By: Talarico H.B. No. 62
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to establishing an Office of Early Childhood to
  coordinate, consolidate and integrate early childhood programs.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Chapter 1001, Health and Safety Code, is amended
  by adding Subsection 1001.266 to read as follows:
         Sec. 1001.266.  OFFICE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD. (a) There is
  hereby established an Office of Early Childhood ("the Office").
  The Office is vested with all powers and duties transferred to it
  under this law and such other powers and duties as may be authorized
  by law. The Office shall be within the Department of Health and
  Human Services for administrative and budget purposes. 
         (b)  The Office of Early Childhood shall be headed by the
  Director of Early Childhood who shall be appointed within three
  months of the effective date of this Act by a committee composed of
  designees for the Governor, the speaker of the house of
  representatives, the president of the senate, the minority leader
  of the house of representatives and the minority leader of the
  senate; if the Committee cannot agree on an appointee, then the
  Governor shall make the appointment. 
         (c)  The primary duties of the Office of Early Childhood are
  to coordinate and integrate child care, early childhood, and early
  care and learning programs in Texas in order to administer programs
  and funding as efficiently as possible. The Office's duties shall
  include, but are not limited to: 
         (i)  The delivery of services to young children and their
  families to ensure optimal health, safety and learning for each
  young child;
         (ii)  Developing and implementing an early childhood
  information system. Such early childhood information system shall
  facilitate and encourage the sharing of data between and among
  early childhood service providers by tracking: 
         (1)  the health, safety and school readiness of all young
  children receiving early care and education services from any local
  or regional board of education or school readiness program, 
         (2)  the characteristics of the existing and potential
  workforce serving such children, and 
         (3)  the characteristics of such programs serving such
  children; 
         (iii)  Developing and reporting on the early childhood
  accountability plan. Such plan shall: 
         (1)  identify and define appropriate population indicators
  and program and system performance measures of the health, safety
  and readiness of children to enter kindergarten, and early school
  success of children, and shall identify any new or improved data
  required for such purposes; and
         (2)  include aggregate information on the characteristics of
  children and programs tracked by the early childhood information
  system established by subsection (c, ii) of this act; 
         (3)  the characteristics of such programs serving such
  children; 
         (iv)  Implementing a communications strategy for outreach to
  families, service providers and policymakers; 
         (v)  Not later than 6 months from the effective date of this
  act, beginning a state-wide longitudinal evaluation of the school
  readiness program examining the educational progress of children
  from prekindergarten programs through grade four; 
         (vi)  Developing, coordinating and supporting public and
  private partnerships to aid early childhood initiatives; 
         (vii)  Developing and implementing a state-wide
  developmentally appropriate kindergarten assessment tool that
  measures a child's level of preparedness for kindergarten, but
  shall not be used as a measurement tool for program accountability; 
         (viii)  Creating a unified set of reporting requirements for
  the purpose of collecting the data elements necessary to perform
  quality assessments and longitudinal analysis; 
         (ix)  Comparing and analyzing data collected pursuant to
  reporting requirements created under subdivision (viii) of this
  subsection with the data collected in state-wide public school
  information systems to enable population-level analysis of
  children and families and the impacts of supported programs; 
         (x)  Continually monitoring and evaluating all early care
  and education and child development programs and services, focusing
  on program outcomes in satisfying the health, safety, developmental
  and educational needs of all children, while retaining distinct
  separation between quality improvement services and child day care
  licensing services;
         (xi)  Coordinating home visitation services across programs
  for young children; 
         (xii)  Providing information and technical assistance to
  persons seeking early care and education and child development
  programs and services;
         (xiii)  Assisting state agencies and municipalities in
  obtaining federal funding for early care and education and child
  development programs and services, including to maximize federal
  dollars coming into Texas for federally-funded meals, home
  visiting, and other early childhood programs; 
         (xiv)  Providing technical assistance to providers of early
  care and education programs and services to obtain licensing and
  improve program quality; 
         (xv)  Establishing a quality rating and improvement system
  that covers home-based, center-based and school-based early child
  care and day care;
         (xvi)  Maintaining an accreditation facilitation initiative
  to assist early childhood care and education and day care program
  and service providers in achieving national standards and program
  improvement; 
         (xvii)  Managing early childhood care and education and day
  care licensing to the extent such is under state jurisdiction; 
         (xviii)  Ensuring a coordinated and comprehensive statewide
  system of professional development for providers and staff of early
  childhood care and education, child development, and day care
  programs and services;
         (xix)  Developing early learning and development standards
  to be used by early childhood care and education and day care
  providers; and
         (xx)  Providing families with opportunities for choice in
  services including quality child care and community-based
  family-centered services; 
         (xxi)  Integrating early childhood care and education and
  special education services; 
         (xxii)  Promoting universal access to early childhood care
  and education; and 
         (xxiii)  Performing any other activities that will assist in
  the provision of early care and education and child development
  programs and services.
         (d)  The Director of Early Childhood shall be responsible for
  implementing the policies and directives of the Office of Early
  Childhood. The director may seek and shall be entitled to receive
  from other state agencies such assistance as may be required to
  perform such director's duties pursuant to this subsection. 
         (i)  The Director may appoint such officers, employees,
  agents and consultants as he or she may deem necessary. 
         (ii)  To the extent practicable, the Director shall appoint
  the officers, employees, agents and consultants for the office of
  early childhood, from among the existing officers and employees of
  existing agencies and departments currently housing early
  childhood programs, as supervision for those programs is moved into
  the Office of Early Childhood. 
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2023.