I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 953 

To establish universal child care and early learning programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2023 

Ms. SHERRILL (for herself, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. NADLER, Ms. MENG, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. NORTON, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. LEE of California, 

Ms. TLAIB, Mr. CASAR, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, 

Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. LANDSMAN, Ms. 

PRESSLEY, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. AUCHINCLOSS, Mr. JOHNSON of 

Georgia, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania, 

Ms. BUSH, Mr. EVANS, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. 

HUFFMAN, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. LIEU, Mr. 

DESAULNIER, and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To establish universal child care and early learning programs. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Care for Every 

5 Community Act’’. 


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1 TITLE I—CHILD CARE AND 

2 EARLY LEARNING PROGRAMS 

3 SEC. 101. STATEMENT OF PURPOSES. 

4 The purposes of this title are— 

5 (1) to provide all young children with a fair and 

6 full opportunity to reach their full potential, by es7 tablishing and expanding programs, to create uni8 versal, comprehensive child care and early learning 

9 programs that are available to all young children; 

10 (2) to ensure that families can access afford11 able, high-quality child care and early learning pro12 grams regardless of circumstance; 

13 (3) to promote the school readiness of all young 

14 children by enhancing their cognitive, social, emo15 tional, and physical development— 

16 (A) in a learning environment that sup17 ports children’s growth in language, literacy, 

18 mathematics, science, cognitive abilities, social 

19 and emotional functioning, creative arts, phys20 ical skills, and approaches to learning; and 

21 (B) through the provision to children and 

22 their families of health, educational, nutritional, 

23 social, and other services that are determined, 

24 based on family needs assessments, to be nec25 essary; 


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1 (4) to recognize and build upon the experience 

2 and success gained through the Head Start pro3 gram, the military child care program, and similar 

4 efforts; 

5 (5) to provide that decisions on the nature of 

6 such child care and early learning programs be made 

7 at the community level with the full involvement of 

8 parents, family members, and other individuals and 

9 organizations in the community; and 

10 (6) to establish the legislative framework for 

11 child care and early learning services. 

12 SEC. 102. DEFINITIONS. 

13 For purposes of this title: 

14 (1) CHILD CARE AND EARLY LEARNING PRO15 GRAM.—The term ‘‘child care and early learning 

16 program’’ means any program that provides child 

17 care and early learning services in child care and 

18 early learning centers (including schools) or in fam19 ily child care homes. 

20 (2) CHILD WITH A DISABILITY.—The term 

21 ‘‘child with a disability’’ means— 

22 (A) a child with a disability, as defined in 

23 section 602(3) of the Individuals with Disabil24 ities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401(3)); and 


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1 (B) an infant or toddler with a disability, 

2 as defined in section 632(5) of such Act (20 

3 U.S.C. 1432(5)). 

4 (3) COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘community’’ 

5 means a city, county, or multicity or multicounty 

6 unit within a State, an Indian reservation (including 

7 Indians in any nearby off-reservation area des8 ignated by an appropriate Tribal government in con9 sultation with the Secretary), or a neighborhood or 

10 other area (irrespective of boundaries or political 

11 subdivisions) that provides a suitable organizational 

12 base and possesses the commonality of interest need13 ed to operate a child care and early learning pro14 gram. 

15 (4) COVERED CHILD.—The term ‘‘covered 

16 child’’ means a child who— 

17 (A) is not yet required to attend school, 

18 under the laws of compulsory school attendance 

19 of the State in which the child resides; and 

20 (B) meets the requirements of regulations 

21 issued under section 124. 

22 (5) DUAL LANGUAGE LEARNER.—The term 

23 ‘‘dual language learner’’ means a child who is ac24 quiring two or more languages at the same time, or 

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1 tinuing to develop the child’s first language, includ2 ing a child who may also be identified by a State or 

3 locality as ‘‘bilingual’’, ‘‘an English language learn4 er’’, ‘‘limited English proficient’’, ‘‘an English learn5 er’’, or a child who speaks a ‘‘language other than 

6 English’’. 

7 (6) FAMILY LITERACY SERVICES.—The term 

8 ‘‘family literacy services’’ means services that— 

9 (A) are family literacy services, as defined 

10 in section 637 of the Head Start Act (42 

11 U.S.C. 9832); and 

12 (B) meet the requirements of section 641A 

13 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 9836a). 

14 (7) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘finan15 cial assistance’’ includes assistance provided by 

16 grant, agreement, or contract, for which payments 

17 may be made in installments and in advance or by 

18 way of reimbursement with necessary adjustments 

19 on account of overpayments or underpayments. 

20 (8) FULL-WORKING-DAY.—The term ‘‘full-work21 ing-day’’ means not less than 10 hours per day. 

22 Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to re23 quire an entity to provide services to a child who has 

24 not reached the age of compulsory school attendance 

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1 mitted by State law (including regulation) for the 

2 provision of services to such a child. 

3 (9) HEALTH.—The term ‘‘health’’, when used 

4 to refer to services or care provided to children en5 rolled in a child care and early learning program, 

6 their parents, or their siblings, shall be interpreted 

7 to refer to both physical and mental health. 

8 (10) HOMELESS CHILD.—The term ‘‘homeless 

9 child’’ means an individual described in section 

10 725(2) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance 

11 Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a(2)). 

12 (11) INDIAN.—The term ‘‘Indian’’ means an in13 dividual who is— 

14 (A) a member of an Indian Tribe or band, 

15 as membership is defined by the Tribe or band, 

16 including— 

17 (i) any Tribe or band terminated since 

18 1940; and 

19 (ii) any Tribe or band recognized by 

20 the State in which the Tribe or band re21 sides; 

22 (B) a descendant of an individual de23 scribed in subparagraph (A); 

24 (C) considered by the Secretary of the In25 terior to be an Indian for any purpose; 


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1 (D) an Eskimo, Aleut, or other Alaska Na2 tive; or 

3 (E) a member of an organized Indian 

4 group that received a grant under the Indian 

5 Education Act of 1988 as in effect on October 

6 19, 1994. 

7 (12) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 

8 means the governing body of any individually identi9 fied and federally recognized Indian or Alaska Na10 tive Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, or commu11 nity (including an affiliated Tribal group or compo12 nent reservation) included on the list published pur13 suant to section 104(a) of the Federally Recognized 

14 Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131(a)). 

15 (13) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 

16 The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

17 meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 

18 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

19 (14) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 

20 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given 

21 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

22 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

23 (15) LOCALITY.—The term ‘‘locality’’ means 

24 any city, municipality, county, or other political sub25 division of a State having general governmental powVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:19 Feb 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H953.IH H953

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1 ers, or any combination of such political subdivi2 sions. 

3 (16) LOW-INCOME.—The term ‘‘low-income’’, 

4 used with respect to a child or other individual, 

5 means an individual in a family with a family in6 come that is not more than 200 percent of the pov7 erty line. 

8 (17) MIGRANT OR SEASONAL CHILD CARE AND

9 EARLY LEARNING PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘migrant or 

10 seasonal child care and early learning program’’ 

11 means— 

12 (A) with respect to services for migrant 

13 farmworkers, a child care and early learning 

14 program that serves families who are engaged 

15 in agricultural labor and who have changed 

16 their residence from one geographic location to 

17 another in the preceding 2-year period; and 

18 (B) with respect to services for seasonal 

19 farmworkers, a child care and early learning 

20 program that serves families who are engaged 

21 primarily in seasonal agricultural labor and who 

22 have not changed their residence to another ge23 ographic location in the preceding 2-year pe24 riod. 


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1 (18) MILITARY CHILD CARE PROGRAM.—The 

2 term ‘‘military child care program’’ means the pro3 gram carried out under subchapter II of chapter 88 

4 of title 10, United States Code. 

5 (19) NATIVE HAWAIIAN.—The term ‘‘Native 

6 Hawaiian’’ has the meaning given the term in sec7 tion 6207 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu8 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7517). 

9 (20) POVERTY LINE.—The term ‘‘poverty line’’ 

10 means the official poverty line (as defined by the Of11 fice of Management and Budget) based on the most 

12 recent data available from the Bureau of the Cen13 sus— 

14 (A) adjusted to reflect the percentage 

15 change in the Consumer Price Index For All 

16 Urban Consumers, issued by the Bureau of 

17 Labor Statistics, during the annual or other in18 terval immediately preceding the date on which 

19 such adjustment is made; and 

20 (B) adjusted for family size. 

21 (21) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.—The 

22 term ‘‘professional development’’ means the career23 pathway aligned mechanisms that contribute to en24 suring that a member of the early care and edu25 cation workforce, in any setting, has or is working 


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1 towards obtaining the degrees and other credentials 

2 needed to demonstrate the necessary knowledge and 

3 competencies for quality provision of child care and 

4 early learning services. 

5 (22) SCIENTIFICALLY VALID RESEARCH.—The 

6 term ‘‘scientifically valid research’’ includes applied 

7 research, basic research, and field-initiated research, 

8 in which the rationale, design, and interpretation are 

9 soundly developed in accordance with principles of 

10 scientific research. 

11 (23) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 

12 means the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

13 (24) STAKEHOLDER.—The term ‘‘stakeholder’’ 

14 means a community-based employer of child care 

15 providers, a labor organization representing child 

16 care providers, a joint labor-management partner17 ship advocating for child care standards, an entity 

18 operating a trust fund that provides training and 

19 education for child care providers, or a nonprofit or20 ganization that represents parents of children eligi21 ble for services in a program carried out under this 

22 title. 

23 (25) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 

24 (A) a State, as defined in section 637 of 

25 the Head Start Act; and 


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1 (B) the Republic of Palau— 

2 (i) for each of fiscal years 2024 

3 through 2028; and 

4 (ii) (if legislation approving a new 

5 agreement regarding United States assist6 ance for the Republic of Palau has not 

7 been enacted by September 30, 2026), for 

8 each subsequent fiscal year for which such 

9 legislation has not been enacted. 

10 (26) TRIBAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Tribal land’’ 

11 means a reservation, the land of an Indian Tribe, or 

12 land designated by Hawaii as under the control of 

13 Native Hawaiians for purposes of this title. 

14 (27) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘Trib15 al organization’’ means— 

16 (A) the recognized governing body of any 

17 Indian Tribe, and any legally established orga18 nization of Indians which is controlled, sanc19 tioned, or chartered by such governing body or 

20 which is democratically elected by the adult 

21 members of the Indian community to be served 

22 by such organization and which includes the 

23 maximum participation of Indians in all phases 

24 of its activities, except that in any case where 

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1 tion to perform services benefitting more than 

2 one Indian Tribe, the approval of each such In3 dian Tribe shall be a prerequisite to the letting 

4 or making of such contract or grant; and 

5 (B) includes a Native Hawaiian organiza6 tion, as defined in section 6207 of the Elemen7 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

8 U.S.C. 7517) and a private nonprofit organiza9 tion established for the purpose of serving 

10 youth who are Indians or Native Hawaiians. 

11 SEC. 103. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS; APPRO12 PRIATIONS. 

13 (a) APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized to be 

14 appropriated and there are appropriated to carry out this 

15 title (other than the activities described in subsection (b)), 

16 including meeting the entitlement requirements of section 

17 111(b), such sums as may be necessary. 

18 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

19 authorized to be appropriated to carry out activities under 

20 sections 135, 136, 137, 138, 151, 152, and such adminis21 trative activities as the Secretary determines to be nec22 essary and appropriate to carry out this title, 

23 $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2034. 


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1 Subtitle A—Prime Sponsors and 

2 Providers 

3 SEC. 111. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR CHILD CARE AND 

4 EARLY LEARNING PROGRAMS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide finan6 cial assistance for carrying out child care and early learn7 ing programs under this title to prime sponsors, to provide 

8 family centered services to children to promote their devel9 opment and learning, pursuant to plans and applications 

10 approved in accordance with the provisions of this title. 

11 (b) ENTITLEMENT.—Each covered child shall be enti12 tled to participate in a child care and early learning pro13 gram that meets the requirements of this title. The entitle14 ment shall not be a capped entitlement. 

15 SEC. 112. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS; PAYMENTS. 

16 (a) ALLOCATION TO ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary 

17 shall allocate the amounts appropriated for carrying out 

18 this title for any fiscal year after fiscal year 2023, in the 

19 following manner: 

20 (1) CHILD CARE AND EARLY LEARNING PRO21 GRAMS.—The amount made available under section 

22 103(a) shall be used for the purpose of providing fi23 nancial assistance to carry out child care and early 

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1 dren, other than activities described in paragraph 

2 (2). 

3 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE AND ENHANCEMENT AC4 TIVITIES.—Of the amounts appropriated under sec5 tion 103(b)— 

6 (A) such portion, but not less than 50 per7 cent, shall be used for the purpose of carrying 

8 out activities under sections 135 and 136 and 

9 such administrative activities as the Secretary 

10 determines to be necessary and appropriate to 

11 carry out this title; 

12 (B) such portion, but not less than 20 per13 cent, shall be used for the purpose of carrying 

14 out activities under section 151; and 

15 (C) the remainder of such amounts shall 

16 be used for the purpose of carrying out activi17 ties under sections 137, 138, and 152. 

18 (3) FLEXIBILITY FOR EMERGENCY SUPPLE19 MENTAL FUNDING.—Notwithstanding paragraph 

20 (2), the Secretary may, after providing appropriate 

21 notice and written justification to Congress, redirect 

22 any amounts appropriated under section 103(b) as 

23 the Secretary determines to be necessary and appro24 priate to carry out section 151 for the purpose of 

25 carrying out activities under section 151. 


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1 (b) PUBLICATION.—As soon as practicable after 

2 funds are appropriated under section 103(b) for any fiscal 

3 year, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register 

4 the amounts made available for that fiscal year to carry 

5 out each of the activities described in subsection (a)(2). 

6 (c) PAYMENTS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.— 

8 (A) AUTHORITY FOR PAYMENTS.—In ac9 cordance with this subsection, the Secretary 

10 shall pay, from the allocation under subsection 

11 (a)(1), the Federal share of the costs of pro12 viding child care and early learning programs, 

13 in accordance with plans under sections 113 

14 and 114 that have been approved as provided in 

15 this title. 

16 (B) MANNER AND TIMING FOR PAY17 MENTS.—The Secretary may make such finan18 cial assistance as may be necessary to carry out 

19 this title. The Secretary may also withhold 

20 funds otherwise payable under this title in order 

21 to recover any amounts expended in the current 

22 or immediately prior fiscal year in violation of 

23 any provision of this title or any term or condi24 tion of financial assistance under this title. 

25 (2) FEDERAL SHARE.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

2 subparagraphs (B) and (C) and section 151, 

3 the Federal share of the costs of providing child 

4 care and early learning programs for covered 

5 children shall be no less than 90 percent. 

6 (B) CHILDREN OF MIGRANT AND SEA7 SONAL FARMWORKERS.—The Secretary shall 

8 pay for 100 percent of the costs of providing 

9 child care and early learning programs for cov10 ered children of migrant and seasonal farm11 workers under this title. 

12 (C) NATIVE AMERICAN CHILDREN.—The 

13 Secretary shall pay each prime sponsor des14 ignated under section 113 for 100 percent of 

15 the costs of providing child care and early 

16 learning programs for covered children in In17 dian Tribes and Native Hawaiian covered chil18 dren under this title. 

19 (D) ADMINISTRATIVE AMOUNT.—When 

20 making a payment described in paragraph (1) 

21 to any prime sponsor for the Federal share of 

22 the costs of providing a child care and early 

23 learning program, the Secretary shall also make 

24 a payment to the prime sponsor of not more 

25 than 100 percent of the costs for staff and 


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1 other administrative expenses of the prime 

2 sponsor, including such costs and expenses re3 lated to quality improvement (such as con4 ducting monitoring and training) and operating 

5 the Child Care and Early Learning Council, but 

6 not to exceed an amount which is reasonable 

7 when compared with such costs and expenses 

8 for other prime sponsors. 

9 (3) RATE ANALYSIS.— 

10 (A) PROCESS.—The Secretary shall, on the 

11 basis of recommendations by an committee of 

12 experts and stakeholders outside the Depart13 ment of Health and Human Services, establish 

14 and implement a process for determining the 

15 costs described in paragraph (1)(A) and ensur16 ing that the requirement of subparagraph (B) 

17 is met. 

