality of care the lower the staff child ratio and the higher the salaries of the caregivers-thus the more expensive the care. Even though caregivers make near poverty wages, personnel consumes approximately 80%of most centers'budgets. For most families the early care and education of their young children is the fourth largest expense in the family's budget, after food, housing and taxes. Families simply cannot shoulder the whole cost of quality early care and education and when children receive poor quality care,the whole society suffers. Unhappy,angry preschoolers grow into unhappy, angry adults. At the turn of the 20th century, America decided that it needed an educated citizenry and thus we invested in public schooling for all children. Now as we turn to the 21 st century,we must make the same choice about public funding for child care. Hove are other counties addressing the problem? This proposal is modeled after the California CAPES Bill proposed by Assemblywoman Ilion Aroner. Although the bill passed both the Assembly and Senate, Governor Davis vetoed the bill, suggesting that this effort would best be funded at the local level with county Prop. 10 monies. Alameda County has just passed their Prop. 10 plan and it includes a CARES component. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has also approved a similar plan, allocating General Fund dollars to support the effort. Advocates expect Assemblywoman Aroner to rework and reintroduce her bill to include a matching requirement designed to help leverage local dollars set aside for local county CARES-like plans. By accepting the BEST Plan, Contra Costa will be well positioned for designations as a California CARES pilot county in any new legislation. 4 4'-4/-g The Building, Education, Stability, and Trust (BEST) Early Care and Education Plan The BEST Early Care and Education Plan uses two criteria to base stipends/bonuses: level of education and experience at the same program. These criteria correlate with the quality of care and education that children receive in early childhood programs. The levels of the plan correspond to the California Child Development Permit Matrix,which will align the BEST Plan with any future state initiatives. The amount of the stipends/bonuses reflects approximately the difference between what Early Care and Education teachers receive and what entry level teachers with comparable education would receive in a public elementary school. The field of Early Care and Education has lost many of it most qualified teachers in recent years to the public schools as they implement class size reduction. The estimated cost of full implementation of the BEST Plan is $8 million. Priority distribution of available funds will be first by level of education obtained and then by experience at the same program. Only educators working directly with children five and under in licensed programs will be eligible for the stipends. Stipends are based on a 12 month employment at a minimum of 35 hours per week. Stipends will be prorated for working part-time or part year. Level 1. The first educational level to receive a bonus disbursement are those educators who have received a master's degree including 36 units in early childhood education. The stipends range from$5,000- $7,000 for full-time work per year based on the length of experience at the same program. Referring to the chart, an early childhood educator with a master's degree with 36 units in ECE and 4 years experience at the same program would receive a stipend of$6,000. Level II. The second level for bonus disbursements would be those educators with a bachelor's degree including 24 ECE units. The stipends range from$4,00046,000 for full-time work per year based on the length of experience at the same program. Referring to the chart, an early childhood educator with a bachelor's degree including 24 ECE units and 2 years of experience at the same program would receive a stipend of$4,000. Level I1I. The third level for bonus disbursements is the associate's degree level including 24 ECE units and 16 general education units. Priority of stipends will be given first to those teachers that qualify for the master's teacher level on the California Child Development Permit Matrix. This requires 2 adult supervision units and 6 specialization units. The stipends range from $2,000-$4,000 for full-time work per year based on the length of experience at the same program. Referring to the chart,an early 5 �/ y~ C) childhood educator at the master's teacher level with 6 years of experience at the same program would receive a stipend of$3,000. Level IV. The fourth level of disbursement is the 12 ECE unit level. The stipends range from$1,000-$3,000 for full-time work per year based on the length of experience at the same program. Referring to the chart,an early childhood educator with 12 ECE units and 1 year of experience at the same program would be $1,000. Level V. The fifth level of disbursement is the 6 ECE unit level. The stipends range from $500`$2,500 per year based on the length of experience at the same program. Referring to the chart, an early childhood educator with 6 ECE units and 3 years of experience would be $1,000. Level VI. The sixth level of disbursement is the experience alone level. The stipends range from$500-$2,000 per year based on the length of experience at the same program. Referring to the chart, an early childhood educator with 8 years of experience would receive $1,500. 