Brief Description: Supporting early learning and parenting education opportunities at community colleges.

Sponsors: By Representatives Kagi, P. Sullivan, Wallace, Seaquist, Appleton, Morrell, Goodman, Santos, Wood, Ormsby and Kenney.

House Committee on Early Learning & Children's Services
Senate Committee on Higher Education

Background:

Community and technical colleges across Washington provide parent education programs to support parents as their child grows and develops. The availability of these programs, including how and where they are delivered, varies from campus to campus. Lectures, discussions, observations, and interactive approaches are among the kinds of parent education services offered in a mixture of settings, both on and off-campus, by a range of professionals with expertise in working with families and children.

Community and technical colleges also accommodate an array of child care programs from campus to campus. These include state-funded Early Childhood Education and Assistance Programs, federally-funded Head Start and Early Head Start Programs, as well as other private for-profit and non-profit child care programs.

The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) provides general supervision and control over the state system of community and technical colleges. Among the SBCTC's responsibilities is the establishment of minimum standards for the operation of community and technical colleges with respect to personnel qualifications, budgeting, accounting, auditing, curriculum content, degree requirements, admission policies, and the eligibility of courses for state support.

As part of the minimum licensing requirements, the Department of Early Learning (DEL) requires initial, ongoing, and continuing state training for directors, program supervisors, site coordinators, and lead staff in child care facilities. The State Training and Registry System is a career development system designed to improve child care through basic and ongoing training for child care providers that is regulated by the DEL.

Summary:

The SBCTC must conduct a survey and inventory of parent support and child care programs operated by community and technical colleges for the purpose of creating a coordinated system of course offerings and early learning education opportunities including parenting education and on-campus child care. Enrollment numbers and populations, program capacity, number of full-time equivalent employees, funding sources, and other information will be collected from early learning and parent education courses, parent cooperative classes, and other early childhood education programs and child care programs on community college campuses that support parent education and early learning.

The SBCTC will consult with the DEL to establish processes for creating articulation standards for course work and training in early childhood development and provide recommendations to the Legislature by December 1, 2007, for a system for strengthening community college early learning education opportunities and child care services to parents and providers.

Votes on Final Passage:

House   96   0
Senate   49   0

Effective: July 22, 2007