TITLE I—EARLY LEARNING AND
OPPORTUNITY GRANTS
SEC. 101. GRANTS FOR SERVICES.
(a) AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS.—The Secretary
of Health and Human Services may make grants, on a
competitive basis, to eligible States to improve the quality,
and to increase the availability, of child care services for
very young children and of support services for the fami-
lies of such children.
(b) PRIORITY.—For the purpose of making grants
under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority to
eligible States to the extent that such State, as dem-
onstrated in the application for a grant under such sub-
section—
(1) will minimize the administrative costs to be
incurred to carry out the plan contained in such ap-
plication,
(2) has coordinated the activities described in
the plan contained in such application, with provid-
ers of child care services for children between 3 and
6 years of age, and with providers of family support
services for families of such children, located in the
State,
(3) has taken substantial legislative or executive
action to reduce the duplication of, and barriers to
providing, such services, and
(4) during the fiscal year for which such grant
is received, will reimburse such providers for such
services at rates that reflect—
(A) the higher costs incurred by such pro-
viders who are accredited by national associa-
tion that provides accreditation for providers of
the respective types of such services and that is
recognized by the Secretary, and
(B) the higher costs incurred by such pro-
viders to provide child care services to children
who are very young children.
SEC. 102. ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS.
To be eligible to receive a grant under section 101,
a State shall submit to the Secretary an application that
satisfies the following requirements:
(1) Such application is prepared by the State
after consultation with providers of child care serv-
ices for very young children, and with providers of
family support services for families of such children,
located in the State.
(2) Such application contains a plan that de-
scribes how the State will expend such grant to do
1 or more of the following:
(A) To improve quality of child care serv-
ices.
(B) To improve licensing standards appli-
cable to providers of child care services for very
young children in the State by specifying mat-
ters that apply to providing child care services,
such as child-to-staff ratios, group size, staff
preparation and qualifications, ongoing staff
training, health and safety, and linkages to par-
ents and community services.
(C) To improve enforcement of licensing
standards applicable to providers of child care
services for care for very young children in the
State.
(D) To improve salaries for caregivers of
such child care services.
(E) To support ongoing and more ad-
vanced training for such caregivers (including
training to provide child care services for chil-
dren with special needs) and to create incen-
tives for individuals to obtain, and child care
centers to employ individuals who have ob-
tained, more advanced training in providing
child care services.
(F) To improve accessibility to child care
services for very young children, including im-
proving the quality of, and expanding the avail-
ability of, resource and referral services and
transportation services for families with very
young children.
(G) To improve affordability of child care
services for very young children.
(H) To improve and expand support serv-
ices to families with very young children.
(I) To improve coordination of existing
Federal and State programs that provide sup-
port services for families with very young chil-
dren.
(3) Such application shall contain assurances
that—
(i) not more than 70 percent of the cost of
carrying out the plan contained in such applica-
tion will be paid with such grant together with
any other available Federal funds,
(ii) such grant will be used to supplement,
not supplant, non-Federal funds otherwise
available to provide child care services for very
young children and support services for the
families of such children,
(iii) the State will expend in cash or in
kind, from State resources (including private
contributions and excluding resources available
to local governmental entities) an amount not
less than 30 percent of the amount of such
grant, and
(iv) such grant will be administered by the
lead agency that is designated by the State
under section 658D of the Child Care and De-
velopment Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.
9858b).
(4) Such application shall contain such other
information and assurances as the Secretary may re-
quire by rule.
SEC. 103. MODEL TRAINING PROGRAM FOR EMPLOYEES OF
CHILD CARE PROVIDERS.
The Secretary shall—
(1) by adapting the requirements in effect
under section 1792(a) of title 10, United States
Code, develop a voluntary model training program
applicable to individuals who are employed as
caregivers by providers of child care services,