Preschool and child care and development services: family fees.

Existing law, the Early Education Act, among other things, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer all California state preschool programs, including, but not limited to, part-day and full-day age and developmentally appropriate programs for 3- and 4-year-old children. Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of child care and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with the State Department of Education, to establish a fee schedule for families using preschool and child care and development services and requires families who utilize those services to be assessed a family fee that is based on income, certified family need for full-time or part-time care services, and enrollment. Existing law prohibits those family fees from exceeding 10% of the family's monthly income and prohibits family fees from being collected for the 2022–23 fiscal year. This bill would instead, upon appropriation, starting July 1, 2023, (1) prohibit those family fees from exceeding 1% of the family's monthly income and (2) prohibit a family with an adjusted monthly family income below 75% of the state median family income from being assessed a family fee. The bill would also prohibit a California state preschool program or a childcare provider paid with childcare subsidies from being required to absorb a reduction in pay, as specified, and would prohibit the number of California state preschool program contracted spaces or childcare contracted spaces and vouchers from being reduced because of a reduction in the collection of family fees.