I_I_SchoolReadiness_2019A 09/18/2019 09:05:10 AM Committee Summary PUBLICSTAFF SUMMARY OF MEETINGINTERIM COMMITTEE EARLY CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL READINESS Date 09/18/2019 Attendance Court X Hill A McCluskie X Wilson X Sirota X Story X X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call Time 09:05:10 AM to 01:42:52 PM Place SCR 357 This Meeting was called to order by Senator Story This Report was prepared by Rachel Kurtz-Phelan Hearing Items Action Taken hFull-day Kindergarten Implementation and the Colorado Preschool Program Committee Discussion Only hUpdates from the Denver Preschool Program Committee Discussion Only hUpdates from the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing Committee Discussion Only hLunch Break Committee Discussion Only hPublic Comment Committee Discussion Only hBill Draft Requests Committee Discussion Only Full-day Kindergarten Implementation and the Colorado Preschool Program - Committee Discussion Only Attachment Tag File Name Attachment http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2019A/commsumm.nsf/0/6018215C4609...$File/190918 AttachA.pdf?OpenElement 190918 AttachA.pdf 09:06:43 AM Senator Story, chair, called the meeting to order and invited the presenters to the table: Anji Gallanos, Director, Preschool through 3rd Grade (P-3) Office, Colorado Department of Education (CDE), and Floyd Cobb, Executive Director, Teacher and Learning Unit, CDE. They distributed a handout (Attachment A) and discussed several of the department's strategic activities, including all students reading by 3rd grade, improving schools, postsecondary attainment, and closing the achievement gap. Dr. Cobb explained the other strategic future goals, including implementing full-day kindergarten, promoting and developing high quality, evidence-based early learning and literacy strategies, expanding professional development, and strengthening partnerships. Dr. Cobb answered questions from the commission. 09:15:11 AM Ms. Gallanos provided background information on the P-3 office, which is set up to support vertical alignment between early childhood systems and K-3 systems. She discussed the diffrent components of the office, which include Child Find, Colorado Preschool Program Special Education, Kindergarten School Readiness, P-3 Literacy and the Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act, and Data & Decisions Sciences. Ms. Gallanos and Dr. Cobb answered questions about kindergarten readiness assessments. 09:26:59 AM Ms. Gallanos reviewed legislation passed in 2019 impacting preschool and Early Childhood At-risk Enhancement (ECARE) slots, spoke about how many schools moved to full-day kindergarten this year from half-day kindergarten, and discussed how support is being provided by CDE to districts for full-day kindergarten implementation. These supports are: district input, surveys, staff support, professional development for principals through full-day kindergarten "academies," and statewide presentations. Ms. Gallanos provided information about the Colorado Preschool Program (CPP) which began in 1988 to provide funding for up to 29,360 at-risk children annually for preschool education. She spoke about the transition of ECARE slots used for half day kindergarten to full day preschool, and about why some districts returned additional ECARE slots to CDE to reallocate to other districts. 09:43:42 AM Ms. Gallanos reviewed statistics pertaining to the achievement rate of children who participate in CPP. Ms. Gallanos and Dr. Cobb answered additional questions about CPP around parental involvement, risk factors that must be present in order to be eligible for CPP, and unmet need. Ms. Gallanos answered questions about the difference between CPP slots and ECARE slots and how each are funded, and said that CDE estimates that approximately 97 percent of eligible kindergarteners are currently enrolled in full-day kindergarten as opposed to the previous rate of 84 percent. Updates from the Denver Preschool Program - Committee Discussion Only Attachment Tag File Name Attachment http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2019A/commsumm.nsf/0/1CE11E4CA9DB...$File/190918 AttachD.pdf?OpenElement 190918 AttachD.pdf Attachment http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2019A/commsumm.nsf/0/DD11B39779D5...$File/190918 AttachB.pdf?OpenElement 190918 AttachB.pdf Attachment http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2019A/commsumm.nsf/0/E4BE334C7BA9...$File/190918 AttachC.pdf?OpenElement 190918 AttachC.pdf 10:01:17 AM Senator Story invited Elsa Holguin, President & CEO of the Denver Preschool Program (DPP), to come to the table and begin her presentation. A copy of her presentation as well as several handouts she distributed can be found as Attachments B, C, and D. Ms. Holguin provided background information on DPP, which is a taxpayer funded initiative that provides preschool tuition credits for all four year olds in Denver, regardless of family income. She reviewed the strategic priorities of the program and how the tuition credits work, and explained that 65 percent of participants are enrolled in a Denver Public Schools preschool, 22 percent are enrolled in a community-based preschool, and one percent are enrolled in an in-home preschool. She said that 69 percent of participants are children of color and 59 percent are children in the highest two risk categories in terms of poverty. Ms. Holguin told the commission members that DPP focuses on quality initiatives and core values, which include intentional teaching, highly effective teachers, and positive teacher-child interactions. She explained how to measure high quality, and discussed the importance of quality improvement resources to invest in programs, teachers, and directors. 