BILL REQ. #:  H-0986.2 

Read first time 01/23/2007.   Referred to Committee on Early Learning & Children's Services.

     AN ACT Relating to preschool tuition scholarships for children in foster care; creating new sections; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A pilot program for providing preschool tuition scholarships and enrollment assistance for children in foster care is established. The pilot program shall be administered by the department of social and health services in consultation with the Washington state child care resource and referral network and the department of early learning. The department of social and health services shall select for a two-year pilot program three regional offices representing the geographic diversity of the state. The primary purpose of the pilot program is to promote access to high-quality early learning programs for more children in foster care.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   (1) The department of social and health services in consultation with the department of early learning shall establish criteria for identifying high-quality early learning programs for which preschool tuition scholarships may be used.
     (2) The regional offices selected in subsection (1) of this section shall provide preschool tuition scholarships for children in foster care who are three to five years of age not enrolled in kindergarten and who have been in an out-of-home placement pursuant to chapter 13.34 RCW for sixty consecutive days or longer. A total of two hundred preschool tuition scholarships shall be distributed across the three pilot sites. The amount of the scholarship shall be not more than the difference between the usual and customary rate charged by the provider, taking into account the child's age and whether attendance will be full-time or part-time, and the amount of any state child care subsidy for which the child is otherwise eligible.
     (3) Based upon the criteria developed in subsection (1) of this section, the regional administrators of the offices selected for the pilot program under section 1 of this act shall consult with the local child care resource and referral network to identify community providers where scholarships may be applied and where children in foster care may be referred. The local child care resource and referral network shall assist foster parents with assessing the type of preschool program appropriate for the child's needs and with completing the enrollment process.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   Sections 1 and 2 of this act expire July 1, 2011.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   If specific funding for the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill or chapter number, is not provided by June 30, 2007, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act is null and void.