AN ACT Relating to child care programs; amending RCW 74.15.020; adding new sections to chapter 28A.34 RCW; repealing RCW 28A.34.020, 28A.34.040, and 28A.34.050; and making appropriations.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. In order to help meet the rapidly growing need for child care and in order to utilize all available resources, it is the policy of the state of Washington to permit and encourage the use of public school facilities for the provision of child care. Child care programs provided under this chapter at the discretion of school districts are optional programs which do not fall within the state's educational duties established by Article IX of the state Constitution.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definition in this section applies throughout this chapter.

"Child care program" means the nonresidential care and supervision of minors before, during, and after school hours, and during nonschool days and may include planned educational activities with an emphasis upon the development of readiness skills.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. School districts may establish, maintain, and operate child care programs using local resources including surplus school facilities, program revenues, gifts and grants, special tax levy revenues, and any state funds as may be appropriated for the purpose of child care programs by the legislature. To be eligible for moneys under this section:

(1) The school district shall conduct a study designed to assess the need for and the availability of child care services within the school district's jurisdiction before establishing a child care program;

(2) The board of directors may fix reasonable charges for the care of children enrolled in child care programs and may fix the charges either at a uniform rate or at a variable rate based on the ability of the parents of the children enrolled in the programs to pay the charges;

(3) The board of directors may, if necessary, supplement the funding of the programs by an appropriation from the general fund of the school district;

(4) The board of directors may employ necessary personnel and may contract with public and private entities for all or a part of the management and operation of child care programs;

(5) The board of directors may remodel, renovate, otherwise improve, and maintain surplus school facilities for the purposes of child care programs;

(6) The board of directors may transport minors enrolled in child care programs to and from program sites using district-owned transportation vehicles or may contract for transportation services, or both;

(7) The board of directors may supplement fee revenues, gifts and grants, and any earmarked state appropriated funds with special tax levy revenues to the extent approved by the electorate of the school district and necessary to meet the full direct and indirect costs of child care programs; and

(8) The board of directors may otherwise perform and provide for such other functions and activities as are necessary and incidental to the maintenance and operation of safe, healthful, efficient, and prudently managed child care and preschool programs.

Any child care program established under sections 1 through 6 of this act that enrolls children on a regular basis for more than four hours per day shall be required to meet or to exceed the minimum staffing standards and standards for the care, safety, and health of children established by the superintendent of public instruction as minimum standards for public school child care programs under section 6 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. In order to help meet child care needs in their communities, school district boards of directors may contract with other public agencies under chapter 39.34 RCW and with private agencies for the operation of child care programs established under this chapter. When a school district board of directors chooses to contract with other public or private agencies pursuant to this section, the child care programs so established shall be located at such points as the board of directors deems suitable for the convenience of the public.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Whenever appropriations are provided for the purpose of child care programs, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall provide matching grants to school districts for the purpose of helping to defray the cost of starting new child care programs in the public schools. In allocating matching grants to school districts under this section, the superintendent of public instruction shall give special priority to programs intended to serve low-income families and to programs designed to help teenage parents who need to complete their high school education.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Child care programs provided for by school districts under this chapter shall comply with personnel, facility, program, health, and safety requirements established by the superintendent of public instruction. The superintendent shall establish such requirements by rules adopted under chapter 34.04 RCW. Such rules shall incorporate requirements made applicable to day care centers under chapter 74.15 RCW and the rules adopted under chapter 74.15 RCW to the extent those requirements are not inconsistent with the maintenance and operation of the common school system, as determined by the superintendent of public instruction.

Sec. 7. Section 2, chapter 172, Laws of 1967 as last amended by section 5, chapter 118, Laws of 1982 and RCW 74.15.020 are each amended to read as follows:

For the purpose of chapter 74.15 RCW and RCW 74.13.031, and unless otherwise clearly indicated by the context thereof, the following terms shall mean:

(1) "Department" means the state department of social and health services;

(2) "Secretary" means the secretary of social and health services;

(3) "Agency" means any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, or facility which receives children, expectant mothers, or developmentally disabled persons for control, care, or maintenance outside their own homes, or which places, arranges the placement of, or assists in the placement of children, expectant mothers, or developmentally disabled persons for foster care or placement of children for adoption, and shall include the following irrespective of whether there is compensation to the agency or to the children, expectant mothers or developmentally disabled persons for services rendered:

