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Article 15.4. Individualized County Child Care Subsidy Plan of California Education Code >> Division 1. >> Title 1. >> Part 6. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 15.4.

On and after July 1, 2014, the individualized county child care subsidy plan for the County of San Mateo that was developed as a pilot project pursuant to Article 15.3 (commencing with Section 8340), as that article read on January 1, 2013, may continue in existence and may be implemented in accordance with the provisions of this article. The plan shall ensure that child care subsidies received by the County of San Mateo are used to address local needs, conditions, and priorities of working families in those communities.
For purposes of this article, "county" means the County of San Mateo.
For purposes of this article, "plan" means an individualized county child care subsidy plan developed and approved as described in Section 8347, which includes all of the following:
  (a) An assessment to identify the county's goal for its subsidized child care system. The assessment shall examine whether the current structure of subsidized child care funding adequately supports working families in the county and whether the county's child care goals coincide with the state's requirements for funding, eligibility, priority, and reimbursement. The assessment shall also identify barriers in the state's child care subsidy system that inhibit the county from meeting its child care goals. In conducting the assessment, the county shall consider all of the following:
  (1) The general demographics of families who are in need of child care, including employment, income, language, ethnic, and family composition.
  (2) The current supply of available subsidized child care.
  (3) The level of need for various types of subsidized child care services, including, but not limited to, infant care, after-hours care, and care for children with exceptional needs.
  (4) The county's self-sufficiency income level.
  (5) Income eligibility levels for subsidized child care.
  (6) Family fees.
  (7) The cost of providing child care.
  (8) The regional market rates, as established by the department, for different types of child care.
  (9) The standard reimbursement rate or state per diem for centers operating under contracts with the department.
  (10) Trends in the county's unemployment rate and housing affordability index.
  (b) (1) Development of a local policy to eliminate state-imposed regulatory barriers to the county's achievement of its desired outcomes for subsidized child care.
  (2) The local policy shall do all of the following:
  (A) Prioritize lowest income families first.
  (B) Follow the family fee schedule established pursuant to Section 8273 for those families that are income eligible, as defined by Section 8263.1.
  (C) Meet local goals that are consistent with the state's child care goals.
  (D) Identify existing policies that would be affected by the county's plan.
  (E) (i) Authorize any agency that provides child care and development services in the county through a contract with the department to apply to the department to amend existing contracts in order to benefit from the local policy.
  (ii) The department shall approve an application to amend an existing contract if the plan is modified pursuant to Section 8347.3.
  (iii) The contract of a department contractor who does not elect to request an amendment to its contract remains operative and enforceable.
  (3) The local policy may supersede state law concerning child care subsidy programs with regard only to the following factors:
  (A) Eligibility criteria, including, but not limited to, age, family size, time limits, income level, inclusion of former and current CalWORKs participants, and special needs considerations, except that the local policy shall not deny or reduce eligibility of a family that qualifies for child care pursuant to Section 8353. Under the local policy, a family that qualifies for child care pursuant to Section 8354 shall be treated for purposes of eligibility and fees in the same manner as a family that qualifies for subsidized child care on another basis pursuant to the local policy.
  (B) Fees, including, but not limited to, family fees, sliding scale fees, and copayments for those families that are not income eligible, as defined by Section 8263.1.
  (C) Reimbursement rates.
  (D) Methods of maximizing the efficient use of subsidy funds, including, but not limited to, multiyear contracting with the department for center-based child care, and interagency agreements that allow for flexible and temporary transfer of funds among agencies.
  (c) Recognition that all funding sources utilized by direct service contractors that provide child care and development services in the county are eligible to be included in the county's plan.
  (d) Establishment of measurable outcomes to evaluate the success of the plan to achieve the county's child care goals, and to overcome any barriers identified in the state's child care subsidy system.
(a) Within 30 days of receiving any modification to the plan, the Child Development Division shall review and either approve or disapprove that modification to the plan.
  (b) The Child Development Division may disapprove only those portions of modifications to the plan that are not in conformance with this article or that are in conflict with federal law.
(a) The county shall annually prepare and submit to the Legislature, the State Department of Social Services, and the department a report that summarizes the success of the county's plan, and the county's ability to maximize the use of funds and to improve and stabilize child care in the county.
  (b) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
A participating contractor shall receive any increase or decrease in funding that the contractor would have received if the contractor had not participated in the plan.