18 (B) SUFFICIENCY REQUIREMENT.—The 

19 Secretary shall ensure that the Federal share 

20 determined under paragraph (2) is sufficient to 

21 ensure that a prime sponsor can meet all re22 quirements under this title, including the na23 tional program standards under section 121, 

24 compensation provisions under section 136(b), 


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1 and provisions relating to comprehensive serv2 ices and access to services. 

3 (4) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.— 

4 (A) SOURCES.—The non-Federal share of 

5 the costs described in paragraph (1) may be 

6 provided through public or private funds (in7 cluding labor union or employer contributions) 

8 and may be in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, 

9 including facilities, goods, or services. 

10 (B) FEES FROM FAMILIES.—Fees collected 

11 for services provided pursuant to section 114(j) 

12 may be used toward the non-Federal share. 

13 Such fees collected from a family may not ex14 ceed 7 percent of the family income, regardless 

15 of the number of children served from that fam16 ily. 

17 (C) EXCESS CONTRIBUTIONS.—If, with re18 spect to any fiscal year, a prime sponsor pro19 vides a non-Federal share, for any program 

20 that exceeds its requirements for such a share, 

21 such excess may be applied toward meeting the 

22 requirements for such a share for the subse23 quent fiscal year under this title. 

24 (d) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—No State or locality 

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1 ing programs (including home-based child care and early 

2 learning programs) because of financial assistance pro3 vided under this title. 

4 SEC. 113. DESIGNATION OF PRIME SPONSORS. 

5 (a) AUTHORITY TO DESIGNATE.— 

6 (1) QUALIFIED ENTITIES.—In accordance with 

7 the provisions of this section, a State, locality, In8 dian Tribe, Tribal organization, or public or private 

9 nonprofit agency or organization, meeting the re10 quirements of this title may be designated by the 

11 Secretary as a prime sponsor for the purpose of en12 tering into arrangements to carry out child care and 

13 early learning programs under this title. 

14 (2) PRIME SPONSORSHIP PLANS.—An entity 

15 may be designated by the Secretary as a prime spon16 sor for a period of fiscal years only pursuant to an 

17 application in the form of a prime sponsorship plan 

18 which was submitted by such entity and approved by 

19 the Secretary in accordance with the provisions of 

20 this title. At a minimum, the plan shall— 

21 (A) describe the service area to be served 

22 and how the program will be delivered; 

23 (B) provide a comprehensive child care and 

24 early learning plan, as described in section 

25 114(b); 


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1 (C) demonstrate that the entity has en2 gaged with the community involved, including 

3 parents who might participate in such a child 

4 care and early learning program, family mem5 bers of such parents, and other stakeholders, 

6 individuals, and organizations, in the commu7 nity, to determine the need and interest for 

8 such a child care and early learning program in 

9 a service area, in a manner that takes into ac10 count a wide array of perspectives, especially 

11 those from marginalized populations; and 

12 (D) demonstrate that the entity has the 

13 authority under its charter or applicable law to 

14 receive and administer funds under this title, 

15 funds and contributions from private or public 

16 sources that may be used in support of a child 

17 care and early learning program, and funds 

18 under a Federal or State assistance program 

19 that may be so used. 

20 (3) APPROVAL.—No prime sponsorship plan, or 

21 modification of the plan, submitted by an entity 

22 under this section shall be approved by the Secretary 

23 unless the Secretary determines, in accordance with 

24 regulations which the Secretary shall prescribe, 

25 that— 


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1 (A) the local educational agency for the 

2 service area and other appropriate educational 

3 and training agencies and institutions have had 

4 an opportunity to submit comments to the enti5 ty and to the Secretary; 

6 (B) appropriate officials from Indian 

7 Tribes or Tribal organizations have had an op8 portunity to submit comments to the entity and 

9 to the Secretary; and 

10 (C) the Governor of the State has had an 

11 opportunity to submit comments to the entity 

12 and to the Secretary. 

13 (4) JOINT SUBMISSION.—In order to contribute 

14 to the effective administration of this title, the Sec15 retary shall establish appropriate procedures to per16 mit an entity described in subsection (a)(1) and a 

17 State to submit jointly a single comprehensive child 

18 care and early learning plan for the service areas the 

19 entity and State propose. If the Secretary approves 

20 such a plan, the Secretary may designate the entity 

21 as a prime sponsor, and the State as a prime spon22 sor, for the corresponding service areas. 

23 (b) ADDITIONAL APPROVAL PROCEDURES.— 


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1 (1) LOCALITY OVER POPULATION THRESH2 OLD.—The Secretary shall approve a prime sponsor3 ship plan submitted by a locality if— 

4 (A) the locality meets a population thresh5 old determined by the Secretary, except that 

6 the Secretary may waive the population thresh7 old if it creates a barrier to providing child care 

8 and early learning services in a service area of 

9 a specified type, such as a rural region; 

10 (B) the plan meets the requirements of 

11 subsection (a) and includes adequate provisions 

12 for carrying out child care and early learning 

13 programs in the area of such locality; and 

14 (C) the locality is a— 

15 (i) city; 

16 (ii) county; or 

17 (iii) other unit of general local govern18 ment, including a local educational agency, 

19 as defined in section 8101 of the Elemen20 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

21 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

22 (2) LOCALITIES WITH COMMON GEOGRAPHICAL

23 AREA.—In the event that the area under the juris24 diction of a unit of general local government de25 scribed in clause (i), (ii), (iii), or (iv) of paragraph 


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1 (1)(C) includes any common geographical area with 

2 the geographical area covered by another such unit 

3 of general local government, the Secretary shall des4 ignate to serve such common area the unit of gen5 eral local government that— 

6 (A) the Secretary determines has the capa7 bility of more effectively carrying out the pur8 poses of this title with respect to such area; and 

9 (B) has submitted a plan which meets the 

10 requirements of subsection (a) and includes 

11 adequate provisions for carrying out child care 

12 and early learning programs in such area. 

13 (3) LOCALITIES.— 

14 (A) SUBMISSION BY COMBINATION.—In 

15 the event that the Secretary determines that a 

16 locality does not meet the requirements for des17 ignation as a prime sponsor under this section, 

18 the Secretary shall take steps to encourage the 

19 submission of a prime sponsorship plan, cov20 ering the area of such locality, by a combination 

21 of localities which are adjoining and possess a 

22 sufficient commonality of interest. 

23 (B) APPROVAL.—The Secretary shall ap24 prove a prime sponsorship plan submitted by 

25 such a combination of localities, if the Secretary 


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1 determines that the plan so submitted meets 

2 the requirements of subsection (a) and includes 

3 adequate provisions for carrying out child care 

4 and early learning programs in the area covered 

5 by the combination of such localities. 

6 (4) INDIAN TRIBES AND TRIBAL ORGANIZA7 TIONS.—The Secretary shall approve a prime spon8 sorship plan submitted by an Indian Tribe or Tribal 

9 organization if the Secretary determines that the 

10 plan so submitted meets the requirements of sub11 section (a) and includes adequate provisions for car12 rying out child care and early learning programs in 

13 the area to be served. 

14 (5) STATES.—The Secretary shall approve a 

15 prime sponsorship plan submitted by a State if the 

16 Secretary determines that the plan so submitted— 

17 (A) meets the requirements of subsection 

18 (a); 

19 (B) includes adequate provisions for car20 rying out child care and early learning pro21 grams in the area to be served; 

22 (C) contains a commitment to coordinating 

23 the State’s early childhood programs to create 

24 a cohesive system, for children from birth to 


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1 entry into kindergarten, for providing child care 

2 and early learning services; 

3 (D) demonstrates that the State can de4 liver a child care and early learning program 

5 that ensures coverage of— 

6 (i) the entire State; or 

7 (ii) the portions of the State that are 

8 not proposed to be covered by other enti9 ties submitting applications under sub10 section (a)(2); and 

11 (E) demonstrates that the State can de12 liver such a program with sufficient local ad13 ministration, governance, and input. 

14 (6) TWO PHASES OF APPLICATION REVIEW.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall es16 tablish two phases of review for applications in 

17 the form of prime sponsorship plans. Entities 

18 submitting such applications for the first phase 

19 of review shall be given preference for designa20 tion under subsection (a). 

21 (B) FIRST PHASE.—States, Indian Tribes, 

22 Tribal organizations, entities applying to carry 

23 out migrant or seasonal child care and early 

24 learning programs, and entities and States sub25 mitting applications jointly may submit applicaVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:19 Feb 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H953.IH H953

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1 tions described in subparagraph (A) for the 

2 first phase of application review. 

3 (C) SECOND PHASE.—Localities, public or 

4 private nonprofit agencies or organizations, and 

5 entities described in subparagraph (B) may 

6 submit applications described in subparagraph 

7 (A) for the second phase of application review. 

8 (D) PRIORITY.—During each phase of ap9 plication review, the Secretary shall give pri10 ority to applications describing programs that 

11 will serve a significant number of low-income 

12 children, children with disabilities, dual lan13 guage learner children, homeless children, or 

14 children in foster care, or will offer child care 

15 and early learning services during nonstandard 

16 hours. 

17 (c) DISAPPROVAL; WITHDRAWAL OF APPROVAL.—A 

18 prime sponsorship plan submitted under this section may 

19 be disapproved or a prior designation of a prime sponsor 

20 may be withdrawn only if the Secretary, in accordance 

21 with regulations which the Secretary shall prescribe, has 

22 provided— 

23 (1) written notice of intention to disapprove 

24 such plan or withdraw such designation, including a 

25 statement of the reasons; 


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1 (2) a reasonable time in which to submit correc2 tive amendments to such plan or undertake other 

3 necessary corrective action; and 

4 (3) an opportunity for a public hearing upon 

5 which basis an appeal to the Secretary may be taken 

6 as of right. 

7 (d) UNSERVED AREAS.—From amounts allocated 

8 under section 103(b) in the event that a prime sponsorship 

9 plan has not been submitted or approved, if a prime spon10 sor designation has been withdrawn, or if the needs of sea11 sonal and migrant farmworkers, minority groups, or low12 income individuals are not being met, for a service area, 

13 the Secretary shall develop and implement a program of 

14 outreach to identify a prime sponsor. If necessary, the 

15 Secretary may enter into an agreement with an organiza16 tion, such as a national nonprofit organization, to serve 

17 as the prime sponsor for such an area. The Secretary shall 

18 meet the requirements described in subsection (g) before 

19 entering into the agreement. 

20 (e) DESIGNATION RENEWAL.— 

21 (1) DESIGNATION RENEWAL.—A prime sponsor 

22 shall obtain renewal of the designation of the prime 

23 sponsor not more frequently than every 3 years and 

24 not less frequently than every 5 years. 


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1 (2) SYSTEM FOR DESIGNATION RENEWAL.— 

2 The Secretary shall develop a system for prime 

3 sponsors to renew their designation, under which the 

4 Secretary shall determine if a prime sponsor is deliv5 ering a high-quality and comprehensive child care 

6 and early learning program that meets the health, 

7 educational, nutritional, and social needs of the chil8 dren and families it serves, and meets program and 

9 financial management requirements and standards 

10 described in section 121(a), and governance and 

11 legal requirements. 

12 (f) PROHIBITION AGAINST ENTITIES OTHER THAN

13 INDIAN TRIBES OR TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS RECEIVING

14 A GRANT FOR A CHILD CARE AND EARLY LEARNING PRO15 GRAM ON INDIAN LAND.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

17 provision of law, except as provided in paragraph 

18 (2), under no condition may an entity other than an 

19 Indian Tribe or Tribal organization receive a grant 

20 to carry out a child care and early learning program 

21 on Tribal land. 

22 (2) EXCEPTIONS.— 

23 (A) NO INDIAN TRIBE OR TRIBAL ORGANI24 ZATION AVAILABLE.—In a service area in which 

25 there is no Indian Tribe or Tribal organization 


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1 available for designation to carry out an child 

2 care and early learning program on Indian 

3 land, an entity that is not a Tribal organization 

4 may receive a grant to carry out an child care 

5 and early learning program on Indian land, but 

6 only until such time as an Indian Tribe or Trib7 al organization in such service area becomes 

8 available and is designated pursuant to this sec9 tion. 

10 (B) JOINT PRIME SPONSORS.—For a serv11 ice area that consists of any non-reservation In12 dian land, if the Indian Tribe or Tribal organi13 zation involved is not interested in serving or 

14 does not have the capacity to serve the entire 

15 service area, the Indian Tribe or Tribal organi16 zation may work with another prime sponsor to 

17 jointly serve as prime sponsors for the service 

18 area. 

19 (g) FAMILY, CHILD CARE WORKER, AND COMMU20 NITY PARTICIPATION.—The Secretary shall— 

21 (1) significantly involve parents, family mem22 bers, family child care home providers, child care 

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1 volved, in the process for designation of prime spon2 sors; and 

3 (2) ensure that the persons selected to be in4 volved in that process shall reflect the diversity of 

5 the service area, with respect to income, culture, 

6 race and ethnicity, language, and status as a mi7 grant or seasonal farmworker, Indian, or Native Ha8 waiian. 

9 SEC. 114. POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF PRIME SPONSORS. 

10 (a) AUTHORITY.—If an entity has been designated as 

11 a prime sponsor under this title— 

12 (1) the entity may receive and administer funds 

13 under this title, funds and contributions from pri14 vate or local public sources that may be used in sup15 port of a child care and early learning program, and 

16 funds under a Federal or State assistance program 

17 related to the provision of child care and early learn18 ing services; 

19 (2) the entity may transfer funds so received, 

20 and delegate powers to other agencies, subject to the 

21 powers of its governing board and its overall pro22 gram responsibilities; 

23 (3) the entity’s power to transfer funds and del24 egate powers shall include the power to make trans25 fers and delegations for services in all cases where 


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1 the transfers and delegations will contribute to effi2 ciency and effectiveness or otherwise further pro3 gram objectives; and 

4 (4) the entity may set up a process to negotiate 

5 wages, benefits, hours, and working conditions of 

6 teachers and other staff in the corresponding child 

7 care and early learning program. 

8 (b) COMPREHENSIVE CHILD CARE AND EARLY

9 LEARNING PLANS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Financial assistance under 

11 this title may be provided by the Secretary to an en12 tity that is a prime sponsor designated pursuant to 

13 section 113 only pursuant to an application in the 

14 form of a comprehensive child care and early learn15 ing plan which was submitted annually by such enti16 ty and approved by the Secretary in accordance with 

17 the provisions of this title. 