(a) "Group-care facility" means an agency, other than a foster-family home, which is maintained and operated for the care of a group of children on a twenty-four hour basis;

(b) "Child-placing agency" means an agency which places a child or children for temporary care, continued care, or for adoption;

(c) "Maternity service" means an agency which provides or arranges for care or services to expectant mothers, before or during confinement, or which provides care as needed to mothers and their infants after confinement;

(d) "Day-care center" means an agency which regularly provides care for a group of children for periods of less than twenty-four hours;

(e) "Foster-family home" means an agency which regularly provides care on a twenty-four hour basis to one or more children, expectant mothers or developmentally disabled persons in the family abode of the person or persons under whose direct care and supervision the child, expectant mother or developmentally disabled person is placed;

(f) "Crisis residential center" means an agency which is a temporary protective residential facility operated to perform the duties specified in chapter 13.32A RCW, in the manner provided in RCW 74.13.032 through 74.13.036.

(4) "Agency" shall not include the following:

(a) Persons related by blood or marriage to the child, expectant mother or developmentally disabled persons in the following degrees: Parent, grandparent, brother, sister, stepparent, stepbrother, stepsister, uncle, aunt, and/or first cousin;

(b) Persons who are legal guardians of the child, expectant mother or developmentally disabled persons;

(c) Persons who care for a neighbor's or friend's child or children, with or without compensation, where the person does not engage in such activity on a regular basis, or where parents on a mutually cooperative basis exchange care of one another's children, or persons who have the care of an exchange student in their own home;

(d) Nursery schools or kindergartens which are engaged primarily in educational work with preschool children and in which no child is enrolled on a regular basis for more than four hours per day;

(e) Schools, including boarding schools, which are engaged primarily in education, operate on a definite school year schedule, follow a stated academic curriculum, accept only school-age children and do not accept custody of children;

(f) Seasonal camps of three months' or less duration engaged primarily in recreational or educational activities;

(g) Hospitals licensed pursuant to chapter 70.41 RCW when performing functions defined in chapter 70.41 RCW, nursing homes licensed under chapter 18.51 RCW and boarding homes licensed under chapter 18.20 RCW;

(h) Licensed physicians or lawyers;

(i) Facilities providing care to children for periods of less than twenty-four hours whose parents remain on the premises to participate in activities other than employment;

(j) Facilities approved and certified under RCW 72.33.810;

(k) Child care programs established under chapter 28A.34 RCW;

(l) Any agency having been in operation in this state ten years prior to June 8, 1967, and not seeking or accepting moneys or assistance from any state or federal agency, and is supported in part by an endowment or trust fund.

(5) "Requirement" means any rule, regulation or standard of care to be maintained by an agency.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. The superintendent of public instruction shall establish a program to offer technical assistance and advice to school districts seeking to develop new or to improve existing child care programs in their facilities. The superintendent of public instruction shall create an advisory committee representing educators, the department of social and health services, child care providers, parents, and local school districts to help carry out the duties under this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. The following acts or parts of acts are each repealed:

(1) Section 28A.34.020, chapter 223, Laws of 1969 ex. sess. and RCW 28A.34.020;

(2) Section 28A.34.040, chapter 223, Laws of 1969 ex. sess. and RCW 28A.34.040; and

(3) Section 28A.34.050, chapter 223, Laws of 1969 ex. sess., section 45, chapter 154, Laws of 1973 1st ex. sess. and RCW 28A.34.050.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. Sections 1 through 6 and 8 of this act are each added to chapter 28A.34 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. (1) There is appropriated from the general fund to the office of the superintendent of public instruction the sum of one hundred fifty thousand dollars or so much thereof as may be necessary for the remainder of the biennium ending June 30, 1987, to carry out the purposes of section 5 of this act: PROVIDED, That no child care start-up matching funds granted to any individual school district shall amount to more than ten thousand dollars.

(2) There is appropriated from the general fund to the office of the superintendent of public instruction the sum of one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars or so much thereof as may be necessary for the remainder of the biennium ending June 30, 1987, for the purpose of carrying out the program established pursuant to section 8 of this act.