10:14:48 AM Ms. Holguin discussed the kindergarten readiness evaluation, which measures pre-academic, social-emotional development, and executive function, and follows children throughout the year to measure growth. Ms. Holguin answered questions from the commission. She discussed other types of public preschool funding streams at the federal, state, and local levels, as well as budget disruptors. She explained that many changes and challenges are facing the early childhood arena, including workforce challenges in the early child care workforce, increasing housing costs, full-day kindergarten, gentrification, the potential of universal pre-kindergarten, the Preschool Development Grant, raising minimum wage, and a decrease in the number of four year olds in Denver. She reviewed a new DPP initiative called the Gap Scholarship, which is a scholarship aimed at addressing affordability for Denver's lowest income families, providing an additional layer of support beyond the tuition credit scale, and providing a learning opportunity for how to leverage the program in order to provide more access to high quality preschool for all families in Denver. Updates from the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing - Committee Discussion Only Attachment Tag File Name Attachment http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2019A/commsumm.nsf/0/1094241243B2...$File/190918 AttachE.pdf?OpenElement 190918 AttachE.pdf 10:44:42 AM Senator Story invited Tom Massey, Deputy Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF), to begin his presentation, which can be found as Attachment E. Mr. Massey spoke about Health First Colorado, the new name for the state's Medicaid program, as well as the mission and purpose of the department. He talked about enrollment in Health First Colorado, which currently has 503,321 children enrolled, a decrease from prior years, as well as the 79,255 children currently enrolled in Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+). He answered questions from the commission about outreach and the statewide goals of the program, which are that children start school ready to learn, supporting families at the earliest opportunity, and maintaining necessary programs and services that work together to support healthy child development and school readiness. He spoke about the Aligning Early Childhood and Medicaid (AECM) grant, as well as the importance of school-based health centers, behavioral health integration, and increasing the school counselor corps. Lunch Break - Committee Discussion Only 11:14:38 AM The commission recessed for lunch. Public Comment - Committee Discussion Only 12:40:25 PM The commission came back to order. Senator Story opened the meeting for public comment. Lisa Roy, Executive Director of Early Childhood, Denver Public Schools, came to the table to provide her testimony and answer questions from the commission members. Bill Draft Requests - Committee Discussion Only 12:50:29 PM Jane Ritter, Office of Legislative Legal Services, and Anna Gerstle, Legislative Council Staff, reviewed the process to request bills drafts. They answered questions from the commission. 12:55:10 PM The commission discussed ideas for bill drafts. Representative Sirota presented a request to draft a bill to look comprehensively at education and career pathways and strategies to support early childhood educators and providers. She suggested six areas to explore, including increasing the number of credentialed early childhood teachers; increasing funding for people pursuing credentials in early childhood education; identifying and recruiting mentor teachers; streamlining credentials between early childhood education and K-12 licensure; expanding apprenticeships; and streamlining requirements and paperwork for child care centers. 01:00:41 PM Motion Draft bill on early childhood education career pathways. Moved Sirota Seconded Court Hill Absent McCluskie Wilson Sirota Story YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 1 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection 01:00:41 PM Representative McCluskie discussed two bill draft ideas. The first is to include the early childhood mental health consultant structure into statute by defining what the structure looks like, expanding the number of early childhood mental health consultants, determining the necessary credentialing and expertise, and focusing on data, outcomes, and evaluation for such a program. Representative McCluskie answered questions. 01:13:47 PM Motion Draft bill on defining and expanding the Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Program. Moved McCluskie Seconded Court Hill Absent McCluskie Wilson Sirota Story YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 1 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection 01:13:48 PM Representative McCluskie explained her second bill draft request to incentivize early child care providers to move from a level one or two in the Colorado Shines system into a level three, four, or five, and helping those providers currently rated level three, four, or five maintain their quality and rating. She answered questions. Kristi Koltiska, Executive Director of the Early Childhood Education Association of Colorado, came to the table to answer questions. 01:23:03 PM Motion Draft bill on incentivizing quality in early childhood education and care providers. Moved McCluskie Seconded Court Hill Absent McCluskie Wilson Sirota Story YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 1 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection 01:23:05 PM Representative Wilson presented a bill draft request to provide outreach and information on available early child care resources to people in Family, Friend, and Neighbor care networks (FFNs). He answered questions from the commission members. 01:41:27 PM Motion Draft bill establishing the HOME Act. Moved Wilson Seconded Court Hill Absent McCluskie Wilson Sirota Story YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 1 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection 01:42:52 PM The committee adjourned.