18 (2) CONTENTS.—Any such plan shall set forth 

19 a comprehensive proposal, for providing child care 

20 and early learning services in the service area, 

21 which— 

22 (A) assesses all child care and early learn23 ing needs and goals within the area and the ap24 plicant’s proposal for addressing those needs; 


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1 (B) describes the demographic and eco2 nomic data and other criteria the prime sponsor 

3 proposes to use to determine whether a commu4 nity is in particular need of child care; 

5 (C) identifies specific communities deter6 mined to be in particular need of child care, 

7 where such communities are located, the size 

8 and scope of such areas, and the age groups of 

9 children in need of child care in such areas; 

10 (D) describes how the prime sponsor will 

11 increase the child care supply, quality, and af12 fordability for all families in communities of 

13 particular need, which may include providing 

14 start-up funding, technical assistance, training 

15 and professional development for the child care 

16 workforce, enhanced compensation, and other 

17 activities; 

18 (E) describes how the prime sponsor will 

19 provide comprehensive health, mental health, 

20 education, parental or family member involve21 ment, nutritional, social, and other services for 

22 the children that need child care and early 

23 learning services, including appropriate screen24 ing and referrals for children with challenging 

25 behaviors and other mental health needs; 


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1 (F) provides that services are full-working2 day and full calendar year long, and ensures 

3 that the available hours of services are respon4 sive to the needs of families in the service area, 

5 including, as appropriate, nonstandard hour 

6 care; 

7 (G) describes how the prime sponsor will 

8 guarantee all children in the service area access 

9 to the child care and early learning program 

10 and use funds provided under section 112(a)(1) 

11 for child care and early learning services; 

12 (H) describes how the prime sponsor will 

13 promote children’s mental health, social and 

14 emotional well-being, and overall health, by pro15 viding supports for positive learning environ16 ments for the children, including— 

17 (i) strategies for supporting children 

18 with challenging behaviors and other so19 cial, emotional, and mental health con20 cerns; and 

21 (ii) teacher training and mental health 

22 consultations for both staff and children of 

23 the child care and early learning program; 

24 (I) includes a policy on suspension and ex25 pulsion that— 


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1 (i) prohibits or severely limits the use 

2 of suspension due to a child’s behavior and 

3 ensures suspensions are only temporary in 

4 nature; 

5 (ii) prohibits expelling or unenrolling 

6 a child from the program because of the 

7 child’s behavior; and 

8 (iii) provides that, in the case of a 

9 child exhibiting persistent and serious chal10 lenging behaviors, the program provider 

11 will— 

12 (I) explore all possible steps and 

13 document all steps taken to address 

14 such behaviors; 

15 (II) make efforts to facilitate the 

16 child’s safe participation in the pro17 gram; and 

18 (III) after taking the steps de19 scribed in subclauses (I) and (II), if 

20 the provider determines, in consulta21 tion with parents and other profes22 sionals, that the program is not the 

23 most appropriate placement for the 

24 child, work with the parents to di25 rectly facilitate the transition of the 


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1 child to a more appropriate place2 ment; 

3 (J) provides that funds received under sec4 tion 112(a)(1) will be used for a child care and 

5 early learning program for covered children; 

6 (K) describes how, in the case of a prime 

7 sponsor located within or adjacent to a metro8 politan area, the prime sponsor will coordinate 

9 activities with other prime sponsors located 

10 within such metropolitan area; 

11 (L) provides that, to the extent feasible, 

12 the child care and early learning program will 

13 include children from a range of socioeconomic 

14 backgrounds, and that children will have access 

15 to all child care and early learning service pro16 viders in the service area, with priority given to 

17 the provider preferences stated by the parents 

18 and family members of low-income children; 

19 (M) ensures that, where socioeconomic di20 versity of children among providers in the serv21 ice area cannot be achieved, the share of pro22 gram costs not covered through the Federal 

23 share or program fees does not fall on a single 

24 provider or a subset of providers within the 

25 service area; 


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1 (N) provides that services will be cul2 turally, linguistically, and developmentally ap3 propriate; 

4 (O) provides that services will take into ac5 count the unique needs of communities, fami6 lies, and children in the service area, including 

7 low-income children, children with incarcerated 

8 parents, homeless children, and children who 

9 are dual language learners; 

10 (P) describes a system for offering child 

11 care and early learning options, for facilitating 

12 the selection of such an option, and for enroll13 ment of children, which may include estab14 lishing and operating a website for families; 

15 (Q) describes how the prime sponsor will 

16 conduct outreach to all families in the service 

17 area and referrals, using the appropriate me18 dium for families who speak a language other 

19 than English; 

20 (R) provides equitably for the child care 

21 and early learning needs of all covered children 

22 within the service area, and promotes equity 

23 and addresses disparities in the provision of 

24 services, including equity and disparities related 

25 to income, culture, race and ethnicity, language, 


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1 or status as a child of a migrant or seasonal 

2 farmworker, as a child belonging to an Indian 

3 Tribe, or as a Native Hawaiian child; 

4 (S) provides, insofar as possible, for co5 ordination of the child care and early learning 

6 program with other social programs; 

7 (T) provides for— 

8 (i) direct participation of parents, 

9 family members, and child care and early 

10 learning program staff, including teachers 

11 and paraprofessionals, in the conduct of 

12 overall direction of, decisionmaking for, 

13 and evaluation of the child care and early 

14 learning program; and 

15 (ii) sufficient support for the persons 

16 described in clause (i) to participate in the 

17 activities described in clause (i); 

18 (U) provides to the extent feasible for the 

19 employment as both professionals and para20 professionals of residents in the service area in 

21 a way that takes into account the cultural, ra22 cial and ethnic, and linguistic diversity of the 

23 families served; 

24 (V) includes to the extent feasible a career 

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1 fessional training, education, and advancement 

2 on a career ladder; 

3 (W) provides that, insofar as possible, per4 sons residing in the service area will receive 

5 jobs, including in-home and part-time jobs, and 

6 opportunities for training in programs under 

7 sections 135 and 136, with special consideration 

8 for career opportunities for low-income individ9 uals; 

10 (X) provides for the regular and frequent 

11 dissemination of information in the language of 

12 workers and those to be served, to assure that 

13 parents, family members, and interested per14 sons in the service area are fully informed of 

15 services available through the child care and 

16 early learning program, and of the activities of 

17 the prime sponsor’s Child Care and Early 

18 Learning Council; 

19 (Y) provides for coordination with adminis20 trators of programs and services that are re21 lated to child care and early learning programs 

22 and services and that are not funded through 

23 this title, including programs conducted under 

24 the auspices of or with the support of business 

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1 try, labor unions, employee or labor-manage2 ment organizations, or other community groups; 

3 (Z) as applicable, describes any arrange4 ments for the delegation, under the supervision 

5 of the Child Care and Early Learning Council, 

6 to public or private agencies or organizations, 

7 of responsibilities for the delivery of child care 

8 and early learning services for which financial 

9 assistance is provided under this title or for 

10 planning or evaluation services to be made 

11 available with respect to a child care and early 

12 learning program under this title; 

13 (AA) contains plans for regularly con14 ducting surveys and analyses of needs for the 

15 child care and early learning program in the 

16 service area and for submitting to the Secretary 

17 a comprehensive annual report and evaluation 

18 in such form and containing such information 

19 as the Secretary shall require by regulation; 

20 (BB) provides that— 

21 (i) services for children with disabil22 ities at the State, Tribal, and local levels 

23 will be available, in the child care and early 

24 learning program approved under the plan; 

25 and 


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1 (ii) formal linkages are in place be2 tween the program and providers of early 

3 intervention services for infants and tod4 dlers with disabilities; 

5 (CC) provides assurances satisfactory to 

6 the Secretary that the non-Federal share re7 quirements described in section 112(c) will be 

8 met; 

9 (DD) provides for such fiscal control, fiscal 

10 staffing, and funding accounting procedures as 

11 the Secretary may prescribe to assure proper 

12 disbursement of and accounting for Federal 

13 funds paid to the prime sponsor; 

14 (EE) provides that the child care and early 

15 learning program, or services within the pro16 gram, under this title shall be provided only for 

17 children whose parents or legal guardians have 

18 requested the services; 

19 (FF) sets forth satisfactory provisions for 

20 establishing, consistent with subsection (d)(1), 

21 and maintaining a Child Care and Early Learn22 ing Council which meets the requirements of 

23 subsection (d); 

24 (GG) provides verification that the sponsor 

25 and its delegate providers— 


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1 (i) will recognize and bargain with 

2 labor unions representing family child care 

3 home providers, teachers and other staff of 

4 child care and early learning programs in 

5 order to meet the requirements set forth in 

6 section 136 and for other purposes; and 

7 (ii) will not assist in, promote, or 

8 deter labor union organizing; 

9 (HH) provides an annual technical assist10 ance and training plan; 

11 (II) provides for collection and reporting of 

12 program performance data in both an aggregate 

13 form and disaggregated by family income, cul14 ture, race and ethnicity, and primary language; 

15 (JJ) documents a written affirmation, 

16 signed by the appropriate officials from Indian 

17 Tribes or Tribal organizations approved by the 

18 Tribes or Native Hawaiian groups, which recog19 nizes that the prime sponsor has engaged in 

20 timely and meaningful consultation with the ap21 propriate officials from Indian Tribes or Tribal 

22 organizations if— 

23 (i) a program is being operated on or 

24 near an Indian reservation, or if more than 

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1 gram are Indians or Native Hawaiians; 

2 and 

3 (ii) the prime sponsor is not an Indian 

4 Tribe or Tribal organization; 

5 (KK) provides that services will be pro6 vided with a holistic and multi-generational ap7 proach that includes promoting the well-being 

8 of pregnant women and engaging expectant 

9 parents during prenatal and early months; 

10 (LL) describes how the sponsor will ensure 

11 that key workplace protections and rights, simi12 lar to the protections and rights specified in the 

13 National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 

14 et seq.), are provided; 

15 (MM) describes how the sponsor will im16 plement a process in which, through their labor 

17 unions, family child care home providers and 

18 child care and early learning center staff par19 ticipate in a collective process to set wages, ben20 efits, hours, and minimum standards for work21 ing conditions; 

22 (NN) describes how the sponsor will ensure 

23 that family child care home providers, including 

24 teachers and other staff of family child care 

25 home providers, and teachers and other staff at 


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1 a child care and early learning center (including 

2 employees of a delegate provider) are paid com3 pensation that meets the requirements of sec4 tion 136(b); 

5 (OO) provides that the sponsor will provide 

6 teachers and other staff with supports that are 

7 high-quality, research-based, and rooted in 

8 adult learning theory; 

9 (PP) provides that the program will be ac10 cessible to, and that staff will receive training 

11 on working with, children with disabilities and 

12 parents with disabilities; 

13 (QQ) describes how the prime sponsor will 

14 award financial assistance to delegate providers, 

15 consistent with the requirements under this sec16 tion, for the provision of child care and early 

17 learning services for children under this section 

18 that, at a minimum, supports— 

19 (i) the providers’ operating expenses 

20 to meet and sustain compliance with 

21 health, safety, quality, and wage standards 

22 required under this section; and 

23 (ii) services to address underserved 

24 populations described in section 137(a)(4); 

25 and 


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1 (RR) meets any other requirements or pro2 vides any information the Secretary requires by 

3 regulation. 

4 (c) USES.—The Secretary shall provide the financial 

5 assistance to a prime sponsor, for the planning, conduct, 

6 administration, and evaluation of a child care and early 

7 learning program that delivers services in accordance with 

8 the requirements of the comprehensive child care and early 

9 learning plan specified under subsection (b), and for im10 plementing the following activities: 

11 (1)(A) Provide for family member and commu12 nity involvement, including the involvement of par13 ents, family members, community residents, current 

14 or future staff of a child care and early learning pro15 gram, and local businesses, in the design and imple16 mentation of the program. 

17 (B) The prime sponsor shall— 

18 (i) provide for the involvement in a manner 

19 that recognizes parents and family members as 

20 their children’s primary teachers and nurturers; 

21 and 

22 (ii) implement intentional strategies to en23 gage parents and family members in their chil24 dren’s learning and development and support 

25 parent-child relationships. 


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1 (2) Provide for implementing additional activi2 ties, other than the activities described in paragraph 

3 (1), that the Secretary determines to be appropriate 

4 by regulation, which additional activities may in5 clude— 

6 (A) activities to support family well-being 

7 related to family safety, health, and economic 

8 stability, including substance abuse counseling 

9 (either directly or through referral to local enti10 ties), which may include providing information 

11 on the effect of prenatal exposure to drugs and 

12 alcohol; and 

13 (B) other activities designed to facilitate a 

14 partnership in the program with parents in sup15 porting the development and early learning of 

16 their child, including providing— 

17 (i) training in basic child care and 

18 early learning (including cognitive, social, 

19 and emotional development); 

20 (ii) assistance in developing adult or 

21 family literacy and communication skills; 

22 (iii) opportunities to share experiences 

23 with other parents (including parent-men24 tor relationships); 


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1 (iv) health services, including informa2 tion on maternal depression and mental 

3 health; 

4 (v) regular in-home or virtual visita5 tion; or 

6 (vi) family literacy services. 

7 (3) Provide, with respect to each participating 

8 family, a family needs assessment that includes con9 sultation with the parents (including, in this para10 graph, foster parents, grandparents, and kinship 

11 caregivers, where applicable) in the family’s pre12 ferred language or through an interpreter, to the ex13 tent practicable, and ensure parents have the oppor14 tunity to share personal information in an environ15 ment in which the parents feel safe. 

16 (4) Provide to parents of dual language learners 

17 outreach and information, in an understandable and 

18 uniform format and, to the extent practicable, in a 

19 language that the parents can understand. 

20 (5) Promote the continued partnership in the 

21 program of the parents (including, in this para22 graph, foster parents, grandparents, and kinship 

23 caregivers, as appropriate) of children that partici24 pate in child care and early learning programs in the 

25 education of their children upon transition of their 


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1 children to school, by working with the local edu2 cational agency— 

3 (A) to implement strategies and activities, 

4 including providing information and training to 

5 the parents— 

6 (i) to help parents advocate for and 

7 promote successful transitions to kinder8 garten for their children, including helping 

9 parents continue to be involved in the edu10 cation and development of their child, and 

11 to help parents understand and prepare to 

12 exercise their rights and responsibilities 

13 concerning the education of their children; 

14 (ii) in the case of parents with chil15 dren who receive services under section 

16 619 or part C of the Individuals with Dis17 abilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1419, 

18 1431 et seq.), to collaborate with the par19 ents, and the local agency responsible for 

20 providing such services, to support the 

21 children and parents in transitioning to a 

22 new setting in elementary school; and 

23 (iii) to prepare parents— 


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1 (I) to understand and work with 

2 schools in order to communicate with 

3 teachers and other school personnel; 

4 (II) to continue to support their 

5 children’s learning, in an elementary 

6 school setting; and 

7 (III) to participate as appro8 priate in decisions relating to the edu9 cation of their children and advocate 

10 for their children’s needs; and 

11 (B) to advocate for the local educational 

12 agency to ensure that schools have a process in 

13 place to take other actions, as appropriate and 

14 feasible, to support the active involvement of 

15 the parents with schools, school personnel, and 

16 school-related organizations. 

17 (6) Establish effective procedures for timely re18 ferral of children with disabilities to the State or 

19 local agency providing services under section 619 or 

20 part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education 

21 Act (20 U.S.C. 1419, 1431 et seq.), and collabora22 tion with that agency. 

23 (7) Establish effective procedures— 

24 (A) for providing necessary early interven25 tion services and special education and related 


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1 services to children with developmental delays 

2 and disabilities prior to an eligibility determina3 tion by the State or local agency responsible for 

4 providing services under section 619 or part C 

5 of such Act; and 

6 (B) in the case of a child for whom an 

7 evaluation determines that the child is not eligi8 ble for early intervention services or special 

9 education and related services under the Indi10 viduals with Disabilities Education Act (20 

11 U.S.C. 1400), but who has a documented sig12 nificant delay, for partnering with parents to 

13 help the parents access services and supports to 

14 help address the child’s identified needs through 

15 health insurance or other means. 

16 (8) Ensure that each family with a covered 

17 child who requests a placement receives one in the 

18 service area and, in making the placement, recognize 

19 and take into account the family’s needs regarding 

20 setting (such as a family child care home or center21 based setting), cultural and linguistic preferences, 

22 operating schedule, and preferences on location. 

23 (9) Provide both center-based and family child 

24 care home options for child care and early learning 

25 services to families. 


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1 (d) PROGRAM GOVERNANCE.— 

2 (1) ADVISORY COUNCIL.—Upon receiving des3 ignation as a prime sponsor, the prime sponsor shall 

4 establish a Child Care and Early Learning Advisory 

5 Council (referred to in this section as a ‘‘Council’’) 

6 and maintain the Council to advise the prime spon7 sor and assist in the coordination of program serv8 ices and implementation. 

9 (2) STATE COUNCIL.—In the event that the 

10 prime sponsor is a State, the Council shall coordi11 nate activities with the State Advisory Council on 

12 Early Childhood Education and Care designated or 

13 established under section 642B(b) in the Head Start 

14 Act (42 U.S.C. 9837b(b)). 

15 (3) OVERALL COMPOSITION.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall es17 tablish the composition requirements for the 

18 Council ensuring that the Council has represen19 tation of— 

20 (i) parents or family members of chil21 dren served by child care and early learn22 ing programs; 

23 (ii) staff and providers of child care 

24 and early learning programs, or their rep25 resentatives; and 


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1 (iii) other relevant stakeholders. 

2 (B) REPRESENTATION.—Members of the 

3 Council shall reflect the population served by 

4 the prime sponsor, with respect to income, cul5 ture, race and ethnicity, language, and status 

6 as a migrant or seasonal farmworker, Indian, or 

7 Native Hawaiian. 

8 (4) CHAIRPERSON.—Each Council shall select 

9 its own chairperson, from among the members of the 

10 Council. 

11 (5) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—Members of the Council 

13 shall— 

14 (i) not have a financial conflict of in15 terest with the prime sponsor; 

16 (ii) not receive compensation for serv17 ing on the Council or for providing services 

18 to the prime sponsor; 

19 (iii) not be employed, nor shall mem20 bers of their immediate family be em21 ployed, by a prime sponsor in the service 

22 area; and 

23 (iv) as a Council, operate as an entity 

24 independent of staff employed by the prime 

25 sponsor. 


