JUMPSTART’S POLICY PRIORITIES: CALIFORNIA
Jumpstart is a national nonprofit focused on transforming the early care and education system. Because a child’s early years have lifelong impacts on their future learning, development, and success, we firmly believe that the most effective way to unlock the potential of every child and improve economic outcomes in underserved communities is to ensure that impactful early education, taught by qualified, well compensated, and effective educators, is available to all.
Jumpstart works with an unwavering commitment to advancing equity through a multipronged approach. Using a research-based curriculum designed to build children’s language, literacy, and social-emotional skills, our program provides individualized support to children and helps college students and aspiring educators build professional skills and qualifications. We do this while operating within an inequitable system that must change, which is why we advocate for policies on a local and national level that benefit young children and the early care and education workforce.
Jumpstart’s California State Policy Priorities on Equitable Access to Early Care and Education; Early Care and Education Workforce; and Equity & Justice follow:
EQUITABLE ACCESS TO EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION
Policy Priorities
- AB51: (Bonta) Universal Early Care Act: This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to create a universal early care and education system, utilizing the existing mixed-delivery system, that promotes equity and access for all families.
- AB14: (Sanchez): Income tax: Childcare saving and investment accounts: This bill would state the intention of the Legislature to enact legislation that would establish similar tax-preferred savings and investment accounts for childcare expenses.
- AB393: (Rivas and Arambula) Childcare: Dual Language Learners: This bill would similarly require the Director of Social Services to develop procedures for general or migrant childcare and development contractors to identify and report data on dual language learners enrolled in a general childcare and development program or migrant childcare and development program, as specified, and requires the director to develop informal directives and adopt regulations to implement these provisions. The bill would require the Superintendent and the director to coordinate their efforts in developing the procedures for the dual language learner data collection and reporting.
Jumpstart stands with several coalitions in support of their advocacy efforts including:
California Early Care and Education Coalition
The coalition believes that California’s families need a Universal Preschool System that allows them access to community-based mixed delivery programs that offer a variety of settings and hours of care, and a rate system that covers the full cost of care. The new rate system must include the full cost of care, eliminating the need to charge families fees for those making below 75% of the State Median Income (SMI.) This change will make a real difference in the lives of working families currently paying fees by putting money directly back into their pockets. Families need continued investment in community-based ECE spaces to ensure that all children, specifically 4-year-old children, and families, have equitable access to numerous ECE options that meet their needs. The Rate and Quality Stakeholder Working Group report made clear that the current reimbursement rate system’s reliance on a regional market rate survey perpetuates inequalities with our lowest income communities receiving artificially low reimbursement rates that don’t cover the cost of care. Families, children, and early care and education providers will be further marginalized unless we make significant investments to our ECE system in the 2023-24 budget through the following:
- Provide a 25% increase to current rates for immediate relief and adopt an alternative methodology using a cost estimation model and include a timeline for implementation for the actual cost of care based on program enrollment without charging families fees;
- Allocate all 20,000 childcare spaces scheduled to be released in 2023-24. We know thousands of families need access to childcare TODAY, and if the state provides Alternative Payment (AP) Agencies contracts by October of 2023, there should not be a delay in enrolling new families.
- Invest money from general fund in California’s community-based ECE providers to ensure that all children, specifically 4-year-old children, and families have equitable access to a variety of ECE options that meet their needs.
- The ECE Coalition appreciates the administrations and legislature’s long-term vision and continued commitment to ECE with the sustained commitment to provide 200,000 childcare spaces and commitment to move to a single rate structure, but the proposed budget does not address the short-term imperative needs for a rate increase and a variety of ECE options for 4-year-old children.
Black California United for Early Care and Education
- Black families should have options to choose from when determining which setting will work best for their children.
- Black children should be engaged in culturally affirming care and education.
- Black families with varying experiences should be intentionally included in state-level input convenings and working groups.
- Black advisories should be established and adequately funded at the local, county and state level.
EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION WORKFORCE
Policy Priorities
- AB26: (Fong) Federal Student Loan Debt: This bill would exclude from an individual’s gross income, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2022, any amount of qualified student loan debt, as defined, that is discharged under the federal student loan debt relief plan, as specified. The bill would specify that its provisions shall only become operative upon the enactment of legislation that would conform to specified federal law. The bill would also include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
- SB25: (Skinner) Student Loan Debt: This bill would exclude from an individual’s gross income, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2026, the amount of certain student loans discharged, in whole or in part, after December 31, 2020, and before January 1, 2026, in conformity with federal law.
- AB25: (McCarty) Debt free college: This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation that would establish a debt-free college system.
- AB238: (Muratsuchi) CA Student Teacher Support Grant Program: The bill would, contingent upon an appropriation of one time funding, establish the California Student Teacher Support Grant Program, under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, to award grants of an unspecified amount to teaching credential candidates to compensate the candidates while they perform the required student teaching.
- AB383: (Zbur) CA Classified School Employee Teacher Credentialing Program: Leave of Absence for Student Teaching: This bill would expand the definition of “teacher training program” to include out-of-state teacher licensure programs that meet certain criteria, as provided. The bill would add wage replacement as one of the criteria that the commission is required to include in its selection of school districts, charter schools, or county offices of education for the program. The bill would require participating classified employees to be entitled to a leave of absence from a participating local educational agency of up to 600 hours for the purpose of completing a student teaching requirement as required by a teacher training program. The bill would require a participating local educational agency, upon a classified employee participant’s request, to provide the participant with a stipend during a leave of absence for student teaching that is equal to the participant’s regular wages and shall continue to pay for any benefits during the leave. The bill would require a classified employee participant to agree to various terms regarding the stipend, including, among other things, that reimbursement of the stipend is required in certain circumstances and may be withheld from their employee pay, as provided.
- AB35: (Ting) Personal Income Tax Law: Exclusion: Student Loan Debt: This bill would exclude from an individual’s gross income, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2026, the amount of certain student loans discharged, in whole or in part, after December 31, 2020, and before January 1, 2026, in conformity with federal law.
Jumpstart supports the Black CA United for Early Care and Education in advocating for the following:
- A pipeline for Black educators to work across settings and job roles and to provide Black children access to Black caregivers and educators.
- Black early educators should receive stipend payments to address the racial wage gap.
- Black early educators should receive stipend payments to address the racial wage gap.
- State grants and contracts for early care and education services should prioritize independently and Black-owned ECE programs.
- Black children should receive an additional $500 in their CalKids account.
EQUITY AND JUSTICE
Policy Priorities
- SB274: (Skinner) Suspensions and Expulsions: Willful Defiance: This bill would remove disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties from the list of acts for which a pupil, regardless of their grade of enrollment, may be suspended or recommended for expulsion. The bill would extend the prohibition against the suspension of charter school pupils for those acts to all grades, indefinitely. This bill would prohibit a suspension or expulsion from being imposed against a pupil based solely on the fact that they are otherwise absent from school activities.
If you have any questions or want to learn more about our policy priorities, please contact Adanech Makey at adanech.makey@jstart.org
View or download Jumpstart’s California Policy Priorities as a PDF:
