DISCUSSION
The Council is made up of community members from a variety of disciplines and has been in operation for many years. The membership of the Council goes to the Board at the end of each calendar year. The primary responsibilities of the Council are to identify County needs around early child care and education and to develop priorities for addressing these needs through collaboration within existing child care and educational programs. In accordance with Education Code section 8499.5 (b), the local planning Council prepares the list of priorities. Each May, the submittal is due to the State for the following fiscal year, even when no State funds are available.
The formula for Council to set the zip code priorities includes data reflecting demand for services and percentages of eligible children underserved. The unmet need for early child care and educational services in the County determine the priorities of Council. Priority 1 parameters are where there are 50% or more eligible children underserved and more than 24 children underserved. Priority 2 parameters are where there are 35% or more eligible children underserved and more than 10 children underserved. Priority 3 parameters are where there are 20% or more eligible children underserved and more than 10 children underserved. Shasta County’s Local Planning Council Coordinator certifies that the priorities have been prepared and reviewed in accordance with Education Code requirements.
The Board approved Council priorities by zip code in Fiscal Years 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-2016, and 2016-17 for income-eligible children ages 0-12 years (full-day services) and ages 3-5 years (part-day services). For Fiscal Year 2015-16, the State modified the requirements and the Board approved Council priorities for income-eligible children ages 0-35 months (infant & toddler) and 3-4 years (preschool). The State has also requested priorities for income-eligible school-aged children (ages 5+). For Fiscal Year 2017-18, the Council has voted to maintain the priorities established in Fiscal Year 2016-17, as there have been no significant changes in unmet need for early child care and educational services. School-aged priorities were not determined this year, as we are currently developing a system with the State to collect this data, and this data is reported as not currently available as advised by the LPC State Consultant, Linda Parfitt. Approval is requested from the Board to approve the priorities for the County as determined by Council.
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