BILL REQ. #:  S-0744.1 

Read first time 01/27/09.   Referred to Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education.

     AN ACT Relating to a quality rating and improvement system; and amending RCW 43.215.100.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 43.215.100 and 2007 c 394 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the department, in collaboration with community and statewide partners, including the nongovernmental private-public partnership created in RCW 43.215.070, shall implement a unified statewide voluntary quality rating and improvement system applicable to licensed or certified child care centers and homes and early education programs. The purpose of the voluntary quality rating and improvement system is to give parents clear and easily accessible information about the quality of child care and early education programs, support improvement in early learning programs throughout the state, increase the readiness of children for school, and close the disparity in access to quality care. Before final implementation of ((the)) a single statewide voluntary quality rating and improvement system, the department shall report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the legislature. Nothing in this section changes the department's responsibility to collectively bargain over mandatory subjects.