AN ACT Relating to before-and-after school care; amending RCW 74.15.020; adding new sections to Title 28A RCW; creating a new section; and making appropriations.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that a large proportion of the school age children in the state of Washington are not under the care and supervision of an adult during the hours before-and-after school while their parents work or are engaged in job training and professional preparation programs. The legislature finds that these children are at risk and that the provision of before- and-after school care is a cost-effective early intervention and prevention program that will promote not only the safety and welfare of these children but their ability to learn and develop into healthy and productive citizens.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The before-and-after school child care program is created within the office of the superintendent of public instruction.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The office of the superintendent of public instruction may grant funds, from moneys appropriated for this purpose, to selected school districts to conduct community needs assessments.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. The office of the superintendent of public instruction may grant funds, from moneys appropriated for this purpose, to selected school districts requesting assistance in starting before-and-after school child care programs and to assist in supporting the start-up operational costs in the provision of care for children living in families living in poverty and qualifying for subsidized child care during the first two years of operating the program. The office of the superintendent of public instruction may provide technical assistance to school districts.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) School districts may, if possible, recover the funds granted for needs assessments under section 3 of this act and start-up costs under section 4 of this act and transmit those funds to the before-and-after school care revolving fund under subsection (2) of this section.

(2) The before-and-after school child care fund is created in the custody of the state treasurer. All receipts under subsection (1) of this section shall be deposited in the fund. Expenditures from the fund may be used only for the purposes of sections 3 and 4 of this act. Only the superintendent of public instruction or the superintendent of public instruction's designee may authorize expenditures from the fund. The fund is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but no appropriation is required for expenditures.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. School districts may submit grant applications to the superintendent of public instruction for assistance under sections 3 and 4 of this act for before-and-after school child care programs. The grant requests may be for an entire district or a building within a district.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. The state board of education shall adopt rules under this section and section 8 of this act providing for the program. The rules shall provide:

(1) Requirements that districts place a priority on providing before-and-after school care services to children in families living in poverty;

(2) Provisions for districts to charge reasonable fees to cover the costs of providing services and the option of developing different rates based upon the ability of the families to cover the costs of care; and

(3) Provisions for coordinating school district child care programs with other child care services in local communities.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. (1) The superintendent of public instruction and the department of social and health services shall jointly develop minimum standards for school-operated child care for school-age children to assure the provision of quality, developmentally appropriate care in school-operated before-and-after school programs. These standards shall be presented to the state board of education for its approval and adoption. The standards adopted by the state board of education shall be equivalent to those established for other types of child care providers.

(2) The superintendent of public instruction and the department of social and health services shall develop and sign an interagency agreement specifying the process for implementing rules governing school-operated child care programs for school-age children. The agreement shall provide that programs regulated under the agreement shall be eligible to receive subsidies for providing care to children eligible under department of social and health services child care subsidy programs.

(3) The rules and agreement shall be developed and agreed to by the department of social and health services and the superintendent of public instruction by September 1, 1990.

(4) By December 1, 1991, a report shall be given to the state board of education on the progress of implementing these standards. The report shall be prepared by the superintendent of public instruction in consultation with the department of social and health services in accordance with the terms of the interagency agreement provided for in subsection (2) of this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. School districts may contract with other public or private nonprofit organizations to conduct before-and-after school child care programs.

Sec. 10. Section 2, chapter 172, Laws of 1967 as last amended by section 912, chapter 176, Laws of 1988 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 persons with developmental disabilities 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 persons with developmental disabilities 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 persons with developmental disabilities 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 persons with developmental disabilities in the family abode of the person or persons under whose direct care and supervision the child, expectant mother, or person with a developmental disability 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 persons with developmental disabilities 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 persons with developmental disabilities;

(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, preschools, 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 and also including any before-and-after school care program under sections 1 through 7 and 9 of this act;

(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 chapter 71A.22 RCW;

(k) 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;

(l) Persons who have a child in their home for purposes of adoption, if the child was placed in such home by a licensed child-placing agency, an authorized public or tribal agency or court or if a preplacement report has been filed under chapter 26.33 RCW and the placement has been approved by the court;

(m) An agency operated by any unit of local, state, or federal government or an agency, located within the boundaries of a federally recognized Indian reservation, licensed by the Indian tribe;

(n) An agency located on a federal military reservation, except where the military authorities request that such agency be subject to the licensing requirements of this chapter.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. Sections 1 through 7 and 9 of this act are each added to Title 28A RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 12. The sum of four million dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1991, from the general fund to the superintendent of public instruction to carry out the purposes of sections 1 through 9 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. The sum of five million six hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1991, from the general fund to the department of social and health services for subsidies for children who are eligible for department of social and health services child care subsidies to attend school operated before-and-after school child care programs.