Child care and development services: alternative payment programs.

The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, provides that children from infancy to 13 years of age are eligible for federal and state subsidized child development services if their families meet at least one requirement in each of certain areas. The act requires the department to contract with local contracting agencies to provide for alternative payment programs, and authorizes alternative payment programs for services provided in licensed centers and family day care homes and for other types of programs that conform to applicable law. The act requires the department to expand existing alternative payment programs and fund new alternative payment programs to the extent that funds are provided by the Legislature. This bill would require an alternative payment program, with certain exceptions, to have no less than 36 months to expend funds allocated to that program in any fiscal year, and would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop a process that provides alternative payment programs no less than 36 months to expend funds allocated to that program in any fiscal year.