State full-day preschool program: eligibility for enrollment: low income schools.

The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer child care and development programs that offer a full range of services to eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age, inclusive. Existing law requires the Superintendent to administer all California state preschool programs, which include part-day age and developmentally appropriate programs for 3- and 4-year-old children, as provided. Existing law provides that 3- and 4-year-old children are eligible for the state part-day preschool program if the family meets one of several eligibility requirements, including income eligibility. Existing law provides that "income eligible," for purposes of the Child Care and Development Services Act, means that a family's adjusted monthly income is at or below 70% of the state median income, adjusted for family size, and adjusted annually. This bill would revise the eligibility requirements for full-day preschool programs operated at any California public school, including a charter school, that has at least 40% of its pupils being from low-income families, as specified pursuant to Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965, or a community-based organization that contracts with the above-described school or school district. This bill would require the State Department of Education to share participation data from the Medi-Cal program with local educational agencies. The bill would impose specified requirements on the State Department of Education and local educational agencies relating to the privacy and confidentiality of that participation data. The bill would require a local educational agency participating in a full-day preschool program at a high poverty school, as defined, to use that participation data, commencing with the participation data of pupils in the 2019–20 school year, to directly certify pupils eligible for full-day preschool at a high poverty school, to the extent permitted under federal law. The bill would authorize a school district or county superintendent of schools to determine a pupil's eligibility for full-day preschool at a high poverty school based on data including the direct certification match and alternative measures of poverty pursuant to specified state and federal law. This provision would become operative upon the receipt of federal funds to assist the state in implementing its provisions.