“Children Learning, Parents Earning, Communities Growing"

5/17/2021 - CAPPA Monday Morning Newsletter with editorial submitted by Assemblymember Kevin McCarty on AB 22, rebuttal Michael Olenick, Ph.D., President & CEO, Child Care Resource Center (CCRC),  and the LA Times Editorial released an article.  Click here to read all.

(5/16/2021 - California may be on the verge of realizing Transitional Kindergarten (TK) for all four-year-old's statewide. The legislative vehicle to do this is Assembly Bill 22 by Assemblymember Kevin McCarty.  To share information here and in the newsletter, click here.  To share input with Assemblymember McCarty's staff, click here.  

On May 10, CAPPA stepped up to support a conversation on TK.  To kick this off, was a section in the CAPPA Monday Morning Newsletter.  

• AB 22 - Link to legislation NOTE: Currently pending on ASM Third Reading File
• Background sheet, FAQ
• Current bill analysis

• Editorial:  Look before leaping into transitional kindergarten
• CQEL - What's in AB22? (Video)
• Child Care Law Center - The Problems with Transitional Kindergarten (AB 22)
• Child Care Law Center - Letter of opposition
• San Francisco ECE Communities - Letter of opposition
• Early education and anti-poverty and service organization - Letter of concern
• CQEL - Letter asking Assemblymember McCarty to hit a pause
• Head Start California - Letter of opposition

1. (5/10/2021) Under TK, four year old's would have free "instruction" during a school day but only if provided on school grounds. For subsidized families with a four year old, if they choose another program, not TK, would that program be "free" for the family?
2. (5/10/2021) Does the funding of the TK expansion take monies out of the General Fund specifically for child care and move those monies into Proposition 98?
3. (5/10/2021) For California State Preschool Programs that provide full-day, full-year supports that meet the needs of working families full-day, full-year, this part-year TK program could result in the closure of many. Has there been any thought of pursuing TK expansion via public and private partnerships?
4. (5/10/2021) For subsidized families, parental choice drives the decision of where child care and early learning will be secured. For some populations, such as our migrant families, the care needed oftentimes begins at 4:00 AM. For some families, getting a child to and from a school is at least a 45 minute bus ride each way. How would these families be supported with access to a TK program?
5. (5/10/2021) Has there been any concern that the creation of a TK program will create a bigger inequity divide between subsidized versus unsubsidized families; between meeting the needs of working families with traditional hours and those with after hour and weekend needs?
6. (5/10/2021) How can subsidized families be held harmless when this proposal reduces their access to 250 days of 6.5-10.5 hours of CSPP care and supplant it with “TK” at only 175 days a year with equivalence to a minimum school day (6 hours or less)?