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1 (B) EXCEPTION.—If an individual holds a 

2 position as a result of public election or political 

3 appointment, and such position carries with it 

4 a concurrent appointment to serve as a member 

5 of a Council, and such individual has any con6 flict of interest described in clause (ii) or (iii) 

7 of subparagraph (A)— 

8 (i) such individual shall not be prohib9 ited from serving on such body and the 

10 Council shall report such conflict to the 

11 Secretary; and 

12 (ii) if the position held as a result of 

13 public election or political appointment 

14 provides compensation, such individual 

15 shall not be prohibited from receiving such 

16 compensation. 

17 (6) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Council shall pro18 vide regular advice and guidance to the prime spon19 sor on the basic goals, policies, actions, and proce20 dures, at a basic level, for the prime sponsor relating 

21 to the child care and early learning program in22 volved, including policies with respect to planning, 

23 general supervision and oversight, overall coordina24 tion, personnel, budgeting, funding, and monitoring 

25 and evaluation, of the programs. 


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1 (e) PROGRAM GOVERNANCE ADMINISTRATION.— 

2 (1) IMPASSE POLICIES.—The Secretary shall 

3 develop policies, procedures, and guidance for prime 

4 sponsors concerning the resolution of internal dis5 putes, including any impasse in the governance of 

6 child care and early learning programs. 

7 (2) CONDUCT OF RESPONSIBILITIES.—Each 

8 prime sponsor shall ensure the sharing of accurate 

9 and regular information for use by the Council, 

10 about program planning, policies, and operations. 

11 (3) TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

12 Appropriate training and technical assistance shall 

13 be provided to the members of the Council to ensure 

14 that the members understand the information the 

15 members receive and can effectively oversee and par16 ticipate in the child care and early learning program 

17 of the prime sponsor. 

18 (f) COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION.—On re19 ceiving designation as a prime sponsor, the prime sponsor 

20 shall ensure that the child care and early learning program 

21 is implemented in a way that promotes collaboration and 

22 coordination with public and private entities, to the max23 imum extent practicable, to improve the availability and 

24 quality of services to children and families, including im25 plementing each of the following activities: 


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1 (1) Conduct outreach to schools in which chil2 dren participating in the child care and early learn3 ing program will enroll following the program, local 

4 educational agencies, the local business community, 

5 community-based organizations, faith-based organi6 zations, museums, health care providers, and librar7 ies to generate support and leverage the resources of 

8 the entire local community in order to improve 

9 school readiness. 

10 (2) Coordinate activities and collaborate with 

11 entities (including providers) carrying out programs 

12 under the Child Care and Development Block Grant 

13 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9857 et seq.), section 106 

14 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 

15 (42 U.S.C. 5106a), parts B and E of title IV of the 

16 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq., 670 et 

17 seq.), subtitle B of title VII of the McKinney-Vento 

18 Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11431 et seq.), 

19 section 619 and part C of the Individuals with Dis20 abilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1419, 1431 et 

21 seq.), or the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et 

22 seq.), and other entities providing early childhood 

23 education and development programs or services. 

24 (3) Take steps to coordinate activities with the 

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1 volved and with schools in which children partici2 pating in the child care and early learning program 

3 will enroll following the program, including— 

4 (A) collaborating on the shared use of 

5 transportation and facilities, in appropriate 

6 cases; 

7 (B) collaborating to reduce the duplication 

8 and enhance the efficiency of services while in9 creasing the program participation; and 

10 (C) exchanging information on the provi11 sion of noneducational services. 

12 (4) If there is a public preschool program in the 

13 service area that is not a prime sponsor nor a partic14 ipant in the child care and early learning program, 

15 enter into a memorandum of understanding with the 

16 local entity responsible for managing the preschool 

17 program, not later than 1 year after the date of en18 actment of this Act, that shall— 

19 (A)(i) provide for a review of each of the 

20 activities described in clause (ii); and 

21 (ii) include plans to coordinate, as appro22 priate, activities regarding— 

23 (I) educational activities, curricular 

24 objectives, and instruction; 


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1 (II) public information dissemination 

2 and access to programs for families con3 tacting the child care and early learning 

4 program or the preschool program; 

5 (III) selection priorities for eligible 

6 children to be served by the child care and 

7 early learning program or any of the pre8 school programs; 

9 (IV) service areas; 

10 (V) staff training, including opportu11 nities for joint staff training on topics such 

12 as academic content standards, instruc13 tional methods, curricula, and social and 

14 emotional development; 

15 (VI) program technical assistance; 

16 (VII) provision of additional services 

17 to meet the needs of parents or family 

18 members, as applicable; 

19 (VIII) communications and outreach 

20 to parents and family members for smooth 

21 transitions to kindergarten as required in 

22 paragraphs (3) and (6) of section 122(a); 

23 (IX) provision and use of facilities, 

24 transportation, and other program ele25 ments; and 


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1 (X) other elements mutually agreed to 

2 by the parties to such memorandum; 

3 (B) be submitted to the Secretary and the 

4 State Director of Child Care and Early Learn5 ing Program Collaboration not later than 30 

6 days after the parties enter into such memo7 randum; and 

8 (C) be revised periodically and renewed bi9 ennially by the parties to such memorandum, in 

10 alignment with the beginning of the school year. 

11 The requirements of the preceding sentence shall not 

12 apply where the local entity responsible for man13 aging the public preschool program is unable or un14 willing to enter into such a memorandum, and the 

15 prime sponsor shall inform the Secretary and the 

16 State Director of Child Care and Early Learning 

17 Program Collaboration of such inability or unwilling18 ness. 

19 (g) STANDARDS, CURRICULA, AND ASSESSMENT.— 

20 On receiving designation as a prime sponsor, the prime 

21 sponsor shall ensure that the child care and early learning 

22 program will— 

23 (1) take steps to ensure, to the maximum ex24 tent practicable, that children maintain the developVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:19 Feb 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00057 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H953.IH H953

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1 mental and educational gains achieved and build 

2 upon such gains in further schooling; 

3 (2) meet the national program standards set 

4 forth in section 121(a); 

5 (3) implement a research-based early childhood 

6 curriculum that— 

7 (A) promotes young children’s school read8 iness in the areas listed in section 

9 121(a)(4)(A)(ii); 

10 (B) is based on scientifically valid research 

11 and has standardized training procedures and 

12 curriculum materials to support implementa13 tion; 

14 (C) is comprehensive and linked to an on15 going assessment and aligned with State early 

16 learning standards, within the meaning of sec17 tion 637 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 

18 9832), which is conducted not more than twice 

19 a year, with developmental and learning goals 

20 and measurable objectives; and 

21 (D) is focused on improving the learning 

22 environment, teaching practices, parent and 

23 family member involvement, and child outcomes 

24 across all areas of development; 


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1 (4) implement effective interventions and sup2 port services that help promote the school readiness 

3 of children participating in the child care and early 

4 learning program involved; 

5 (5) use research-based assessment methods, in6 cluding such methods that provide proven results re7 gardless of culture, race or ethnicity, or language 

8 spoken at home, in order to support the educational 

9 instruction and school readiness of children in the 

10 program; 

11 (6) use research-based developmental screening 

12 tools that have been demonstrated to be— 

13 (A) standardized, reliable, valid, and accu14 rate for the child being assessed, to the max15 imum extent practicable; and 

16 (B) age, developmentally, culturally, and 

17 linguistically appropriate, for the child and, if 

18 relevant, appropriate for children with disabil19 ities; 

20 (7) adopt, in consultation with experts in child 

21 care and early learning and with classroom teachers, 

22 a non-punitive evaluation to assess classroom teach23 ers and to inform professional development plans, as 

24 appropriate, that leads to improved teacher effective25 ness; 


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1 (8) establish goals and measurable objectives 

2 for the provision of health, educational, nutritional, 

3 social services, and other services provided under 

4 this title and related to the program mission and to 

5 promoting school readiness; 

6 (9) develop procedures for identifying and pro7 moting the language knowledge and skills of dual 

8 language learner children; and 

9 (10) not use funds to develop or implement an 

10 assessment for children that— 

11 (A) will be used as the sole basis for a 

12 child care and early learning provider being de13 termined to be ineligible to participate in the 

14 program carried out under this title; 

15 (B) will be used as the primary or sole 

16 basis for providing a reward or sanction for an 

17 individual provider; 

18 (C) will be used as the primary or sole 

19 basis for assessing program effectiveness; or 

20 (D) will be used to deny children eligibility 

21 to participate in the program carried out under 

22 this title. 

23 (h) EXCEPTIONS.—Nothing in this title shall pre24 clude a State from using a single assessment (as deter25 mined by the State) for children for— 


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1 (1) supporting learning or improving a class2 room environment; 

3 (2) targeting professional development to a pro4 vider; 

5 (3) determining the need for health, mental 

6 health, disability, developmental delay, or family 

7 support services; 

8 (4) obtaining information for the quality im9 provement process at the State level; or 

10 (5) conducting a program evaluation for the 

11 purposes of improving the program and providing in12 formation to parents. 

13 (i) FUNDED ENROLLMENT.—Each prime sponsor 

14 shall enroll 100 percent of its funded enrollment, with on15 going outreach to the community and activities to identify 

16 underserved populations. 

17 (j) SLIDING FEE SCALE.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to child care 

19 and early learning services provided through the pro20 gram, a prime sponsor— 

21 (A) shall not charge a fee with respect to 

22 any low-income child; and 

23 (B) may charge a fee with respect to any 

24 child who is not a low-income child, in accord25 ance with the sliding fee scale described in 


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1 paragraph (2) and subject to paragraphs (3) 

2 and (4). 

3 (2) SLIDING FEE SCALE.—A fee under this sub4 section shall be charged, in a State, based on a slid5 ing fee scale as follows: 

6 (A) With respect to a child who is in a 

7 family with a family income that is more than 

8 75 percent of the State median income but not 

9 more than 87.5 percent of the State median in10 come, the fee under this subsection shall not ex11 ceed 1 percent of the family income. 

12 (B) With respect to a child who is in a 

13 family with a family income that is more than 

14 87.5 percent of the State median income but 

15 not more than 100 percent of the State median 

16 income, the fee under this subsection shall not 

17 exceed 2 percent of the family income. 

18 (C) With respect to a child who is in a 

19 family with a family income that is more than 

20 100 percent of the State median income but not 

21 more than 112.5 percent of the State median 

22 income, the fee under this subsection shall not 

23 exceed 3 percent of the family income. 

24 (D) With respect to a child who is in a 

25 family with a family income that is more than 


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1 112.5 percent of the State median income but 

2 not more than 125 percent of the State median 

3 income, the fee under this subsection shall not 

4 exceed 4 percent of the family income. 

5 (E) With respect to a child who is in a 

6 family with a family income that is more than 

7 125 percent of the State median income but not 

8 more than 137.5 percent of the State median 

9 income, the fee under this subsection shall not 

10 exceed 5 percent of the family income. 

11 (F) With respect to a child who is in a 

12 family with a family income that is more than 

13 137.5 percent of the State median income but 

14 not more than 150 percent of the State median 

15 income, the fee under this subsection shall not 

16 exceed 6 percent of the family income. 

17 (G) With respect to a child who is in a 

18 family with a family income that is more than 

19 150 percent of the State median income, the fee 

20 under this subsection shall not exceed 7 percent 

21 of the family income. 

22 (3) LIMITATION.—With respect to a child who 

23 is in a family with a family income described in ei24 ther of subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (2), 

25 the fee charged per day under this subsection shall 


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1 not exceed 2 percent of the family income, divided 

2 by 52, and then divided by 5, irrespective of the 

3 number of days of care provided per week. 

4 (4) FEE PERCENTAGE APPLICABLE REGARD5 LESS OF NUMBER OF CHILDREN SERVED.—The total 

6 fee for a family that is subject to the fee under this 

7 subsection and has more than 1 child served through 

8 the program— 

9 (A) may increase as the family enters the 

10 second or a further child in the program; but 

11 (B) may not be greater than the fee al12 lowed under paragraphs (2) and (3). 

13 (k) PARENT BOARDS.—The prime sponsor shall re14 quire the establishment, at each child care and early learn15 ing center, of a board of parents, to be composed of par16 ents and family members of children attending the center. 

17 The board shall meet periodically with staff of the center 

18 for the purpose of discussing problems and concerns. 

19 (l) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this title 

20 shall be construed to alter or otherwise affect the rights, 

21 remedies, and procedures afforded to staff of child care 

22 and early learning programs or delegate providers, or em23 ployees of public schools, or local educational agencies, 

24 under Federal, State, Tribal, or local laws (including ap25 plicable regulations or court orders) or under the terms 


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1 of collective bargaining agreements, memoranda of under2 standing, or other agreements between such staff or em3 ployees, and the corresponding program, provider, school, 

4 or agency. 

5 SEC. 115. DELEGATE PROVIDERS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—A prime sponsor may use finan7 cial assistance made available under section 112(a)(1) to 

8 enter into an agreement with a delegate provider to carry 

9 out services as part of the child care and early learning 

10 program. 

11 (b) APPLICATION.—To be able to receive financial as12 sistance under subsection (a) for a fiscal year as a delegate 

13 provider to carry out services as part of the child care and 

14 early learning program, a public or private agency or orga15 nization shall submit a delegate provider application to a 

16 prime sponsor, at such time and in such manner as the 

17 prime sponsor may require, that provides— 

18 (1) that the delegate provider applicant is an 

19 entity that is a locality, local educational agency, 

20 faith-based organization, public or private nonprofit 

21 or for-profit agency or organization, family child 

22 care network or association, employer or business or23 ganization, labor union, employee or labor-manage24 ment organization, home-based child care provider, 


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1 or public or private educational agency or institu2 tion; and 

3 (2) that the entity will provide for such fiscal 

4 control and fund accounting procedures as the Sec5 retary shall prescribe to assure proper disbursement 

6 of and accounting for Federal funds. 

7 (c) APPROVAL.—A delegate provider application may 

8 be approved by a prime sponsor upon its determination 

9 that such application meets the requirements of this sec10 tion and that the services to be provided will otherwise 

11 further the objectives and satisfy the appropriate provi12 sions of the prime sponsor’s child care and early learning 

13 plan as approved pursuant to section 114. On approval 

14 of the application, the entity shall be considered to be a 

15 delegate provider, for purposes of this title. 

16 (d) FAMILY AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT.— 

17 Prime sponsors shall involve parents, family members, and 

18 community members in the selection process of delegate 

19 providers. 

20 Subtitle B—Standards 

21 SEC. 121. NATIONAL PROGRAM STANDARDS, MONITORING 

22 OF CHILD CARE AND EARLY LEARNING PRO23 GRAMS. 

24 (a) STANDARDS FOR CHILD CARE AND EARLY

25 LEARNING SERVICES.— 


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1 (1) ISSUANCE.— 

2 (A) NATIONAL PROGRAM STANDARDS.— 

3 Within 18 months after the date of enactment 

4 of this Act, the Secretary shall, after consulta5 tion with other Federal agencies, and on the 

6 basis of the recommendations of the Committee 

7 established pursuant to paragraph (3), issue a 

8 common set of national program standards 

9 which shall be applicable to all prime sponsors, 

10 with respect to their child care and early learn11 ing programs providing child care and early 

12 learning services with financial assistance under 

13 this title, to be known as the ‘‘Federal Stand14 ards for Child Care and Early Learning Serv15 ices’’. 

16 (B) BASELINE FOR KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, 

17 AND COMPETENCIES.—The standards shall es18 tablish a baseline threshold for knowledge, 

19 skills, and competencies for child care and early 

20 learning teachers and staff that— 

21 (i) shall be aligned with compensation 

22 levels; 

23 (ii) shall be phased in; and 

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1 edge, skills, and competency expectations 

2 of the child care and early learning, or 

3 early childhood education, profession. 

4 (2) COMPREHENSIVENESS.—As appropriate 

5 and practicable, the Secretary shall make efforts to 

6 ensure that the Federal Standards for Child Care 

7 and Early Learning Services are as comprehensive 

8 as the Head Start program performance standards 

9 in section 641A(a) of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 

10 9836a(a)), and the performance standards for pro11 viders and programs issued under the military child 

12 care program. 

13 (3) SPECIAL COMMITTEE.— 

14 (A) APPOINTMENT.—The Secretary shall, 

15 within 60 days after the date of enactment of 

16 this Act, appoint a Special Committee on Fed17 eral Standards for Child Care and Early Learn18 ing Services. 

