California state preschool programs: age of eligibility.

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 requires the State Department of Education, in collaboration with the State Department of Social Services, to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates, which vary with the length of the program year and the hours of service, for California state preschool program contractors, as provided. Existing law requires each applicant or contracting agency to give priority for part-day and full-day California state preschool programs according to a specified priority order. Existing law establishes adjustment factors applicable to the reimbursement a contractor receives in order to reflect the additional expense of serving full-day and part-day preschool children who meet certain criteria and requires the adjustment factor for children who are 47 months or younger to be 1.8, as provided. This bill, until July 1, 2027, would authorize, but not require, a California state preschool contractor operating a part-day, full-day, or both part- and full-day California state preschool program to enroll interested eligible 2-year-old children, as defined, and would make conforming changes. The bill, on or after July 1, 2027, would prohibit a contractor from serving any 2-year-old children, unless the contractor was serving those 2-year-old children before July 1, 2027. The bill, until July 1, 2027, would instead require the adjustment factor for 2-year-old and 3-year-old children to be 1.8 and would require the State Department of Education to ensure that the rate that contractors receive for 2-year-old children in each county for each setting and time base type is no less than the rate provided for children of the same age served in general child care and development programs, as provided.