Authorizes the commissioner of the office of children and family services to study the implementation of a child daycare rating system

10 Co-sponsors

• Eric Adams
• Thomas K. Duane
• Liz Krueger
• George Onorato
• Kevin S. Parker
• John L. Sampson
• Diane J. Savino
• Eric T. Schneiderman
• Malcolm A. Smith
• Toby Ann Stavisky

Title of bill

An act authorizing the commissioner of the office of children and family services to study the implementation of a child daycare rating system

Purpose

To study the feasibility of implementing a statewide child daycare rating scale.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 provides the legislative intent. Section 2 directs the Commissioner of the Office of Children and Family Services to prepare, or have prepared, a study on implementing a child daycare rating scale in New York. Section 3 provides that within twelve months of the implementation of the act, the commissioner must report its findings to the Governor and the Legislature. Section 4 provides for immediate implementation.

Justification

With the significant increase in both the number of single parent households and the number of households in which both parents work at least part-time, the number of children in daycare has grown significantly over the past few years. While the state has standards that daycare providers must meet in order to become licensed, the quality of the educational, recreational and social programming at these centers is not readily available. Currently there is a lack of information available to parents about the quality of a daycare facilities program, and no way to measure the different areas in which each program excels. This was exactly the reason behind the development of a pilot program between Cornell University and the New York State Child Care Coordinating Council. Through the use of grants from the US Administration for Children and Families and the US Department of Agriculture, Cornell University and the NYSE Child Care Coordinating Council launched the Child Care Programs of Excellence pilot project, which provided a comprehensive rating of licensed Child Care programs in 5 counties. The counties in which the project was conducted were Albany, Onondaga, Ontario, Rensselaer, and Yates. Through this project, the facilities which chose to take part in the program Were evaluated by specially trained Master Evaluators, and were given rankings between 2 and 5 stars based on meeting specific criteria in the areas of teacher education and experience, history of health and safety standards, and the quality of the educational/recreational program itself. The initial feedback that was received from parents and provides was very positive. Besides letting the parents and the provider know about the quality of the services being given, it informs the provider of areas which need to be strengthened and developed. Because a child's thinking, learning, vocabulary, and social skills are at their most critical stage during the years from birth to age five, it is imperative that we do all that is possible to ensure that our children receive the best quality services at that age. It is important that we not only make sure that parents have as much information as possible about the programs available to them, but that we support the daycare programs in highlighting their accomplishments and providing them with incentives to continue to improve the quality of their programs.

Legislative history

2007/2008 - S.719 Remained in the Senate Committee on Social Services, Children and Families 2005/2006 - S.231 Remained in the Senate Committee on Social Services, Children and Families

2003/2004 - S.5962 Remained in the Senate Committee on Children and Families

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

Immediately.