HBA-MPM H.B. 2357 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2357
By: Coleman
Human Services
3/13/2001
Introduced


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current state law does not require licensed child-care providers to develop
and implement child development activities.  This allows disparities in the
quality among various early child-care programs.  The educational and
developmental experience of preschool-aged children profoundly influences
school readiness and learning.  Developmentally appropriate early childhood
education programs that meet professional standards can provide positive
outcomes for all Texas children.  House Bill 2357 requires the Department
of Protective and Regulatory Services to adopt rules to impose standards
for child development activities provided by a licensed child-care
facility. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Department of Protective and
Regulatory Services in SECTION 1 (Section 42.0422, Human Resources Code) of
this bill. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 2357 amends the Human Resources Code to require the Department
of Protective and Regulatory Services (PRS) to adopt rules imposing
standards for child development activities provided by a licensed
child-care facility in addition to the rules and standards it adopts for
regulating child-care facilities. The bill specifies that the rules require
the operator of a licensed child-care facility to: 

_develop and implement a written plan for the provision of age and
developmentally appropriate, nonsexist activities that are designed to
stimulate the social, emotional, intellectual, and physical development of
each group of children served and that are based on the sociocultural
background of the children served; 

_annually review and update the plan and ensure that the plan is easily
accessible to the parents of the children served by the facility; 

_provide opportunities for parental involvement in developing and updating
the plan; 

_provide appropriate activity materials and activity tools for use by the
children; and 

_develop and with parental consent administer assessment tools designed to
inform a parent of the developmental progress of a child. 

H.B. 2357 authorizes PRS to make models of appropriate child development
activity plans available to licensed child-care facilities, and to develop
the models through collaboration with other agencies and resources.  The
bill requires PRS to encourage and assist in the development of local
models to provide and disseminate child development resources for use by
licensed child-care facilities, to develop collaborations with other
agencies and organizations to coordinate gaps in child development
services, and to provide information to operators of the facilities
regarding sources of models of appropriate child development activities. 
 
EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.