An Update from the State of California on COVID-19 for our Early Learning Community:
California's Legislature
This week, California’s Legislature has been pursuing emergency legislation to respond rapidly to the COVID-19 crisis. Yesterday, Governor Newsom provided them with the requisite declaration, enabling them to act on a bill in spite of it not being in print for at least 72 hours. The Legislature amended AB 117 with new language in order to provide relief and assurance for school districts across a host of issues impacted by the current COVID-19 situation:
"To ensure continuity of payments to state-subsidized childcare and development programs, the attendance and reporting requirements imposed on childcare and development programs are waived for programs that comply with an Executive Order, subject to guidance from the Superintendent of Public Instruction pursuant to this section. Pursuant to guidance and direction from the Superintendent, childcare and development programs shall be reimbursed using the most recent certified record or invoice available."
The provision cross-references the following programs in California:
- 8221.5: Monthly attendance records for AP providers
- 8230: Migrant Child Care
- 8235: State Preschool Program
- 8240: General Child Care
- 8245: Family Child Care Home Networks
- 8250: Child Care for Children with Disabilities
- 8351: CalWORKS, Stage 1
- 8353: CalWORKS, Stage 2
- 8354: CalWORKS, Stage 3
Read the Entire Bill AB 117
CDE and CHHS Guidance for Families and Local Educational Agencies
In the near future, the California Department of Education (CDE) and the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS), plan to issue guidance to provide additional information for helping California's communities meet the childcare and preschool needs of their families amidst the COVID-19 crisis.
Please check our website for updates.
Happening Tomorrow - March 18, 2020 at 10am:
CDE will host a webinar led by State Superintendent Thurmond regarding guidance on COVID-19 school closures with the teams who have been drafting guidance documents on the Governor's Executive Order. These teams will walk through each section, followed by a Q & A.
Join the webinar.
COVID-19 Resources for Parents, Teachers, and Administrators:
With the situation around COVID-19 continuing to unfold, the Early Edge California team has gathered a collection of the most current resources to share with our Early Learning community. We hope these resources, focused on minimizing the impacts on our youngest children and their families, will be helpful to you, and we encourage you to share them within your networks.
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