19 (B) COMPOSITION.—The Committee shall 

20 include— 

21 (i) parents or legal guardians of chil22 dren participating in child care and early 

23 learning programs; 


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1 (ii) representatives of prime sponsors 

2 carrying out child care and early learning 

3 programs; 

4 (iii) representatives of staff of child 

5 care and early learning programs, includ6 ing teachers; 

7 (iv) representatives of Indian Tribes 

8 and Tribal organizations carrying out child 

9 care and early learning programs on In10 dian land; 

11 (v) representatives of family child care 

12 home providers, staff and employers for 

13 center-based child care and early learning 

14 programs, and family child care home pro15 viders in child care and early learning pro16 grams; and 

17 (vi) specialists covering the areas of 

18 child care and early learning quality, work19 force preparation, working conditions, and 

20 wages, and early childhood development. 

21 (C) DIVERSITY.—The Secretary shall en22 sure that the membership of the Committee is 

23 diverse with regard to culture, race and eth24 nicity, and language. 


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1 (D) DUTIES.—Such Committee shall rec2 ommend Federal Standards for Child Care and 

3 Early Learning Services and modifications of 

4 such standards as provided in paragraph (1). 

5 (4) CONTENT OF STANDARDS.—The standards 

6 shall include— 

7 (A) performance standards with respect to 

8 services required to be provided, including 

9 health, nutritional, and social services, and 

10 other services, including parental and family 

11 member involvement services and transition ac12 tivities described in section 122; 

13 (B) scientifically based and develop14 mentally appropriate early development and 

15 learning performance standards related to 

16 school readiness to ensure that the children 

17 participating in the child care and early learn18 ing program, at a minimum, develop, as devel19 opmentally appropriate, and demonstrate— 

20 (i) language knowledge and skills, in21 cluding oral language and listening com22 prehension; 

23 (ii) literacy knowledge and skills, in24 cluding phonological awareness, print 


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1 awareness and skills, and alphabetic knowl2 edge; 

3 (iii) mathematics knowledge and 

4 skills; 

5 (iv) science knowledge and skills; 

6 (v) cognitive abilities that support 

7 academic achievement and child care and 

8 early learning; 

9 (vi) approaches to learning related to 

10 child care and early learning; 

11 (vii) social and emotional development 

12 sufficient to be a foundation for early 

13 learning, school success, and social prob14 lem-solving; 

15 (viii) creative arts expression; 

16 (ix) physical development; and 

17 (x) in the case of dual language learn18 er children, progress toward language 

19 knowledge and development, including 

20 progress made through the use of cul21 turally and linguistically appropriate in22 structional services; 

23 (C) administrative and financial manage24 ment standards; 


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1 (D) standards relating to the condition and 

2 location of facilities (including indoor air qual3 ity assessment standards, where appropriate) 

4 for such prime sponsors, including regulations 

5 that require that the facilities used for child 

6 care and early learning programs for regularly 

7 scheduled center-based and combination pro8 gram option classroom activities— 

9 (i) shall meet or exceed State and 

10 local requirements concerning licensing for 

11 such facilities; and 

12 (ii) shall be accessible by State and 

13 local authorities for purposes of monitoring 

14 and ensuring compliance, unless State or 

15 local laws prohibit such access; 

16 (E) standards related to the work environ17 ment, including standards for the health and 

18 safety, and well-being, of teachers and other 

19 staff in the child care and early learning pro20 grams; and 

21 (F) such other standards as the Secretary 

22 finds to be appropriate. 

23 (5) CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING STAND24 ARDS.—In developing standards required under 

25 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 


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1 (A) consult with experts in the fields of 

2 child care and early learning, early childhood 

3 education, child health care, family services (in4 cluding linguistically and culturally appropriate 

5 services to dual language learner children and 

6 their families), administration, and financial 

7 management, and with persons with experience 

8 in the operation of child care and early learning 

9 programs; 

10 (B) take into consideration— 

11 (i) past experience with use of the 

12 standards in effect under the Head Start 

13 Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.) on the date 

14 of enactment of the Improving Head Start 

15 for School Readiness Act of 2007; 

16 (ii) developments concerning research17 based practices with respect to early child18 hood education and development, children 

19 with disabilities, homeless children, chil20 dren in foster care, and family services, 

21 and best practices with respect to program 

22 administration and financial management; 

23 (iii) appropriateness of standards for 

24 prime sponsors with respect to their pro25 grams, recognizing differences in types of 


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1 settings (including center-based and home2 based settings), geography of the service 

3 area, and the culture, language, and age 

4 distribution of the children served; 

5 (iv) projected needs of expanding child 

6 care and early learning programs; 

7 (v) guidelines and standards that pro8 mote child health and physical develop9 ment, including participation in outdoor 

10 activity that supports children’s motor de11 velopment and overall health and nutrition; 

12 (vi) changes in the characteristics of 

13 the population of children who are access14 ing child care and early learning programs, 

15 including country of origin, language back16 ground, and family structure of such chil17 dren, and changes in the population and 

18 number of such children who are in foster 

19 care or are homeless children; 

20 (vii) mechanisms to ensure that chil21 dren participating in child care and early 

22 learning programs make a successful tran23 sition to the schools that the children will 

24 be attending; 


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1 (viii) the need for prime sponsors to 

2 maintain regular communications with par3 ents and family members, including con4 ducting periodic meetings to discuss the 

5 progress of individual children in child care 

6 and early learning programs; 

7 (ix) the unique challenges faced by in8 dividual programs, including those pro9 grams that are seasonal or short-term and 

10 those programs that serve rural popu11 lations; 

12 (x) the degree to which standards are 

13 streamlined and minimize administrative 

14 burdens on child care and early learning 

15 program providers; 

16 (xi) the depth of demonstrated skills, 

17 experiences, and linguistic, cultural, and 

18 racial and ethnic, diversity of providers for 

19 child care and early learning programs; 

20 and 

21 (xii) the input of parents and family 

22 members; 

23 (C)(i) review and revise as necessary the 

24 standards in effect under this subsection; and 


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1 (ii) ensure that any such revisions in the 

2 standards will not result in the elimination of or 

3 any reduction in quality, scope, or types of 

4 health, educational, nutritional, social, or other 

5 services, including parental and family member 

6 involvement services, required to be provided 

7 under such standards as in effect on the date 

8 of enactment of this Act; and 

9 (D) consult with appropriate officials from 

10 Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations, experts 

11 in Indian or Native Hawaiian early childhood 

12 education and development, linguists, and asso13 ciations related to child care and early learning 

14 programs providing services for children belong15 ing to Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian chil16 dren, on the review and promulgation of stand17 ards under paragraph (1) (including standards 

18 for Indian or Native Hawaiian, as the case may 

19 be, language acquisition and school readiness). 

20 (6) ADEQUATE TIME TO MEET STANDARDS.— 

21 The Secretary shall establish an effective date for 

22 the standards that allows adequate time for prime 

23 sponsors to meet the standards after they have been 

24 issued. 

25 (b) UNIFORM CODE FOR FACILITIES.— 


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1 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF SPECIAL COM2 MITTEE.—The Secretary shall, within 60 days after 

3 the date of enactment of this Act, appoint a special 

4 committee to develop and recommend a uniform 

5 code for facilities, to be used as described in para6 graph (4). The standards in the code shall deal prin7 cipally with those aspects of facilities that are essen8 tial to the health, safety, and physical comfort of the 

9 children involved and the aspects of facilities that 

10 are related to the Federal Standards for Child Care 

11 and Early Learning Services under subsection 

12 (a)(1). In recommending the provisions of the code, 

13 the Secretary shall take into consideration the dif14 ferences between child care centers and family child 

15 care homes. 

16 (2) COMPOSITION OF COMMITTEE.—The special 

17 committee appointed under this subsection shall in18 clude parents or family members of children partici19 pating in child care and early learning programs and 

20 representatives of State and local facility licensing 

21 agencies, of public health officials, of fire prevention 

22 officials, of the construction industry and labor 

23 unions, of prime sponsors, of center-based providers 

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1 velopment of children. Not less than one-half of the 

2 membership of the committee shall consist of par3 ents or family members of children participating in 

4 child care and early learning programs conducted 

5 under this title. 

6 (3) PROPOSED CODE.—Within 1 year after its 

7 appointment, the special committee— 

8 (A) shall develop standards for a proposed 

9 uniform code for facilities in which child care 

10 and early learning services are provided; and 

11 (B) shall hold public hearings on the pro12 posed code prior to submitting its final rec13 ommendation to the Secretary for approval. 

14 (4) PROMULGATION.—After considering the 

15 recommendations submitted by the special com16 mittee in accordance with paragraph (3), the Sec17 retary shall promulgate standards for a uniform 

18 code described in paragraph (3)(A), which shall be 

19 applicable to all facilities receiving Federal financial 

20 assistance under this title. If the Secretary dis21 approves the committee’s recommendations, the Sec22 retary shall state the reasons for the disapproval. 

23 The Secretary shall also distribute such standards 

24 and urge their adoption by States and local govern25 ments for facilities in which child care and early 


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1 learning services are provided. The Secretary may 

2 from time to time modify the uniform code for facili3 ties in accordance with procedures set forth in this 

4 subsection. 

5 (5) ADEQUATE TIME TO MEET FACILITIES

6 CODE.—The Secretary shall establish an effective 

7 date for the code that allows adequate time for 

8 prime sponsors to meet the code after it has been 

9 promulgated. 

10 (6) STATE CODE FOR FACILITIES.—Paragraphs 

11 (1) through (5) shall not apply in a State for which 

12 the Secretary, after consultation with the special 

13 committee referred to in paragraph (2), makes a de14 termination that the State’s uniform code for facili15 ties or a similar facilities code or set of standards 

16 that applies to centers and family child care homes 

17 that participate in a child care and early learning 

18 program under this title, is sufficient to meet the 

19 health, safety, and physical comfort goals of this 

20 subsection. 

21 (c) MEASURES.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta23 tion with representatives of child care and early 

24 learning programs, Indian Tribes and Tribal organi25 zations, parents and family members of children in 


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1 such programs, and teachers and other staff in such 

2 programs, and with experts in the fields of early 

3 childhood education and development, family serv4 ices, and program management, shall use the study 

5 on Developmental Outcomes and Assessments for 

6 Young Children by the National Academy of 

7 Sciences, consistent with section 649(j) of the Head 

8 Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9844(j)), and other relevant 

9 research to establish, inform, revise, and provide 

10 guidance to prime sponsors for utilizing, scientif11 ically based measures that support, as appropriate— 

12 (A) classroom instructional practices and, 

13 for infants and toddlers, responsive caregiving 

14 practices that support early learning and devel15 opment; 

16 (B) identification of children with special 

17 needs; 

18 (C) program evaluation; and 

19 (D) administrative and financial manage20 ment practices. 

21 (2) CHARACTERISTICS OF MEASURES.—The 

22 measures under this subsection shall— 

23 (A) be developmentally, linguistically, and 

24 culturally appropriate for the population served; 


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1 (B) be reviewed periodically, based on ad2 vances in the science of early childhood develop3 ment; 

4 (C) be consistent with relevant, nationally 

5 recognized professional and technical standards 

6 related to the assessment of young children; 

7 (D) be valid and reliable in the language in 

8 which the measures are administered; 

9 (E) be administered by staff with appro10 priate training for such administration; 

11 (F) provide for appropriate accommoda12 tions for children with disabilities and dual lan13 guage learner children; 

14 (G) be high-quality research-based meas15 ures that have been demonstrated to assist with 

16 the purposes for which the measures were de17 vised; and 

18 (H) be adaptable, as appropriate, for use 

19 in the self-assessment of prime sponsors, in20 cluding in the evaluation of administrative and 

21 financial management practices. 

22 (3) USE OF MEASURES; LIMITATIONS ON

23 USE.— 

24 (A) USE.—The measures shall be de25 signed, as appropriate, for the purpose of— 


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1 (i) helping to develop the skills, 

2 knowledge, abilities, and development de3 scribed in subsection (a)(4)(A)(ii) of chil4 dren participating in child care and early 

5 learning programs, with an emphasis on 

6 measuring skills that scientifically valid re7 search has demonstrated are related to 

8 children’s school readiness and later suc9 cess in school; 

10 (ii) improving classroom practices, in11 cluding reviewing children’s strengths and 

12 weaknesses and individualizing instruction 

13 to better meet the needs of the children in14 volved and, for infants and toddlers, ensur15 ing the opportunity for one-on-one inter16 action that facilitates early learning and 

17 development; 

18 (iii) identifying the special needs of 

19 children; and 

20 (iv) improving overall program per21 formance in order to help prime sponsors 

22 identify problem areas that may require 

23 additional training and technical assistance 

24 resources. 


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1 (B) LIMITATIONS.—Such measures shall 

2 not be used for an assessment for children 

3 that— 

4 (i) will be used as the sole basis for a 

5 child care and early learning provider 

6 being determined to be ineligible to partici7 pate in the program carried out under this 

8 title; 

9 (ii) will be used as the primary or sole 

10 basis for providing a reward or sanction 

11 for an individual provider; 

12 (iii) will be used as the primary or 

13 sole basis for assessing program effective14 ness; or 

15 (iv) will be used to deny children eligi16 bility to participate in the program carried 

17 out under this title. 

18 (C) EXCEPTIONS.—Nothing in this sub19 chapter shall preclude a State from using a sin20 gle assessment (as determined by the State) for 

21 children for— 

22 (i) supporting learning or improving a 

23 classroom environment; 

24 (ii) targeting professional development 

25 to a provider; 


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1 (iii) determining the need for health, 

2 mental health, disability, developmental 

3 delay, or family support services; 

4 (iv) obtaining information for the 

5 quality improvement process at the State 

6 level; or 

7 (v) conducting a program evaluation 

8 for the purposes of improving the program 

9 and providing information to parents. 

10 (4) CONFIDENTIALITY.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, through 

12 regulation, shall ensure the confidentiality of 

13 any personally identifiable data, information, 

14 and records collected or maintained under this 

15 title by the Secretary and any prime sponsors. 

16 Such regulations shall provide the policies, pro17 tections, and rights equivalent to those provided 

18 to a parent, student, and educational agency or 

19 institution, as the case may be, under section 

20 444 of the General Education Provisions Act 

21 (20 U.S.C. 1232g). 

22 (B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION ON NATION23 WIDE DATABASE.—Nothing in this subsection 

24 shall be construed to authorize the development 

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1 able data, information, or records on children 

2 resulting from the use of measures under this 

3 subsection. 

4 (5) SPECIAL RULE.— 

5 (A) PROHIBITION.—The use of assessment 

6 items and data on any assessment authorized 

7 under this title by any agent of the Federal 

8 Government is prohibited for the purposes of— 

9 (i) ranking, comparing, or otherwise 

10 evaluating individual children for purposes 

11 other than research, training, or technical 

12 assistance; and 

13 (ii) providing rewards or sanctions for 

14 individual children or teachers. 

15 (B) RESULTS.—The Secretary shall not 

16 use the results of a single such assessment as 

17 the sole method for assessing program effective18 ness or making agency funding determinations 

19 at the national, regional, or local level under 

20 this title. 

21 (d) MONITORING OF LOCAL PRIME SPONSORS AND

22 CHILD CARE AND EARLY LEARNING PROGRAMS.—The 

23 Secretary, in consultation with representatives of child 

24 care and early learning programs, Indian Tribes and Trib25 al organizations, parents and family members of children 


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1 in such programs, teachers and other staff in such pro2 grams, and with experts in the fields of early childhood 

3 education and development, family services, and program 

4 management, shall establish and implement monitoring 

5 procedures for prime sponsors and their child care and 

6 early learning programs (which may be based on the Head 

7 Start program monitoring procedures described in section 

8 641A(c) of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9836a(c)), and 

9 the monitoring procedures being implemented for the mili10 tary child care program)— 

11 (1) to determine whether prime sponsors meet 

12 standards described in subsection (a)(1) established 

13 under this title with respect to program, administra14 tive, financial management, and other requirements; 

15 and 

16 (2) in order to help the prime sponsors identify 

17 areas for improvement and areas of strength as part 

18 of their ongoing self-assessment process. 

