2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 26.5 - EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS AND SERVICES (§§ 26.5-1-101 — 26.5-6-103) › Article 2 - LOCAL INFRASTRUCTURE - EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS AND SERVICES (§§ 26.5-2-101 — 26.5-2-209) › Part 1 - LOCAL COORDINATING ORGANIZATIONS (§§ 26.5-2-101 — 26.5-2-105) › Section 26.5-2-104 - [Effective 8/7/2024] Local coordinating organization - community plan - duties

(1)
(a)
Each local coordinating organization shall adopt a community plan that fosters equitable access for families to, and robust participation by providers in, early childhood and family support programs and services by increasing access to, coordinating, and allocating funding for said programs and services within the community. The community plan must, at a minimum, address:
(I)
The manner in which the local coordinating organization will assist families in applying for early childhood and family support programs and services and in enrolling children with early care and education providers;
(II)
The manner in which the local coordinating organization will coordinate with county departments, as defined in section
26.5-4-103
, and tribal agencies:
(A)
To integrate outreach for early childhood and family support programs and services with other efforts to provide holistic services for families, including food, cash assistance, and health care; and
(B)
To facilitate access to family support programs and services in support of county child welfare services, including implementation of the federal "Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018", as defined in section
26-5-101
(4.5);
(III)
The manner in which the local coordinating organization will recruit and work with providers to ensure that families' needs for school- and community-based preschool providers, child care, and other early childhood services within the community are met to the fullest extent possible;
(IV)
The method by which the local coordinating organization will ensure that a mixed delivery system of school- and community-based preschool providers, based on parental choice, is available within the community, including identifying the existing school- and community-based preschool providers in the community and establishing goals and benchmarks for increasing the availability of preschool providers as necessary to be responsive to family preferences;
(V)
A plan for working with early care and education providers to increase recruitment and retention of individuals in the early care and education workforce and to increase compensation for those individuals, with the goal of providing a living wage;
(VI)
A plan for coordinating the school- and community-based preschool providers that are available within the community with the other available early childhood and family support programs and services for children who enroll in the preschool providers and their families;
(VII)
A plan for collaborating with other local coordinating organizations to provide families access to early childhood and family support programs and services delivered by providers in other communities;
(VIII)
A plan for the allocation of funding among school- and community-based preschool providers and other early care and education providers in the community, with the goal of maximizing the use of funding to meet community needs, including the need for full-day services;
(IX)
If the local coordinating organization shares responsibility with the state for distributing public funding, the manner in which it will, in coordination with local and tribal agencies, ensure that, to the extent possible, the public funding available to families is combined and coordinated to seamlessly provide early childhood and family support programs and services;
(X)
The local coordinating organization's plan and strategies for identifying, soliciting, and securing, as feasible, additional local resources and funding to support early childhood and family support programs and services in the community; and
(XI)
The manner in which the local coordinating organization, in accordance with department requirements, will ensure transparency within the community concerning the amount of money available for and used to support early childhood and family support programs and services from all sources, including local property tax and sales tax and the maintenance of effort for child care assistance provided by county departments of human or social services within the community.
(b)
Notwithstanding subsection (1)(a) of this section, the initial community plan that a local coordinating organization creates may be limited to addressing participation in the Colorado universal preschool program and the needs for, access to, and allocation of funding for school- and community-based preschool providers. With subsequent revisions of the plan, the local coordinating organization shall address the provision and coordination of additional early childhood and family support programs and services in the community as provided in subsection (1)(a) of this section in collaboration with local and tribal agencies.
(c)
Each local coordinating organization shall submit the initial community plan to the department pursuant to department rules, if any, procedures, and timelines. The department shall review the community plan and may require changes before approving the community plan as provided in section
26.5-2-105
.
(d)
Each local coordinating organization shall regularly review and revise the community plan to ensure the plan continues to accurately reflect the early childhood and family support programs and services within the community and is relevant and effective in meeting families' needs for early childhood and family support programs and services. In creating, reviewing, and revising the community plan, the local coordinating organization shall solicit and take into account input from families, providers, members of the early childhood and family support workforce, local early childhood councils, local and tribal agencies, local governments, and the business community within the community. The local coordinating organization shall resubmit the community plan to the department following each review. Revisions to the community plan are subject to approval by the department as provided in section
26.5-2-105
.
(2)
Each local coordinating organization shall implement the community plan and shall:
(a)
Coordinate the program application and enrollment process for early childhood programs for both families and providers and across all participating entities within the community to facilitate the greatest practicable degree of family access to early childhood and family support programs;
(b)
Subject to the availability and enrollment capacity of preschool providers in the community, provide universal access, in alignment with family choice, to high-quality school- and community-based preschool providers within the community for children in the year before eligibility for kindergarten;
(c)
Manage a mixed delivery system of preschool providers;
(d)
Allocate, in coordination with local and tribal agencies, when applicable, local early childhood funding and state preschool program funding to public and private providers within the community, based on the community plan, and ensure, to the greatest extent possible, that children who, pursuant to department rules adopted in accordance with section
26.5-4-204 (4)(a)
, are in low-income families and meet qualifying factors are prioritized, as directed by the department, to receive early childhood and family support programs and services;
(e)
Support and ensure the availability of high-quality early childhood care and education for all children, including supporting access to training and support for members of the early childhood workforce;
(f)
Support early childhood caregivers who are exempt from licensing pursuant to part 3 of article
5
of this title 26.5 in accessing family resources and resources related to health and safety, early childhood development, and workforce development;
(g)
Increase over time the capacity of high-quality early child care and education programs within the community to better meet family and community needs;
(h)
Support public and private providers in recruiting, developing, and retaining within the community a quality early childhood workforce that is culturally and linguistically relevant to the community;
(i)
Work with providers in the community to ensure the collection and reporting to the department of key systems level data, as required by department rules, in a manner that minimizes duplication and the burden on families and providers and ensures compliance with all applicable privacy protections;
(j)
Work in coordination with local county departments, as defined in section
26.5-4-103
, and tribal agencies and local community-based organizations to integrate outreach for early childhood and family support programs and services with other efforts to provide holistic services for families, including food, cash assistance, and health care;
(k)
Comply with department rules, if any, in implementing the community plan and the duties described in this section;
(l)
Comply with any statutory auditing requirements that apply to the local coordinating organization or, if the local coordinating organization is not otherwise required by statute to undergo an annual financial audit, contract for the performance of an annual financial audit of the operations of the local coordinating organization by an independent auditor; and
(m)
Comply with any other provisions included in the coordinator agreement entered into between the local coordinating organization and the department pursuant to section
26.5-2-105 (1)(b)
.
(3)
Each local coordinating organization shall work with entities within the community, including, at a minimum, the entities specified in section
26.5-2-103 (2)(c)
, to implement the community plan, which may include subcontracting or partnering with or otherwise delegating responsibility to one or more public or private entities. The local coordinating organization remains responsible to the department for implementing the community plan, meeting the goals specified in the community plan and the coordinator agreement, and meeting any additional requirements imposed by this part 1, by part 2 of article
4
of this title 26.5 concerning the Colorado universal preschool program, by department rule, or by the coordinator agreement.
Amended by 2024 Ch. 155,§ 20, eff. 8/7/2024.
Added by 2022 Ch. 123, §3, eff. 4/25/2022.
2024 Ch. 155, was passed without a safety clause. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(3).
This section is set out more than once due to postponed, multiple, or conflicting amendments.