6 . P1 �-y-aaao Contra Costa Quality Early Care and Education Initiative Same Program/Retention Experience Educational Requirements 1 yr 3 yr 5 yr 7 yr 9 yr(Cap) MA w/36 ECE/CD Units $5,000 + $500 +$500 + 500 + $500 $A w/24 ECE/CD Units $4,000 + $500 + $500 + 500 +$500 24 ECE/CD Units+ 16 GE $2,000 +$500 +$500 + 500 + 500 Units* 12 ECE/CD Units $1,000 +$500 + $500 + 500 +$500 6 ECE/CD Units $500 + $500 +$500 + 500 + $500 Experience Alone +$500 + $500 + $500 +$500 Priority given to those who have an additional b specialization units+2 adult supervision units 1. Priority for distribution of stipends shall be determined per the chart above based on education plus experience in the same program. 2. Hours determined for stipend eligibility are determined by your daily scheduled hours working directly with children. 3. Annual stipends shall be prorated based on an average work week for the 12 month period prior to receipt of the stipend. Participants working 35 hours or more per week shall be rewarded for a full stipend. 7 B.E.S.T. Corps Applicants for the incentive bonuses shall apply for them each year. A participant who changes jobs without "extraordinary circumstances" (as determined by the organization selected to administer BEST) within the program year will not be eligible for any stipend for that program year. Each recipient automatically becomes part of the Contra Costa BEST Corp. The purpose of this corp will be to nurture the development of a core group of committed early childhood educators who view early education as a profession,one worthy of long term commitment and continued study. To that end the BEST Corp will be encouraged to participate in training initiatives such as California Children and Families First's funded early literacy project and the Infant and Toddler Training Program developed by West Ed and funded by the California State Department of Education. Our Corp will be among the best-educated and compensated early educators in the country. They will provide models and leadership to the entire early childhood community from family child care homes to private and publicly funded centers. All young children will benefit from the BEST Corp's existence. 8 Criteria for Choosing an Organization to Administer the Contra Costa BEST Child Care Initiative , The administering agency should be: • Knowledgeable of and have a presence in the Contra Costa early childhood community • Able to oversee the fiscal responsibilities of distributing the stipends • Employ at least one full-time staff to act as liaison with teachers and be familiar with teacher credentials and the early childhood field Responsibilities of this agency will include, but not limited to: • Collecting and documenting the certification needed for providers • Transcripts • Letters of employment • Work toward implementing a state registry for documentation of teacher units • Coordinate and implement Corp meetings for members • Advocate for funds to grow the program • Explore and develop a cost effective method for investment of stipends for Corp members who choose to use their stipend for retirement • Publicize the availability of stipends through an outreach program • Distribute stipends • Collect data related to staff qualifications and turnover for future funding Evaluation The Contra Costa's BEST program would seek to be part of statewide evaluations of similar projects such as those in Alameda and San Francisco. Some of the evaluation criteria will include: changes in care-giver turnover and changes in educational levels of early childhood educators. 9 PI Endorsements The BEST Plan is currently being circulated and garnering endorsements from many major players in the early childhood community. Although this process has only just begun, those who have already signed up to support the plan are: Bay Area Quality Family Child Care Association Contra Costa Association for the Education of Young Children Contra Costa Child Care Council Contra Costa Child Care Directors Association Contra Costa College's Family Life Education Faculty Diablo Valley College's Family Life Education Faculty East County Providers' Network Lamorinda Advocates for Families Local Planning Council Los Medanos College's Family Life Education Faculty Parent Voices Professional Association for Childhood Education San Damon Valley Child Care Association 10