19 (e) CORRECTIVE ACTION FOR PRIME SPONSORS.— 

20 (1) DETERMINATION.—If the Secretary deter21 mines, on the basis of a review pursuant to sub22 section (d), that a prime sponsor designated pursu23 ant to this title fails to meet the standards described 

24 in subsection (a)(1), the Secretary shall— 


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1 (A) inform the prime sponsor of the defi2 ciencies that shall be corrected and identify the 

3 assistance to be provided consistent with para4 graph (3); 

5 (B) with respect to each identified defi6 ciency, require the prime sponsor— 

7 (i) to correct the deficiency imme8 diately, if the Secretary finds that the defi9 ciency threatens the health or safety of 

10 staff or program participants or poses a 

11 threat to the integrity of Federal funds; 

12 (ii) to correct the deficiency not later 

13 than 90 days after the identification of the 

14 deficiency if the Secretary finds, in the dis15 cretion of the Secretary, that such a 90- 

16 day period is reasonable, in light of the na17 ture and magnitude of the deficiency; or 

18 (iii) in the discretion of the Secretary 

19 (taking into consideration the seriousness 

20 of the deficiency and the time reasonably 

21 required to correct the deficiency), to com22 ply with the requirements of paragraph (2) 

23 concerning a quality improvement plan; 

24 and 


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1 (C) initiate proceedings to terminate the 

2 designation of the prime sponsor unless the 

3 prime sponsor corrects the deficiency. 

4 (2) QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PLAN.— 

5 (A) PRIME SPONSOR AND PROGRAM RE6 SPONSIBILITIES.—To retain a designation as a 

7 prime sponsor under this title, a prime sponsor 

8 that is the subject of a determination described 

9 in paragraph (1) (excluding a prime sponsor re10 quired to correct a deficiency immediately or 

11 during a 90-day period under clause (i) or (ii) 

12 of paragraph (1)(B)) shall— 

13 (i) develop in a timely manner, a qual14 ity improvement plan that shall be subject 

15 to the approval of the Secretary, and that 

16 shall specify— 

17 (I) the deficiencies to be cor18 rected; 

19 (II) the actions to be taken to 

20 correct such deficiencies; and 

21 (III) the timetable for accom22 plishment of the corrective actions 

23 specified; and 

24 (ii) correct each deficiency identified, 

25 not later than the date for correction of 


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1 such deficiency specified in such plan 

2 (which shall not be later than 1 year after 

3 the date the prime sponsor that is deter4 mined to have a deficiency received notice 

5 of the determination and of the specific de6 ficiency to be corrected). 

7 (B) SECRETARIAL RESPONSIBILITY.—Not 

8 later than 30 days after receiving from a prime 

9 sponsor a proposed quality improvement plan 

10 pursuant to subparagraph (A), the Secretary 

11 shall either approve such proposed plan or 

12 specify the reasons why the proposed plan can13 not be approved. 

14 (3) TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

15 The Secretary shall provide training and technical 

16 assistance to the prime sponsor with respect to the 

17 development or implementation of such quality im18 provement plans to the extent the Secretary finds 

19 such provision to be feasible and appropriate given 

20 available funding and other statutory responsibil21 ities. 

22 (f) SUMMARIES OF MONITORING OUTCOMES.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 

24 after the end of each fiscal year, the Secretary shall 

25 publish a summary report on the findings of reviews 


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1 conducted under subsection (d) and on the outcomes 

2 of quality improvement plans implemented under 

3 subsection (e), during such fiscal year. 

4 (2) REPORT AVAILABILITY.—Such report shall 

5 be made widely available to— 

6 (A) parents and family members with chil7 dren receiving assistance under this title— 

8 (i) in an understandable and uniform 

9 format; and 

10 (ii) to the extent practicable, in a lan11 guage that the parents and family mem12 bers understand; 

13 (B) the public through means such as— 

14 (i) distribution through public agen15 cies; and 

16 (ii) posting such information on the 

17 internet; and 

18 (C) Indian Tribes and Tribal organiza19 tions. 

20 (3) REPORT INFORMATION.—Such report shall 

21 contain detailed data— 

22 (A) on compliance with specific standards 

23 and measures; and 


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1 (B) sufficient to allow prime sponsors to 

2 use such data to improve the quality of their 

3 programs. 

4 (g) SELF-ASSESSMENT.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently than 

6 once each program year, with the consultation and 

7 participation of the Child Care and Early Learning 

8 Council and, as appropriate, other interested persons 

9 in the service area, each prime sponsor that receives 

10 financial assistance under this title shall conduct a 

11 comprehensive self-assessment of its effectiveness 

12 and progress in meeting program goals and objec13 tives and in implementing and complying with stand14 ards described in subsection (a)(1). 

15 (2) ONGOING MONITORING.—Each prime spon16 sor shall establish and implement procedures for the 

17 ongoing monitoring of its child care and early learn18 ing program, to ensure that the operations of the 

19 program work toward meeting program goals and 

20 objectives and implementing and complying with 

21 standards described in subsection (a)(1). 

22 (h) ACCREDITATION.—The Secretary shall require 

23 that each child care and early learning center meet, not 

24 later than 6 years after receiving financial assistance 

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1 creditation by an appropriate national early childhood pro2 grams accreditation body that was in existence on the date 

3 of enactment of this Act. 

4 SEC. 122. PRIME SPONSOR ALIGNMENT WITH K–12 EDU5 CATION. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each prime sponsor shall take 

7 steps to coordinate with the local educational agency serv8 ing the service area and with schools in which children 

9 participating in a child care and early learning program 

10 will enroll following such program to promote continuity 

11 of services and effective transitions, including— 

12 (1) developing and implementing a systematic 

13 procedure for transferring, with parental consent, 

14 child care and early learning program records for 

15 each participating child to the school in which such 

16 child will enroll; 

17 (2) establishing ongoing channels of commu18 nication between child care and early learning pro19 gram staff and their counterparts in the schools (in20 cluding teachers, social workers, local educational 

21 agency liaisons designated under section 

22 722(g)(1)(J)(ii) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 

23 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii)), and 

24 health staff) to facilitate coordination of programs; 


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1 (3) establishing ongoing communications be2 tween the prime sponsor and local educational agen3 cy for developing continuity of developmentally ap4 propriate curricular objectives and for shared expec5 tations for children’s learning and development as 

6 the children transition to school; 

7 (4) organizing and participating in joint train8 ing, including transition-related training for school 

9 staff and child care and early learning program 

10 staff; 

11 (5) establishing comprehensive transition poli12 cies and procedures that support children 

13 transitioning to school, including by engaging the 

14 local educational agency in the establishment of such 

15 policies; 

16 (6) conducting outreach to parents and elemen17 tary school (such as kindergarten) teachers to dis18 cuss the educational, developmental, and other needs 

19 of individual children; 

20 (7) helping parents of dual language learner 

21 children understand— 

22 (A) the instructional and other services 

23 provided by the school in which such child will 

24 enroll after participation in the child care and 

25 early learning program; and 


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1 (B) as appropriate, the information pro2 vided to parents of dual language learners 

3 under section 1112(e)(3) of the Elementary and 

4 Secondary Education Act of the 1965 (20 

5 U.S.C. 6312(e)(3)); 

6 (8) developing and implementing a family out7 reach and support program, in cooperation with en8 tities carrying out parent and family engagement ef9 forts under title I of the Elementary and Secondary 

10 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), 

11 and family outreach and support efforts under sub12 title B of title VII of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 

13 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11431 et seq.), taking 

14 into consideration the language needs of parents of 

15 dual language learner children; 

16 (9) assisting families, administrators, and 

17 teachers in enhancing educational and developmental 

18 continuity and continuity of parental involvement in 

19 activities between child care and early learning serv20 ices and elementary school classes; 

21 (10) linking the services provided in such child 

22 care and early learning program with educational 

23 services, including services relating to language, lit24 eracy, and numeracy, provided by such local edu25 cational agency; 


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1 (11) helping parents (including in this para2 graph grandparents and kinship caregivers, as ap3 propriate) to understand the importance of parental 

4 involvement in a child’s academic success while 

5 teaching the parents strategies for maintaining pa6 rental involvement as their child moves from a child 

7 care and early learning program to elementary 

8 school; 

9 (12) helping parents understand the instruc10 tional and other services provided by the school in 

11 which their child will enroll after participation in the 

12 child care and early learning program; and 

13 (13) developing and implementing a system to 

14 increase child care and early learning program par15 ticipation of underserved populations of eligible chil16 dren. 

17 (b) DISSEMINATION AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

18 The Secretary shall— 

19 (1) disseminate to prime sponsors information 

20 on effective policies and activities relating to the 

21 transition of children from child care and early 

22 learning programs to public schools; and 

23 (2) provide technical assistance to such prime 

24 sponsors to promote and assist such prime sponsors 


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1 to adopt and implement such effective policies and 

2 activities. 

3 SEC. 123. ADEQUATE NUTRITION SERVICES. 

4 In accordance with the purposes of this title, the Sec5 retary shall establish procedures to assure that adequate 

6 nutrition services will be provided in child care and early 

7 learning programs under this title. In assuring the provi8 sion of those services, the Secretary may enter into an ar9 rangement with the Secretary of Agriculture to make use 

10 of the summer food service program and the child and 

11 adult care food program carried out under sections 13 and 

12 17 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 

13 (42 U.S.C. 1761, 1766) and relevant programs under the 

14 Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.), to 

15 the fullest extent appropriate and consistent with the pro16 visions of such Acts. 

17 SEC. 124. PARTICIPATION IN CHILD CARE AND EARLY 

18 LEARNING PROGRAMS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall by regulation 

20 prescribe eligibility for the participation of persons in child 

21 care and early learning programs assisted under this title. 

22 (b) ELIGIBLE AGES.—Such regulation shall provide 

23 that all children who are younger than the age of compul24 sory school attendance shall be eligible regardless of family 


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1 income, disability status, citizenship status, employment 

2 of a family member, or circumstance. 

3 (c) PRIME SPONSOR ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION

4 RESPONSIBILITIES.—A prime sponsor shall— 

5 (1) determine eligibility under this title based 

6 on standards prescribed by the Secretary under sub7 section (a); 

8 (2) not establish more stringent or exclusive re9 quirements for eligibility under this title than the 

10 eligibility standards prescribed by the Secretary; and 

11 (3) serve all families that request child care and 

12 early learning services through the prime sponsor’s 

13 program. 

14 Subtitle C—Administration 

15 SEC. 131. THE OFFICE OF CHILD CARE. 

16 (a) PRINCIPAL AGENCY.—The Office of Child Care 

17 of the Department of Health and Human Services shall 

18 be the principal agency of the Department for the admin19 istration of this title and for the coordination of child care 

20 and early learning programs and other activities relating 

21 to child care and early learning. 

22 (b) COORDINATION OF CHILD CARE PROGRAMS.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.— 

24 (A) DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

25 HUMAN SERVICES.—The Secretary shall take all 


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1 necessary action to coordinate child care and 

2 early learning programs under the Secretary’s 

3 jurisdiction, including with the Office of Head 

4 Start. 

5 (B) DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.—The 

6 Secretary shall take all necessary action to co7 ordinate such programs with the Department of 

8 Education. 

9 (2) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall pro10 mulgate regulations to assure that entities that are 

11 funded by the Department of Health and Human 

12 Services to carry out activities relating to child care 

13 and early learning will coordinate the activities with 

14 the programs carried out under this title. 

15 (3) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 

16 shall ensure that joint technical assistance efforts 

17 will result in the development of coordinated ef18 forts— 

19 (A) between the offices within the Depart20 ment of Health and Human Services; and 

21 (B) between the Department of Health and 

22 Human Services and other Federal agencies, in23 cluding the Department of Education, that 

24 carry out those activities. 


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1 (c) PROCEDURES, POLICIES, REGULATIONS.—The 

2 Secretary may establish such procedures, policies, and reg3 ulations as may be necessary to carry out this title. 

4 SEC. 132. ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS AND STAND5 ARDS. 

6 (a) REQUIREMENTS AND STANDARDS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

8 administrative requirements and standards con9 sistent with the requirements and standards de10 scribed in subsections (a) through (f), and (h), of 

11 section 644 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9839). 

12 The established requirements and standards shall 

13 apply to the child care and early learning programs 

14 carried out under this title, and the prime sponsors 

15 carrying out such programs, as the case may be. 

16 (2) ADJUSTMENTS.—The Secretary may make 

17 such adjustments to the requirements, standards, 

18 qualifications, development activities, and limitations 

19 specified in paragraph (1) and sections 133(a), 134, 

20 136(a), 139, and 141, as may be necessary to ensure 

21 effective administration of this title. 

22 (3) ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROLS.—The Sec23 retary shall prescribe regulations to assure that pro24 grams under this title have adequate internal admin25 istrative controls, accounting requirements, perVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:19 Feb 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00099 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H953.IH H953

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1 sonnel standards, evaluation procedures, and other 

2 policies as may be necessary to promote the effective 

3 use of funds. 

4 (b) FACILITIES.— 

5 (1) OWNED OR LEASED BY FEDERAL AGEN6 CIES.—The Secretary, after consultation with other 

7 appropriate officials of the Federal Government, 

8 shall within 16 months after the date of enactment 

9 of this Act prepare and submit to Congress a report 

10 that— 

11 (A) describes the extent to which facilities 

12 owned or leased by Federal agencies (including 

13 departments) could be made available to prime 

14 sponsors, through appropriate arrangements, 

15 for use as facilities for child care and early 

16 learning programs under this title during times 

17 and periods when the owned or leased facilities 

18 are not utilized fully for their usual purposes; 

19 and 

20 (B) the Secretary’s recommendations (in21 cluding recommendations for changes through 

22 legislation) or proposed actions for such use. 

23 (2) OWNED OR LEASED IN SERVICE AREA.— 

24 The Secretary shall require, as a condition for the 

25 receipt of financial assistance under this title, that 


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1 any prime sponsor under this title agree to conduct 

2 a review and prepare and submit to the Secretary a 

3 report that— 

4 (A) describes the extent to which facilities 

5 owned or leased by such prime sponsor, or by 

6 other organizations in the service area, could be 

7 made available, through appropriate arrange8 ments, for use as facilities for child care and 

9 early learning programs under this title during 

10 times and periods when the owned or leased fa11 cilities are not utilized fully for their usual pur12 poses; and 

13 (B) the prime sponsor’s proposed actions 

14 for such use. 

15 (c) CAPITAL EXPENDITURES.— 

16 (1) CONSTRUCTION.—Upon a determination by 

17 the Secretary that suitable facilities (including public 

18 school facilities) are not otherwise available to prime 

19 sponsors to carry out child care and early learning 

20 programs, that the lack of suitable facilities will in21 hibit the operation of such programs, and that con22 struction of such facilities is more cost effective than 

23 purchase of available facilities or renovation, the 

24 Secretary, in the discretion of the Secretary, may 

25 authorize the use of financial assistance under this 


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1 title to make payments for capital expenditures re2 lated to construction of facilities that will be used to 

3 carry out such programs. The Secretary shall estab4 lish uniform procedures for prime sponsors to re5 quest approval for such payments, and shall pro6 mote, to the extent practicable, the collocation of 

7 child care and early learning programs with other 

8 programs serving children and families. 

9 (2) CONSTRUCTION, RENOVATION, VEHICLE

10 PURCHASE.—Such payments may be used for capital 

11 expenditures (including paying the cost of amor12 tizing the principal, and paying interest on, loans) 

13 such as expenditures for— 

14 (A) construction of facilities that are not 

15 in existence on the date of the determination, if 

16 such construction is more cost effective than 

17 purchase or renovation; 

18 (B) major renovation of facilities in exist19 ence on such date, if major renovation is more 

20 cost effective than purchase, construction, or 

21 minor renovation; and 

22 (C) purchase of vehicles used for programs 

23 conducted at child care and early learning pro24 gram facilities eligible for a payment under this 

25 subsection. 


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1 (3) WAGES FOR CONSTRUCTION OR RENOVA2 TION.—All laborers and mechanics employed by con3 tractors or subcontractors in the construction or ren4 ovation of facilities to be used to carry out child care 

5 and early learning programs under this title shall be 

6 paid wages that are not less than the wages pre7 vailing on similar construction or renovation in the 

8 service area, as determined by the Secretary of 

9 Labor in accordance with subchapter IV of chapter 

10 31 of title 40, United States Code (commonly known 

11 as the ‘‘Davis-Bacon Act’’). 

12 SEC. 133. APPEALS, NOTICE, AND HEARING. 

13 (a) PROCEDURES.—The Secretary shall establish ap14 peals, notice, hearing, and other procedures consistent (ex15 cept as otherwise provided in this section) with the proce16 dures described in section 646 of the Head Start Act (42 

17 U.S.C. 9841). The established procedures shall apply to 

18 the child care and early learning programs carried out 

19 under this title, and the prime sponsors carrying out such 

20 programs, as the case may be. 

