BILL NUMBER: ACR 45 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
ADOPTED IN SENATE JULY 8, 2013
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 8, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 10, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 20, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 2, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Weber
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bonilla, Bradford, Brown, Garcia,
Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Mitchell, Mullin, Rendon, Achadjian, Alejo,
Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bonta, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Cooley, Dahle, Daly,
Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gray,
Hagman, Hall, Roger Hernández, Levine, Linder, Lowenthal,
Maienschein, Medina, Morrell, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen,
Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk,
Quirk-Silva, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Waldron, Wieckowski, Wilk,
Williams, and Yamada)
(Coauthors: Senators Liu, Price, and Wright)
APRIL 11, 2013
Relative to early care and education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 45, Weber. Early care and education.
This measure would urge the California State Legislature and the
Governor to restore budget funding to early care and education
programs and to support efforts to fund and implement the Quality
Rating and Improvement System and other programs that support early
care and education. The measure would also urge the California State
Legislature to commit to improving the public's understanding of the
role that early care and education plays in securing an educated,
nimble, and stable workforce to help keep California's economy
vibrant and strong for years to come.
WHEREAS, Over the last two decades, a significant body of research
has shed light on neuroscience and brain development, improving our
understanding of the importance of the earliest years in a child's
life, and of the influence those years have on later economic,
educational, emotional, and social outcomes; and
WHEREAS, Eighty percent of a child's brain development occurs by
age three and 90 percent of brain development occurs by age five, and
children who attend quality early care and education programs are
more likely to pass reading exams through third grade; and
WHEREAS, On the National Assessment of Educational Progress and on
California's own standards-based tests, poor, African American, and
Latino students, as well as English learners, are all overrepresented
among students scoring at the lowest levels and underrepresented
among those scoring at the highest levels; and
WHEREAS, Other measures of assessing student achievement,
including high dropout rates, low graduation rates, failure to
complete the A through G course requirements for eligibility to the
state's four-year universities, and lower college admissions, reflect
similar achievement patterns; and
WHEREAS, In 2011 in San Diego County, only 51 percent of third
graders were proficient in English language arts and 34 percent of
preschool-aged children were enrolled in early care and education
programs, while statewide only 46 percent of third graders were
proficient in English language arts and 25 percent of preschool-aged
children were enrolled in early care and education programs; and
WHEREAS, A high-quality early care and education program, which is
the formal care and teaching of young children often provided by
individuals other than a child's first teacher or parents, that
actively engages parents in their child's education, results in
higher grades, better school attendance, increased motivation, and
higher graduation rates. It is well documented in research and widely
understood that quality early care and education programs contribute
tremendously to a child's ability to mature, reach his or her
potential, and become a productive citizen; and
WHEREAS, Early care and education reflects a variety of
educational and care service options, including child care,
development, and preschool programs that provide positive early
learning experiences to foster a child's emotional, intellectual, and
social development, and lays the foundation for later academic
success; and
WHEREAS, Children learn by observing and modeling what they see
their parents do. When parents enroll in parenting classes, they
learn new techniques and realize that parental involvement and early
care and education will advance their children as compared to other
children whose parents do not know about or do not value the
importance of parental classes and early care and education; and
WHEREAS, San Diego has a "Parent Engagement Education Program"
through the Parent Institute for Quality Education that teaches
parents how to create a positive and lasting educational environment
at home using a number of proven academic success tools, including
dedicating a home study location and time of day for homework,
creating ongoing dialog with their children about academic successes
and challenges, discussing children's college expectations, and more.
Parents also learn about how grades are used for college admittance,
what classes are important and needed for children planning to
attend college, how to navigate the school system, and other
information vital to the academic success of their children; and
WHEREAS, The earlier that parent involvement begins in a child's
educational process, the more powerful the effects on the child's
life. Sometimes parents do not realize that the parental involvement
and early care and education will have a positive impact in the lives
of their children forever. Studies have shown that parental
involvement is a strong predictor of school achievement, especially
among children from low-income families. These studies have
demonstrated that children in poverty whose parents provide an
engaging learning environment at home are better prepared for school
and have lower suspension rates than their low-income peers; and
WHEREAS, Statistics on parental involvement indicate that family
participation in education is twice as predictive of a child's
academic success as a family's socioeconomic status, meaning a child
whose parents are engaged in their child's education tends to have
fewer behavioral problems, performs better academically, and is more
likely to complete high school than a child whose parents are not
engaged in his or her education; and
WHEREAS, A child who attends quality early care and education
programs is less likely to be arrested and more likely to earn higher
incomes than a child who does not, and the opportunity to
participate in such programs prepares children to attain a higher
standard of living as adults and to become members of the
high-skilled workforce that is critical to our nation's economic
future; and
WHEREAS, The finding of a connection between strong early care and
education programs and the state's economic growth is what compelled
First 5 LA to make a number of early care and education investments,
including the ECE Works! Career Development Policy Project, which
promotes the development of a strong early care and education
workforce to prepare today's children for the dynamic workforce
challenges of the future. This early care and education workforce
development initiative supports the First 5 LA Strategic Plan FY
2009-2015's goal of ensuring that children are ready for
kindergarten; and
WHEREAS, The public's understanding of the relationship between
brain development at the early stages of life and a child's future
development compelled voters in California to dedicate resources
solely for the benefit of children from birth to five years of age
through the establishment of First 5 California and county First 5
commissions and agencies, which are located in all 58 counties,
including Alameda, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Los Angeles,
Merced, Orange, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin,
Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Ventura, and Yolo Counties;
and
WHEREAS, An integral part of a sound public investment strategy to
secure California's economic future must include the development of,
and the appropriate compensation levels to recruit and retain, a
highly trained early care and education workforce; and
WHEREAS, There is now broad-based consensus that early care and
education is a critical foundation for improving our nation's
educational system and a vital investment strategy to ensure the
competitiveness of our nation's workforce in the global economy; and
WHEREAS, Historically, early care and education settings, such as
child care and preschool for infants, toddlers, and young children,
were viewed solely as a means of enabling parents to function in the
workforce, and public policy for providing and funding early care and
education was focused on safety and accessibility; and
WHEREAS, Brain development research has informed our understanding
of the relevance and importance of early care and education
environments and the value of the early care and education workforce.
Public policy must develop and evolve to more accurately reflect
what we now know to be most effective, including well-trained
teachers offering high-quality services that provide a large return
on investment; and
WHEREAS, President Barack Obama's 2013 State of the Union Address
proposed making high-quality preschool "available to every single
child in America." The President explained that his focus will be on
low- and moderate-income four-year-old children. The President
stated, "Every dollar we invest in high-quality early childhood
education can save more than seven dollars later on--by boosting
graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent
crime. In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest
children, like Georgia or Oklahoma, studies show students grow up
more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school,
hold a job, form more stable families of their own. We know this
works. So let's do what works and make sure none of our children
start the race of life already behind. Let's give our kids that
chance."; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That we urge our colleagues in the California
State Legislature and the Governor of California to restore budget
funding to early care and education programs and to support efforts
to fund and implement the Quality Rating and Improvement System and
other programs that support early care and education; and be it
further
Resolved, That we urge our colleagues to commit to improving the
public's understanding of the role that early care and education
plays in securing an educated, nimble, and stable workforce to help
keep California's economy vibrant and strong for years to come; and
be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.