Section 54. (a) The board may contract with school districts, head start agencies, and other child care providers to provide early care and education opportunities to three-year-old and four-year-old children of working parents. Pursuant to this section, the department shall seek to increase the availability of early care and education services and to encourage all local providers of such services to work together to create an array of options allowing families to select programs that fit with their schedules. Not less than one-third of the total slots funded shall provide full-day, full-year care that meets the needs of parents who work full-time. All slots funded pursuant to this section shall be in addition to existing services and shall be responsive to the needs of working parents.

(b) The board may establish standards for pre-kindergarten programs delivering services pursuant to this section, and said standards shall meet or exceed the existing standards of the office for children for programs which serve three- and four-year-old children in whole and half day programs. The board shall collaborate with the Office for Children, the Massachusetts Association of Day Care Agencies, Parents United for Child Care, the Young Men Christian Associations of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Independent Child Care Organization, and Head Start to develop, for said programs, a common set of standards and licensing procedures built around the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs accreditation process; provided that said procedures may include regulations regarding physical facilities and equipment that shall be the minimum standards for said programs notwithstanding stricter provisions of the existing regulations promulgated by the office for children.

(c) There shall be not more than one proposal submitted for each town. The proposal shall be developed by a community partnership council comprised of a principal, three individuals who provide care and education to young children, two parents of young children, a member of the local resource and referral agency, a representative of the local head start agency, a representative of private providers of child care, and others with experience in the care and education of young children. The council shall select a lead agency, which may be the school district, a head start agency, or a licensed child care agency. Council members shall be broadly representative of the racial and ethnic diversity of the community. The council shall develop a proposal which the lead agency shall submit to the department. Each member of the council may include comments in the final proposal submitted to the department.

(d) The lead agency may subcontract with other public and private agencies to provide services; provided that any teacher employed by the contracting school district in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten is not displaced as a result of such contract.

(e) Proposals shall describe how the services provided will meet the needs of working parents in the local community. Proposals should include a mix of programs: full-day, full-year programs to meet the needs of parents who work full time; part-day programs operating during different parts of the day to serve parents with various work schedules; and other options the local council determines will allow the system to best serve the needs of parents and children. Community partnership councils are encouraged to develop collaborative programs that coordinate services from various providers whenever such coordination can facilitate the efficient provision of early care and education services. Community partnership councils are further encouraged to develop proposals that include linkages with other human services agencies and which seek to combine a number of funding sources. Other agencies and programs may include, but are not limited to, state and federal nutrition programs and public health programs.

(f) All funds provided pursuant to this section shall provide services to children of working parents. For purposes of this section, “children of working parents” shall include any child of a two-parent family in which both parents work either full-time or part-time, and any child of a single-parent family in which the parent works either full-time or part-time; provided, however, that a child of working parents admitted to a program shall be allowed to remain in that program for the remainder of the year regardless of whether said child’s parents continue to be working parents.

(g) Funds provided pursuant to this section shall not be used to provide services to those eligible for child-care services provided by the department of transitional assistance; provided, however, that local councils shall seek to coordinate programs funded by this section with services funded or operated by the department of transitional assistance and other sources, including Head Start, Title 1 of the elementary and secondary education act, the department of social services, special education departments of local schools, and full-fee-paying parents. The department shall work in conjunction with the department of transitional assistance to obtain federal reimbursement pursuant to title IV-A of the Social Security Act for all participants in publicly funded early care and education programs who are eligible for such reimbursement. The department, in cooperation with the executive office of health and human services, shall assure that early care and education services are no less available in the aggregate to the children of disabled parents than they are to the children of non-disabled parents.

(h) Families with incomes below the statewide median income level shall be given priority for all services provided pursuant to this section. Families receiving services pursuant to this section shall make payments in accordance with the sliding scale fee schedules promulgated by the executive office of health and human services, without regard for the eligibility standards established by said executive office.

(i) Proposals pursuant to this section shall include the following: a statement of need; a description of unmet needs and existing resources; program objectives and implementation plan; evaluation components; contractual arrangements with other service providers; and linkages and funding arrangements with other public or private agencies. All programs providing services pursuant to this section shall seek accreditation from the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs. Proposals that include costs for training shall describe the type of training to be provided and an explanation of how that training will improve the services provided.

(j) The board shall establish an office of school readiness which shall be responsible for developing program standards for early childhood programs operated by school districts, excluding any subcontractors that are not school districts, and teacher certification standards for those early childhood teachers who are required to receive such certification. The office may, pursuant to this section, provide technical assistance to other providers of early care and education services. The office shall be responsible for the administration of all department early childhood programs for children from birth through age six. It shall be the mission of the office to work in conjunction with the office for child care services, and such other state agencies as may be appropriate, to develop a statewide system of early childhood programs that promotes school readiness, early literacy and academic success for all Massachusetts children entering primary education. The office may submit legislative and budgetary recommendations to the commissioner, the clerk of the house of representatives and the clerk of the senate, and the house and senate committees on ways and means which it deems necessary to promote school readiness or improve the delivery of early education in the commonwealth.

(k) The board shall appoint a state advisory council on early care and education. Members of the advisory council may include, but are not limited to, teachers, parents, representatives of state human service agencies, private providers of child care, higher education, business, labor, and government. Council members shall be broadly representative of the racial and ethnic diversity of the commonwealth. The advisory council shall conduct a comprehensive study of future trends in early care and education, including the provision of services for children from birth to age three, and shall examine all early care and education services provided by the state to evaluate which populations have the greatest need for services, to what degree those populations are served by the program created by this section as well as by other existing services, and shall develop strategies for serving all unserved segments of the population. The council shall report its findings to the board, the chairmen of the house and senate committees on ways and means, the house and senate chairmen of the joint committee on education, arts and humanities and the secretary of administration and finance not later than January first of each odd-numbered year. In addition, the advisory council shall review early care and education program evaluations, certifications and program standards, and make recommendations to the board on needed program changes. The board shall report on the progress of the early care and education program and make recommendations to the general court by filing the same with the clerks of the house of representatives and of the senate on or before June thirtieth of each year.