21 (b) WITHHOLDING OF FUNDS.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall take the 

23 action described in paragraph (2) whenever the Sec24 retary, after reasonable notice and opportunity for a 


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1 hearing for any prime sponsor (including a delegate 

2 provider), finds— 

3 (A) that the prime sponsor has failed to 

4 comply substantially with any requirement set 

5 forth in the plan of the prime sponsor approved 

6 under section 113 or 114; 

7 (B) that the delegate provider has failed to 

8 comply substantially with any requirement set 

9 forth in the application of the provider ap10 proved pursuant to section 115(c); or 

11 (C) that in the operation of any program 

12 (or services) carried out by any such prime 

13 sponsor (or delegate provider) under this title 

14 the prime sponsor (or delegate provider) has 

15 failed to comply substantially with any applica16 ble provision of this title, including a regulation 

17 promulgated under this title. 

18 (2) ACTION.—On making a finding under para19 graph (1), the Secretary shall notify the prime spon20 sor or delegate provider involved of the findings and 

21 that no further payments may be made to such 

22 prime sponsor or delegate provider under this title 

23 (or in the Secretary’s discretion that any such prime 

24 sponsor shall not make further payments under this 

25 title to specified delegate providers affected by the 


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1 failure) until the Secretary is satisfied that there is 

2 no longer any such failure to comply, or the non3 compliance will be promptly corrected. The Secretary 

4 may authorize the continuation of payments with re5 spect to any program or service assisted under this 

6 title which is being carried out pursuant to the cor7 responding plan or application referred to in para8 graph (1) and which is not involved in the non9 compliance. 

10 SEC. 134. RECORDS AND AUDITS. 

11 The Secretary shall establish record and audit re12 quirements consistent with the requirements described in 

13 section 647 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9842). The 

14 established requirements shall apply to the child care and 

15 early learning programs carried out under this title, and 

16 the prime sponsors carrying out such programs, as the 

17 case may be. 

18 SEC. 135. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING. 

19 (a) PRESERVICE AND INSERVICE TRAINING.—The 

20 Secretary is authorized to make payments to provide fi21 nancial assistance to enable individuals employed or pre22 paring for employment in child care and early learning 

23 programs assisted under this title, including volunteers, 

24 to participate in programs of preservice or inservice train25 ing for professional or nonprofessional personnel, to be 


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1 conducted by any prime sponsor carrying out a child care 

2 and early learning program, or any institution of higher 

3 education, including a community college, or by any com4 bination of those prime sponsors or institutions. The fi5 nancial assistance shall include scholarships and funding 

6 for books, transportation, and other comprehensive needs. 

7 (b) PRIME SPONSOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND

8 PLANNING.—The Secretary is authorized to, directly or 

9 through grant or contract, make technical assistance avail10 able to entities who are eligible and seek to become prime 

11 sponsors, and to prime sponsors, to assist the entities and 

12 prime sponsors in planning, developing, and carrying out 

13 child care and early learning programs. 

14 (c) PRIME SPONSOR FACILITIES ASSISTANCE.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized 

16 to make, directly or through grant or contract, tech17 nical assistance and other support available to pro18 viders of services through child care and early learn19 ing programs, to support the providers in meeting 

20 applicable facilities codes, if the providers are— 

21 (A) providers in rural areas; 

22 (B) family child care home providers; or 

23 (C) providers serving children belonging to 

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1 income children, or underserved children (in2 cluding children with disabilities, homeless chil3 dren, children who have been abused or ne4 glected, and children in foster care). 

5 (2) APPLICABLE FACILITIES CODE.—In this 

6 subsection, the term ‘‘applicable facilities code’’ 

7 means— 

8 (A) a code promulgated under section 

9 121(b)(4), for a provider in a State not de10 scribed in subparagraph (B); and 

11 (B) a code or standards determined to be 

12 sufficient under section 121(b)(6), for a pro13 vider in a State to which the code or standards 

14 apply. 

15 (d) PRIME SPONSOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Prime sponsors shall carry 

17 out training and quality improvement activities, in18 cluding— 

19 (A) activities that support child care and 

20 early learning programs (including providers) in 

21 meeting national program standards; and 

22 (B) supporting staff in meeting qualifica23 tions described in section 136, including pro24 viding paid release time to staff, to engage in 


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1 activities that enable the staff to meet the 

2 qualifications. 

3 (2) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary is 

4 authorized to make financial assistance available to 

5 prime sponsors to carry out such training and qual6 ity improvement activities. 

7 (e) STAFF TRAINING.—The Secretary shall prescribe 

8 regulations implementing a training program for staff of 

9 child care and early learning programs assisted under this 

10 title, based on the training program of the military child 

11 care program. Satisfactory completion of the training pro12 gram, which may be accomplished through a professional 

13 preparation or development program, shall be a condition 

14 of employment of any person as a member of the staff 

15 of such a child care and early learning program. The train16 ing program established under this subsection shall cover, 

17 at a minimum, training in each of the following: 

18 (1) Early childhood development. 

19 (2) Activities and disciplinary techniques appro20 priate for children of different ages. 

21 (3) Child abuse prevention and detection. 

22 (4) Cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other 

23 emergency medical procedures. 

24 (f) WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AND DIVERSITY.— 


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1 (1) OUTREACH PROGRAM.—From amounts allo2 cated under section 103(b), the Secretary shall de3 velop and implement a program of outreach to re4 cruit and train professionals from diverse back5 grounds to become teachers in child care and early 

6 learning programs. 

7 (2) GRANTS.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—From amounts allo9 cated under section 103(b), the Secretary is au10 thorized to award grants, for a period of not 

11 less than 5 years, to— 

12 (i) entities that carry out training 

13 through a fund sponsored at least in part 

14 by a labor organization; and 

15 (ii) institutions of higher education, 

16 with priority for part B institutions, His17 panic-serving institutions, and Tribal Col18 leges and Universities (as the 3 types of 

19 institutions are defined in clauses (i) 

20 through (iii) of section 241(1)(A) of the 

21 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

22 1033(1)(A))). 

23 (B) USE OF FUNDS.—An institution that 

24 receives such a grant may— 

25 (i) use the grant funds— 


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1 (I) to improve the child care and 

2 early learning workforce; 

3 (II) to recruit child care and 

4 early learning teachers and other staff 

5 who want to obtain additional creden6 tials related to child care and early 

7 learning; 

8 (III) to recruit and train profes9 sionals from diverse backgrounds to 

10 become teachers in child care and 

11 early learning programs; 

12 (IV) to promote access and af13 fordability through direct student sup14 port, grants, scholarships, and other 

15 forms of student financial aid to stu16 dents pursuing early childhood 

17 coursework and degrees in order to re18 duce or eliminate the need for such 

19 students to take out loans for the re20 lated costs of attendance; 

21 (V) to create seamless, articu22 lated, teacher preparation pathways; 

23 (VI) to develop institutional poli24 cies that award credit for students’ 

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1 hood coursework and degrees as well 

2 as for demonstrated competency 

3 through— 

4 (aa) prior work experience; 

5 and 

6 (bb) apprenticeships that 

7 lead to credentials, or associate 

8 or baccalaureate degrees; and 

9 (ii) make a portion of the grant funds 

10 available for students training to become 

11 staff of child care and early learning pro12 grams, to cover the corresponding tuition 

13 and other costs of attendance. 

14 SEC. 136. STAFF QUALIFICATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT. 

15 (a) QUALIFICATION AND DEVELOPMENT.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, after con17 sultation with other Federal agencies and on the 

18 basis of the recommendations of the Committee es19 tablished pursuant to section 121(a)(3), shall estab20 lish staff qualification and development requirements 

21 based on such requirements described in section 

22 648A of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9843a), 

23 based on such requirements being implemented by 

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1 cluding a requirement to satisfactorily complete 

2 training under section 135(e). The established re3 quirements shall include the requirements described 

4 in subsection (b) (relating to compensation). The es5 tablished requirements shall apply to the child care 

6 and early learning programs carried out under this 

7 title, and the prime sponsors carrying out such pro8 grams, as the case may be. 

9 (2) OBJECTIVES.—The established require10 ments shall be designed to— 

11 (A)(i) lead to high-quality child care and 

12 early learning service delivery, including the use 

13 of targeted strategies and resources provided by 

14 prime sponsors to ensure the diverse, incumbent 

15 child care and early learning workforce retains 

16 access to employment in such programs; and 

17 (ii) take into account workforce recruit18 ment challenges and the need for a diverse 

19 workforce; 

20 (B) create a pathway for members of the 

21 child care and early learning service workforce 

22 to build on their credentials; and 

23 (C) provide enough time (which shall be 

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1 tablishment) for staff to meet any educational 

2 requirements in the established requirements. 

3 (b) PAY.— 

4 (1) COMPETITIVE RATES OF COMPENSATION.— 

5 For the purpose of providing child care and early 

6 learning programs with a qualified and stable work7 force, each prime sponsor shall ensure that employ8 ees (including employees of a delegate provider) at 

9 a child care and early learning center and family 

10 child care home providers, including teachers and 

11 other staff of family child care home providers, shall 

12 be paid under a pay scale that provides for rates of 

13 compensation that— 

14 (A)(i) except as provided in clause (ii), are 

15 comparable with the rates of compensation paid 

16 to employees of the corresponding local edu17 cational agency with similar training, seniority, 

18 and experience; or 

19 (ii) for a position not typically found at the 

20 corresponding local educational agency, are the 

21 rates specified in the pay scale for the military 

22 child care program; and 

23 (B) are not less than a living wage, as de24 termined by the Secretary. 


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1 (2) PERIODIC REVIEWS.—In recommending and 

2 establishing requirements under subsection (a) and 

3 this subsection, the Committee established pursuant 

4 to section 121(a)(3) and the Secretary, respectively, 

5 shall periodically conduct reviews of the rates of 

6 compensation for employers, teachers, and staff de7 scribed in paragraph (1). The Committee and Sec8 retary shall determine whether the rates are increas9 ing at a pace that is not less than the rate of the 

10 Consumer Price Index-All Urban Consumers, and 

11 shall adjust the rates to ensure such an increase. 

12 (3) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding any other 

13 provision of law, no Federal funds may be used to 

14 pay any part of the compensation of an employee, 

15 teacher, or staff member described in paragraph (1) 

16 to carry out a child care and early learning program, 

17 if such compensation, including non-Federal funds, 

18 exceeds a rate equal to the rate payable for level II 

19 of the Executive Schedule under section 5313 of title 

20 5, United States Code. 

21 (4) COMPENSATION.—In this subsection, the 

22 term ‘‘compensation’’— 

23 (A) includes salary, bonuses, periodic pay24 ments, severance pay, the value of any vacation 

25 time, the value of a compensatory or paid leave 


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1 benefit, and the fair market value of any em2 ployee perquisite or benefit; and 

3 (B) includes any prime sponsor expendi4 ture for a health, medical, life insurance, dis5 ability, retirement, or any other employee wel6 fare or pension benefit. 

7 (c) CURRICULUM SUPPORT.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Prime sponsors shall estab9 lish and implement a plan to ensure all teachers in 

10 a child care and early learning program, including 

11 family child care home providers, have curriculum 

12 support. 

13 (2) CURRICULUM SUPPORT.—That curriculum 

14 support— 

15 (A) may include the use of curriculum spe16 cialists, as in the military child care program; 

17 and 

18 (B) shall include— 

19 (i) special teaching activities at loca20 tions that are easily accessible by the 

21 teachers; 

22 (ii) daily oversight and instruction of 

23 employees providing child care and early 

24 learning services; 


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1 (iii) daily assistance in the prepara2 tion of lesson plans, provided through indi3 vidual specialists or resources for staff that 

4 allow teachers to engage in professional re5 sponsibilities such as daily lesson planning; 

6 (iv) assistance with child abuse pre7 vention and detection; 

8 (v) assistance with activities to pro9 mote children’s cognitive development, be10 havior management, and mental health; 

11 and 

12 (vi) assistance with improving the de13 livery of instruction and with measuring 

14 and tracking children’s outcomes. 

15 SEC. 137. RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATIONS, AND EVALUA16 TION. 

17 (a) GENERAL OBJECTIVES.—The Secretary shall 

18 carry out a continuing program of research, demonstra19 tion, and evaluation activities, in order to— 

20 (1) focus national research efforts to attain a 

21 fuller understanding of the processes of child devel22 opment and early learning outcomes and the effects 

23 of programs on those processes and outcomes; 

24 (2) foster continuous improvement in the qual25 ity of the child care and early learning programs 


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1 carried out under this title and in their effectiveness 

2 in enabling participating children and their families 

3 to succeed in school and otherwise; 

4 (3) ensure that the results of research and re5 lated development efforts are reflected in the con6 duct of programs affecting children through the im7 provement and expansion of child care and early 

8 learning programs; and 

9 (4) develop, test, and disseminate information 

10 on new ideas for addressing the needs of low-income 

11 and underserved children (including children with 

12 disabilities, homeless children, children who have 

13 been abused or neglected, and children in foster 

14 care) and their families and communities, and fur15 thering in other ways the purposes of this title. 

16 (b) SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES.—The research, dem17 onstration, and evaluation activities under this title shall 

18 include components designed to— 

19 (1) permit ongoing assessment of the quality 

20 and effectiveness of the child care and early learning 

21 programs under this title; 

22 (2) contribute to developing knowledge con23 cerning factors associated with the quality and effec24 tiveness of child care and early learning programs 


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1 and in identifying ways in which services provided 

2 under this title may be improved; 

3 (3) assist in developing knowledge concerning 

4 the factors that promote or inhibit healthy develop5 ment and effective functioning of children and their 

6 families, including physical, mental, vision, and oral 

7 health, both during and following participation in a 

8 child care and early learning program; 

9 (4) permit comparisons of children and families 

10 participating in child care and early learning pro11 grams— 

12 (A) with children and families receiving 

13 other child care, or early childhood education 

14 and development, services or programs; and 

15 (B) with other appropriate control groups; 

16 (5) contribute to understanding the characteris17 tics and needs of population groups eligible for serv18 ices provided under this title and the impact of such 

19 services on the individuals served and the service 

20 areas in which such services are provided; 

21 (6) provide for disseminating and promoting the 

22 use of the findings from such research, demonstra23 tion, and evaluation activities; 


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1 (7) promote exploration of areas in which 

2 knowledge is insufficient, and that will otherwise 

3 contribute to fulfilling the purposes of this title; 

4 (8)(A) contribute to understanding the impact 

5 of child care and early learning services delivered in 

6 classrooms that include both children with disabil7 ities and children who are not children with disabil8 ities, on both types of children; and 

9 (B) disseminate promising practices for increas10 ing the availability and quality of child care and 

11 early learning services that are so delivered and 

12 classrooms described in subparagraph (A); 

13 (9) contribute to understanding the impact of 

14 different child care and early learning models, in15 cluding those with varying teacher compensation, 

16 preparation, and workplace supports, in addressing 

17 educational disparities and inequalities, including 

18 disparities and inequalities based on income, and 

19 disparities and inequalities based on culture, and 

20 race and ethnicity; 

21 (10) contribute to the understanding of pro22 viding effective child care and early learning pro23 grams to dual language learner children, children 

24 with disabilities, culturally diverse families, racially 

25 and ethnically diverse families, children belonging to 


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1 an Indian Tribe, Native Hawaiian children, and chil2 dren of migrant and seasonal farmworkers, and to 

3 service areas with many low-income children; and 

4 (11) carry out— 

5 (A) research to determine the nature of 

6 child development processes and the impact of 

7 various influences upon those processes, includ8 ing workplace conditions and supports, to de9 velop techniques to measure and evaluate child 

10 development, to develop standards to evaluate 

11 professional and paraprofessional child develop12 ment personnel, and to determine how child 

13 care and early learning and related programs 

14 conducted in either family child care homes or 

15 centers affect child development processes; 

16 (B) research to test alternative methods of 

17 providing child development and related serv18 ices, and to develop and test innovative ap19 proaches to achieve maximum development of 

20 children; 

21 (C) evaluation of findings from research 

22 conducted under this paragraph and the devel23 opment of and effective application of those 

24 findings; 


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1 (D) dissemination and application of re2 sults from research and related development ef3 forts and demonstration projects to child care 

4 and early learning programs, related programs, 

5 and early childhood education; 

6 (E) production of informational systems 

7 and other resources necessary to support the 

8 activities authorized under this paragraph; and 

9 (F) integration of national child develop10 ment research efforts under this title into a fo11 cused national research program, including the 

12 coordination of research and development con13 ducted by entities under this section with re14 search and development conducted by other 

15 agencies, organizations, and individuals. 

