(a) The Commissioner of Early Childhood shall establish a program, within available appropriations, to provide, on a competitive basis, supplemental quality enhancement grants to child care centers or school readiness programs pursuant to section 10-16p and section 10-16u. Child care centers and school readiness programs may apply for a supplemental quality enhancement grant at such time and on such form as the commissioner prescribes. Effective July 1, 2014, the commissioner shall make funds payable to child care centers and school readiness programs under such grants on a prospective basis.
(b) Priority for such grants shall be given to programs that are: (1) Included in a local school readiness plan; (2) full-day, year-round programs; and (3) accredited, as defined in subdivision (4) of subsection (a) of section 10-16p.
(c) The grants shall be used to:
(1) Help providers who are not accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children to obtain such accreditation;
(2) Help directors and administrators to obtain training;
(3) Provide comprehensive services, such as enhanced access to health care, a health consultant, a mental health consultant, nutrition, family support services, parent education, literacy and parental involvement, and community and home outreach programs; and provide information concerning access when needed to a speech and language therapist;
(4) Purchase educational equipment;
(5) Provide scholarships for training to obtain a credential in early childhood education or child development;
(6) Provide training for persons who are mentor teachers, as defined in federal regulations for the Head Start program, and provide a family service coordinator or a family service worker as such positions are defined in such federal regulations;
(7) Repair fire, health and safety problems in existing facilities and conduct minor remodeling to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act; train child care providers on injury and illness prevention; and achieve compliance with national safety standards;
(8) Create a supportive network with family child care homes and other providers of care for children;
(9) Provide for educational consultation and staff development;
(10) Provide for program quality assurance personnel;
(11) Provide technical assistance services to enable providers to develop child care facilities pursuant to sections 17b-749g, 17b-749h and 17b-749i;
(12) Establish a single point of entry system;
(13) Provide services that enhance the quality of programs to maximize the health, safety and learning of children from birth to three years of age, inclusive, including, but not limited to, those children served by informal child care arrangements. Such grants may be used for the improvement of staff to child ratios and interaction, initiatives to promote staff retention, preliteracy development, parent involvement, curriculum content and lesson plans.
(d) The commissioner may expend an amount not to exceed two per cent of the amount appropriated for purposes of this section in a manner consistent with the provisions of section 10-509.
(P.A. 97-259, S. 7, 41; P.A. 99-230, S. 7, 10; P.A. 00-187, S. 6, 12, 75; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-1, S. 16, 54; P.A. 05-245, S. 4; P.A. 11-44, S. 101; P.A. 14-39, S. 34; P.A. 15-227, S. 25; P.A. 16-163, S. 2; P.A. 18-184, S. 5.)
History: P.A. 97-259 effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 99-230 added Subsec. (c)(8) to (10), inclusive, re educational consultation and staff development, program quality assurance personnel and technical assistance, effective July 1, 1999; P.A. 00-187 amended Subsec. (a) to add reference to Sec. 10-16u and added Subsec. (c)(11) re single point of entry system, effective July 1, 2000; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-1 amended Subsec. (c) to renumber existing Subdivs. (2) to (11) as Subdivs. (3) to (12), to add new Subdiv. (2) re training, in Subdiv. (3) to add provisions re health consultant and information on access to a speech and language specialist, and in Subdiv. (7) to add provisions re training on injury and illness prevention and achieving compliance with national safety standards, effective July 1, 2001; P.A. 05-245 amended Subsec. (c) by adding “a mental health consultant” in Subdiv. (3), by replacing language re associate certificate with language re credential in Subdiv. (5), by adding language re other providers of care in Subdiv. (8) and by adding new Subdiv. (13) re services to enhance quality of programs, effective July 1, 2005; P.A. 11-44 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting references to Commissioner of Social Services and adding provision requiring Commissioner of Education to pay providers on a prospective basis, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 14-39 amended Subsec. (a) by replacing references to Commissioner of Education with references to Commissioner of Early Childhood and replacing “2011” with “2014”, effective July 1, 2014; pursuant to P.A. 15-227, “child day care services” and “family day care home” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “child care services” and “family child care home”, respectively, effective July 1, 2015; P.A. 16-163 amended Subsec. (a) by replacing references to providers of child care services and child day care providers with references to child care centers and made a conforming change, effective June 9, 2016; P.A. 18-184 added Subsec. (d) re commissioner may expend amount not to exceed 2 per cent of amount appropriated in manner consistent with Sec. 10-509, effective July 1, 2018.