What's happening
This bill directs New York's Office of Children and Family Services to study and report on the costs of providing child day care.
Why it matters
Comprehensive Cost Analysis. By requiring a detailed study of child day care costs—including a breakdown of revenue, personnel, and non-personnel expenses—the bill aims to provide policymakers with a nuanced understanding of the true financial landscape faced by providers across different settings.
Focus on Quality Standards. The study must analyze costs in relation to "Quality Stars NY" ratings, which could reveal how pursuing higher quality standards affects expenses, potentially informing future funding or regulatory decisions tied to quality improvement.
Equity and Regional Insight. Mandating analysis by geographical region and provider type (centers, group family homes, family homes) ensures that the report will surface disparities and variations, supporting more targeted policy responses for underserved or higher-cost areas.
Data-Driven Policy Making. By requiring the findings to be reported to key state leaders and committees, the bill is designed to ensure that future decisions about subsidies, regulations, and support for child care providers are grounded in up-to-date, objective data.
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Who cares
Office of Children and Family Services
The commissioner would have to hire an external research organization to study child care costs and report findings to the governor and specified legislative leaders by July 1, 2018.
Day care centers and family day care providers
The study would examine their costs, revenue sources, and personnel and non-personnel expenses, covering centers, group family day care homes and family day care homes at a minimum.
Providers rated under Quality Stars NY
The study would evaluate the cost of providing child care at each rating level under the initiative.
Senate and Assembly children and families committees
Their chairpersons would receive findings on how factors such as geography, staff qualifications, children’s ages and staffing ratios influence child care costs.
Headline styles
Study Child Care Costs
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Reported and committed to finance
- Referred to social services
- Returned to senate
- Died in assembly
- Referred to children and families
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 59–1
- Ordered to third reading cal.1751
- Committee discharged and committed to rules
- Reported and committed to finance
- Referred to social services
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1289
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 9, 2017
Introduced by Sen. AVELLA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Social Services
AN ACT directing the commissioner of the office of children and family services to conduct a study to evaluate the costs associated with the provision of child day care services
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. 1. The commissioner of the office of children and family services shall contract with an external research organization to conduct a child care cost study to evaluate the cost of providing child day care in New York State. The study shall also evaluate the cost of child day care related to each level of rating under the Quality Stars NY Initiative.
(a) The type of settings included in the study shall be subject to funds available but include, at a minimum, child care day care centers, group family day care homes and family day care homes.
(b) The methodology used in the study shall take into account factors influencing costs, including but not limited to: geographical region, type of setting, age of children served, qualifications of staff, educational curriculum, the number of children served and staff to child ratios.
(c) Data collected shall provide information on the breakdown of all sources of revenue and personnel and non-personnel expenses, for each type of child day care program setting included in the study.
2. The commissioner of the office of children and family services shall submit a report detailing the findings of the child day care cost study to the governor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the chairperson of the senate committee on children and families, and the chairperson of the assembly committee on children and families on or before July 1, 2018.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01250-01-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act directing the commissioner of the office of children and family services to conduct a study to evaluate the costs associated with the provision of child day care services
Purpose
To understand the actual cost of providing child day care in New York State, as well as the cost of child day care as it relates to quality of care.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of this bill requires the Commissioner of the Office of Children and Family services shall contract with an external research organization to conduct a child care cost study to evaluate the cost of providing child day care in New York State. The study shall also evaluate the cost of the child day care related to each level of rating under the Quality Stars NY Initiative.
(a) The type of settings included in the study shall be subject to funds available but include, at a minimum, child care day care centers, group family day care homes and family day care homes.
(b) The methodology used in the study shall take into account factors influencing costs, including but not limited to: geographical region, type of setting, age of children served, qualifications of staff, educational curriculum, the number of children served and staff to child ratios.
(c) The data collected shall provide information on the breakdown of all sources of revenue and personnel and non-personnel expenses, for each type of child day care program setting included in the study. The Commissioner of the Office of Children and Family Service s shall submit a report detailing the findings of the child day care cost study to the Governor, the Temporary President of the Senate, the Speaker of the Assembly, the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Children and Families and the Chairperson of the Assembly Committee on Children and Families on or before July 1, 2018.
Section 2 of this act shall take effect immediately.
Justification
State and Federal law require the level of child care assistance a family receives be adequate to ensure equal access to child care as it relates to those families who are not receiving subsidies. Every two years, the Office of Children and Family Services contracts with a market rate firm to conduct a survey of regulated child care providers.
The payment rate is then set at the 75th percentile of the market, based on the data collected, which is the level of payment the Federal government has determined is sufficient to provide equal access. Despite this process, some child care providers have expressed that the results of the market rate survey does not adequately represent the real cost of providing child care.
The State relies on this tool to set subsidy levels, and it is critical that the rate reflect the true cost of care in order to ensure that payment rates are sufficient. The study required by this bill will evaluate the actual cost of providing child care, outside the parameters of the market rates survey. Such information will help guide the State in determining whether the rates set are sufficient in
meeting the goal of equal access for low-income earning families, as required by State and Federal law.
Prior legislative history
2015-16: S.7404/A.9638(Jaffee)
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.