Child Care Bill Would Include Funding Opportunities for CTE Programs

Early childhood and pre-kindergarten CTE programs take notice. The bipartisan reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act includes more robust requirements for training and ongoing professional development for child care workers and provides funding to develop or expand these training programs.

The proposed bipartisan bill would require child care facilities receiving federal funding under CCDBG to meet child care worker requirements established by the state to “promote the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development of children and to improve the knowledge and skills of the child care workforce.” In order to meet these requirements, the legislation would increase the size of states’ reserve fund for improving the quality of child care from the current 4 percent to 9 percent of total funds.

In addition to the increase in the reserve, states would be required to spend the reserve funds on a limited number of items, one of which is support for child care worker training and professional development programs.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee developed this bipartisan legislation earlier this year and it was passed by the full Senate on a 96-2 vote in March. After negotiations with the Senate on a few key provisions, the House passed a slightly revised bipartisan, bicameral version earlier this month.

While the compromise bill is now back in the Senate for expected final approval, Sen. Pat Toomey objected to advancing the legislation before consideration of his unrelated K-12 background check requirements. While the Senate is expected to approve the bill when it comes up for a vote, that vote will now have to wait until Congress reconvenes, which is not currently scheduled to occur until after the election. If the Senate is ultimately able to approve CCDBG, it will head to the President’s desk for his signature for the first time since its last reauthorization in 1996.

Update (9/22/14):
Seeking to end the impasse created by Sen. Toomey's objection to the CCDBG, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has scheduled a cloture vote for November 13. If the required 60 votes are acheived to invoke cloture, then the bill may advance to a regular vote for passage.

Comments

[Hawi Moore]

Good