16 (c) CONDUCT OF RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATION, AND

17 EVALUATION ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary, in order to 

18 conduct research, demonstration, and evaluation activities 

19 under this section— 

20 (1) may carry out such activities directly, or 

21 through grants to, or contracts or cooperative agree22 ments with, public or private entities; 

23 (2) shall, to the extent appropriate, undertake 

24 such activities in collaboration with Federal agencies 

25 (other than the Department of Health and Human 


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1 Services), and with non-Federal agencies, Indian 

2 Tribes, and Tribal organizations, conducting similar 

3 activities; 

4 (3) shall ensure that evaluation of such activi5 ties in a specific program is conducted by persons 

6 not directly involved in the operation of such pro7 gram; 

8 (4) may require prime sponsors to provide for 

9 independent evaluations; 

10 (5) may approve, in appropriate cases, commu11 nity-based cooperative research and evaluation ef12 forts to enable prime sponsors to collaborate with 

13 qualified researchers not directly involved in pro14 gram administration or operation of a program 

15 funded under this title; and 

16 (6) may collaborate with organizations with ex17 pertise in inclusive educational strategies for pre18 schoolers who are children with disabilities. 

19 (d) COORDINATION OF RESEARCH.— 

20 (1) TRANSFERS.—Funds available to any Fed21 eral agency (including a department) for the pur22 poses stated in subsection (a) or the activities stated 

23 in subsection (b) shall be available for transfer, with 

24 the approval of the head of the agency involved, in 

25 whole or in part, to the Secretary for such use as 


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1 is consistent with the purposes for which such funds 

2 were appropriated, and the funds so transferred 

3 shall be expendable by the Secretary for the pur4 poses for which the transfer was made. 

5 (2) COORDINATION.—In carrying out activities 

6 under this section, the Secretary shall— 

7 (A) coordinate, through the Office of Child 

8 Care and Early Learning, established under 

9 section 131, all child development research, 

10 training, and related development efforts con11 ducted by the Department of Health and 

12 Human Services and, to the extent feasible, by 

13 other agencies, organizations, and individuals; 

14 (B) consult with— 

15 (i) individuals from relevant academic 

16 disciplines; 

17 (ii) individuals who are involved in the 

18 operation of child care and early learning 

19 programs and individuals who are involved 

20 in the operation of other child and family 

21 service programs; 

22 (iii) appropriate officials from Indian 

23 Tribes and Tribal organizations; and 

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1 lated to, children and families, ensuring 

2 that the individuals consulted under this 

3 subparagraph reflect the multicultural na4 ture of the children and families served by 

5 the child care and early learning programs 

6 and the multidisciplinary nature of the 

7 programs; 

8 (C) whenever feasible and appropriate, ob9 tain the views of persons participating in and 

10 served by programs assisted under this title 

11 with respect to activities under this section; and 

12 (D) establish, to the extent appropriate, 

13 working relationships with faculty members of 

14 institutions of higher education, as defined in 

15 section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 

16 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), located in the area in 

17 which any evaluation under this section is being 

18 conducted, to participate in such evaluation, un19 less there is no such institution of higher edu20 cation willing and able to participate in such 

21 evaluation. 

22 (3) COUNCIL.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—There is established a 

24 Child Development Research Council, consisting 

25 of— 


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1 (i) a representative of the Office of 

2 Child Care and Early Learning (who shall 

3 serve as chairperson); and 

4 (ii) a representative from each of the 

5 Federal agencies and offices determined to 

6 be appropriate by the Secretary. 

7 (B) MEETINGS.—The Council shall meet 

8 at least annually and at such more frequent 

9 times as the Council may determine to be nec10 essary. 

11 (C) DUTIES.—The Council shall assure co12 ordination of child care and early learning serv13 ices under the jurisdiction of the agencies and 

14 offices represented on the Council and carry out 

15 the provisions of this section so as to assure— 

16 (i) maximum utilization of available 

17 resources through the prevention of dupli18 cation of activities; 

19 (ii) a division of labor, insofar as is 

20 compatible with the purposes of each of 

21 the agencies or offices represented on the 

22 Council, among those agencies and offices 

23 to assure maximum progress toward the 

24 achievement of the purposes of this sec25 tion; and 


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1 (iii) recommendation of priorities for 

2 federally funded research and related de3 velopment that are related to the purposes 

4 of this section and those stated in section 

5 101. 

6 (e) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall make an 

7 annual report to Congress— 

8 (1) summarizing— 

9 (A) the Secretary’s activities and accom10 plishments during the preceding year under this 

11 section; and 

12 (B) the grants, contracts, or other ar13 rangements entered into during the preceding 

14 year under this section; and 

15 (2) making such recommendations as the Sec16 retary may determine to be appropriate. 

17 (f) PLAN.—The Secretary shall develop, and periodi18 cally update, a plan governing the research, demonstra19 tion, and evaluation activities under this section. 

20 (g) OWNERSHIP OF RESULTS.—The Secretary shall 

21 take necessary steps to ensure that all studies, reports, 

22 proposals, and data produced or developed with Federal 

23 funds under this title shall become the property of the 

24 United States. 


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1 SEC. 138. REPORTS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—At least once during every 2-year 

3 period, the Secretary shall prepare a report concerning the 

4 status of children (including low-income children, children 

5 with disabilities, dual language learner children, homeless 

6 children, children in foster care, children participating in 

7 child care and early learning programs on Indian land, 

8 and children participating in migrant or seasonal child 

9 care and early learning programs) participating in child 

10 care and early learning programs, including the number 

11 of participating children and the services being provided 

12 to such children. 

13 (b) CONTENTS.—Such report shall include— 

14 (1) a statement for the then most recently con15 cluded fiscal year specifying— 

16 (A) the amount of funds received, by prime 

17 sponsors that are designated under section 113, 

18 to provide child care and early learning services 

19 in a period before such fiscal year; and 

20 (B) the amount of funds received, by prime 

21 sponsors that are newly designated under sec22 tion 113, to provide such services in such fiscal 

23 year; 

24 (2) a description of the distribution of child 

25 care and early learning services relative to the dis26 tribution of children who are in need of child care 


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1 and early learning programs, including geographic 

2 distribution within States, and information on the 

3 number of children receiving those services; 

4 (3) a statement identifying how funds made 

5 available under section 112(a)(1) were distributed 

6 and used at national, regional, and local levels; 

7 (4) a statement specifying the amount of funds 

8 provided as the non-Federal share of the costs of 

9 child care and early learning programs, and the 

10 source of such funding; 

11 (5) the cost per child of carrying out child care 

12 and early learning programs, and how such cost var13 ies by region; 

14 (6) a description of the level and nature of par15 ticipation of parents and family members in child 

16 care and early learning programs as volunteers and 

17 in other capacities; 

18 (7) information concerning child care and early 

19 learning center staff, including salaries, education, 

20 training, experience, and staff turnover; 

21 (8) information concerning children partici22 pating in child care and early learning programs, in23 cluding information on family income, cultural back24 ground, racial and ethnic background, homelessness, 

25 whether such a child is in foster care or was referred 


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1 by a child welfare agency, disability, and whether the 

2 child’s family receives benefits under part A of title 

3 IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et 

4 seq.); 

5 (9) using data from the monitoring conducted 

6 under section 121— 

7 (A) a description of the extent to which 

8 programs funded under this title comply with 

9 program standards and regulations in effect 

10 under this title; 

11 (B) a description of the types and condi12 tion of facilities in which such programs are lo13 cated; and 

14 (C) the types of organizations that receive 

15 funds under this title through such programs; 

16 (10) a description of the types of services pro17 vided through the programs to children and their 

18 families, both on site and through referrals, includ19 ing services related to health, mental health, dental 

20 care, vision care, parenting education, physical fit21 ness, and literacy training; 

22 (11) information from a study of the delivery of 

23 child care and early learning programs to Indian 

24 children, to Native Hawaiian children, and to chil25 dren of migrant or seasonal farmworker families; 


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1 (12) information on the delivery of disability-re2 lated services in order to— 

3 (A) determine whether child care and early 

4 learning programs are making timely referrals 

5 to the State or local agency responsible for pro6 viding services under section 619 or part C of 

7 the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 

8 (20 U.S.C. 1419, 1431 et seq.); 

9 (B) identify barriers to timely evaluations 

10 and eligibility determinations by the State or 

11 local agency responsible for providing services 

12 under section 619 or part C of the Individuals 

13 with Disabilities Education Act; and 

14 (C) determine under what circumstances 

15 and for what length of time child care and early 

16 learning programs are providing disability-re17 lated services for children who have not been 

18 determined under the Individuals with Disabil19 ities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.) to 

20 be children with disabilities; and 

21 (13) information on how child care and early 

22 learning programs serve populations of low-income 

23 children, minority children, and dual language learn24 er children, the extent to which disparities exist in 

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1 grams, and how such programs address disparities 

2 in early learning outcomes. 

3 (c) SUBMISSION.—The Secretary shall submit each 

4 report prepared under subsection (a) to the Committee on 

5 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and 

6 the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the 

7 House of Representatives. 

8 SEC. 139. NONDISCRIMINATION PROVISIONS. 

9 The Secretary shall establish nondiscrimination re10 quirements consistent with the requirements described in 

11 section 654 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9849). The 

12 established requirements shall apply to the child care and 

13 early learning programs carried out under this title, and 

14 the prime sponsors carrying out such programs, as the 

15 case may be. 

16 SEC. 140. ADVANCE FUNDING. 

17 For the purpose of affording adequate notice of fund18 ing available under this title, appropriations for carrying 

19 out this title are authorized to be included in an appro20 priation Act for the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year 

21 for which the appropriations are available for obligation. 


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1 SEC. 141. PARENTAL CONSENT REQUIREMENT FOR NON2 EMERGENCY INTRUSIVE PHYSICAL EXAMINA3 TIONS. 

4 The Secretary shall establish a parental consent re5 quirement consistent with the requirement described in 

6 section 657A of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9852a). 

7 The established requirement shall apply to the child care 

8 and early learning programs carried out under this title, 

9 and the prime sponsors carrying out such programs, as 

10 the case may be. 

11 Subtitle D—Special Programs 

12 SEC. 151. SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING TO PRIME SPONSORS. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to 

14 provide supplemental financial assistance for the activities 

15 described in subsection (b) or the purposes described in 

16 subsection (c), to prime sponsors, who— 

17 (1) demonstrate barriers— 

18 (A) to scaling the services and processes 

19 needed to fully implement the prime sponsors’ 

20 child care and early learning programs; and 

21 (B) to meeting the national program 

22 standards; and 

23 (2) need financial assistance, as determined by 

24 the Secretary, for those activities or purposes, re25 spectively. 


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1 (b) ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary may provide the sup2 plemental financial assistance for activities consisting of— 

3 (1) conducting a facilities review as described in 

4 section 132(b)(2) and accessing adequate facilities; 

5 (2) establishing coordination arrangements and 

6 processes with other entities, including local edu7 cational agencies and related entities, organizations 

8 delivering health and social services in the service 

9 area involved, and the State; 

10 (3) establishing training and professional devel11 opment protocols and processes under sections 135 

12 and 136; 

13 (4) meeting accreditation requirements; 

14 (5) providing supports to enable family child 

15 care home providers to participate as providers with16 in the child care and early learning program carried 

17 out by the prime sponsor involved and to enable the 

18 prime sponsor to meet the national program stand19 ards; 

20 (6) securing materials and resources for profes21 sional learning opportunities; and 

22 (7) other activities related to the establishment, 

23 expansion, and scaling of services and processes 

24 needed to fully implement the prime sponsor’s child 

25 care and early learning program and enable the 


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1 prime sponsor to meet the national program stand2 ards. 

3 (c) PURPOSES.—The Secretary may provide the sup4 plemental financial assistance to a prime sponsor that 

5 meets the requirements of subsection (a) and has difficulty 

6 in providing a non-Federal share because the prime spon7 sor serves an area with a high concentration of families 

8 with a family income of not more than, or slightly above, 

9 200 percent of the poverty line, for the purposes of in10 creasing the Federal share of the costs described in section 

11 121(c)(2)(A). 

12 SEC. 152. SPECIAL GRANTS TO STATES. 

13 (a) GRANTS.—On approving an application submitted 

14 by any State, the Secretary is authorized to provide a 

15 grant to the State for carrying out activities described in 

16 subsection (b). 

17 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—A State that receives a grant 

18 under subsection (a) may use the grant funds for— 

19 (1) identifying child care and early learning 

20 services goals and needs within the State; 

21 (2) furnishing child care providers with start-up 

22 funding and technical assistance; 

23 (3) supporting compensation for the child care 

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1 pensation for the primary education workforce, 

2 which may include retention or bonus awards; 

3 (4) establishing or expanding the operation of 

4 community or neighborhood-based family child care 

5 networks by providing grants and contracts for 

6 training; 

7 (5) supporting the recruitment, training, and 

8 professional development of the child care and early 

9 learning workforce; 

10 (6) assisting in the establishment of Child Care 

11 and Early Learning Councils and strengthening the 

12 capability of such Councils to effectively advise on 

13 the child care and early learning programs; 

14 (7) encouraging the cooperation and participa15 tion of State agencies in providing child care and 

16 early learning services, including health, family plan17 ning, mental health, education, nutrition, family, so18 cial, and rehabilitative services if that cooperation 

19 and participation are requested by appropriate prime 

20 sponsors in the development and implementation of 

21 child care and early learning plans; 

22 (8) encouraging the full utilization of resources 

23 and facilities for child care and early learning pro24 grams within the State; 


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1 (9) disseminating the results of research on 

2 child care and early learning programs; 

3 (10) conducting programs for the exchange of 

4 personnel involved in child care and early learning 

5 programs within the State; 

6 (11) assisting prime sponsors in the acquisition 

7 or improvement of facilities for child care and early 

8 learning programs; 

9 (12) assessing State and local licensing codes as 

10 the codes relate to child care and early learning pro11 grams within the State; 

12 (13) developing information useful in reviewing 

13 prime sponsorship plans described in section 113(a) 

14 and child care and early learning plans described in 

15 section 114(b); 

16 (14) facilitating collaboration among prime 

17 sponsors and delegate providers within the State; 

18 (15) supporting a unified, birth-through-school19 entry, early childhood system, including carrying out 

20 activities related to establishing braided or blended 

21 funding arrangements to promote the integration of 

22 services to children and families; and 

23 (16) making grants and contracts to cover a 

24 portion of the fixed operating expenses of eligible 

25 providers of services through a child care and early 


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1 learning program serving eligible children receiving 

2 assistance under this section, to support increased 

3 wages, program stability, and continuity of services 

4 for all children in such program. 

5 (c) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—No State or com6 munity shall reduce its expenditures for child care and 

7 early learning programs (including home-based child care 

8 and early learning programs) because of financial assist9 ance provided under this section. 

10 TITLE II—RELATED PROGRAMS 

11 SEC. 201. MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT. 

12 (a) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—Section 658J of the 

13 Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 

14 U.S.C. 9858h) is amended by adding at the end the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(d) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No State shall receive such 

18 a payment for a fiscal year if the State reduces its 

19 total State expenditures for child care services for 

20 the prior fiscal year below the average of such ex21 penditures for the 3 fiscal years preceding that prior 

22 fiscal year. 

23 ‘‘(2) TOTAL STATE EXPENDITURES.—For pur24 poses of this subsection, total State expenditures for 

25 child care services include State expenditures to 


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1 carry out this subchapter and the Child Care for 

2 Every Community Act.’’. 

3 (b) RELATIONSHIP TO THE CHILD CARE FOR EVERY

4 COMMUNITY ACT.—Section 658M of the Child Care and 

5 Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858k) 

6 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(c) RELATIONSHIP TO THE CHILD CARE FOR

8 EVERY COMMUNITY ACT.—An eligible child who is eligible 

9 for child care and early learning services under the Child 

10 Care for Every Community Act shall only receive child 

11 care services under this subchapter that the child is ineli12 gible for under that Act.’’. 

Æ 


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