237A.22 - DUTIES OF STATE CHILD CARE ADVISORY COUNCIL AND DEPARTMENT.
237A.22 DUTIES OF STATE CHILD CARE ADVISORY COUNCIL
AND DEPARTMENT.
1. The state child care advisory council shall advise and make
recommendations to the department, governor, and general assembly
concerning child care. In fulfilling this responsibility the
advisory council shall do all of the following:
a. Consult with the department and make recommendations
concerning policy issues relating to child care.
b. Advise the department concerning services relating to
child care, including but not limited to any of the following:
(1) Resource and referral services.
(2) Provider training.
(3) Quality improvement.
(4) Public-private partnerships.
(5) Standards review and development.
(6) The federal child care and development block grant, state
funding, grants, and other funding sources for child care.
c. Assist the department in developing an implementation plan
to provide seamless service to recipients of public assistance, which
includes child care services. For the purposes of this subsection,
"seamless service" means coordination, where possible, of the
federal and state requirements which apply to child care.
d. Advise and provide technical services to the director of
the department of education or the director's designee relating to
prekindergarten, kindergarten, and before and after school
programming and facilities.
e. Make recommendations concerning child care expansion
programs that meet the needs of children attending a core education
program by providing child care before and after the core program
hours and during times when the core program does not operate.
f. Make recommendations for improving collaborations between
the child care programs involving the department and programs
supporting the education and development of young children including
but not limited to the federal head start program, the statewide
preschool program for four-year-old children and the early childhood,
at-risk, and other early education programs administered by the
department of education.
g. Make recommendations for eliminating duplication and
otherwise improving the eligibility determination processes used for
the state child care assistance program and other programs supporting
low-income families, including but not limited to the federal head
start, early head start, and even start programs; the early
childhood, at-risk, and preschool programs administered by the
department of education; the family and self-sufficiency grant
program; and the family investment program.
h. Make recommendations as to the most effective and
efficient means of managing the state and federal funding available
for the state child care assistance program.
i. Review departmental program data concerning child care as
deemed to be necessary by the advisory council, although the
department shall not provide personally identifiable data or
information.
j. Advise and assist the early childhood Iowa council in
developing the strategic plan required pursuant to section 135.173.
2. The department shall provide information to the advisory
council semiannually on all of the following:
a. Federal, state, local, and private revenues and
expenditures for child care, including but not limited to updates on
the current and future status of the revenues and expenditures.
b. Financial information and data relating to regulation of
child care by the department and the usage of the state child care
assistance program.
c. Utilization and availability data relating to child care
regulation, quantity, and quality from consumer and provider
perspectives.
d. Statistical and demographic data regarding child care
providers and the families utilizing child care.
e. Statistical data regarding the processing time for issuing
notices of decision to state child care assistance applicants and for
issuing payments to child care providers.
3. The advisory council shall coordinate with the early childhood
Iowa council in reporting annually to the governor and general
assembly in December concerning the status of child care in the
state, providing findings, and making recommendations. The annual
report may be personally presented to the general assembly's standing
committees on human resources by a representative of the advisory
council. Section History: Early Form
[C75, § 237A.12; C77, 79, 81, § 237A.22] Section History: Recent Form
89 Acts, ch 206, § 4; 92 Acts, ch 1083, § 4; 99 Acts, ch 192, §20;
2009 Acts, ch 115, §7
Referred to in § 237A.1