Senate reviews licensure bill to create OPR board and tiered licenses for early childhood educators; agencies warn of transition costs
Loading...
Summary
The committee heard a comprehensive licensure proposal that would add early childhood educators to professions regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR), create a nine‑member board, define ECE 1/2/3 and family child‑care categories, and authorize appropriations; Department for Children and Families and Agency of Education cautioned about work needed on transition, funding and compliance with national educator standards.
The Senate Health & Welfare Committee on Feb. 10 considered a licensure bill to professionalize early childhood education through a new chapter in Title 26, a governor‑appointed board and three tiers of licenses (ECE 1, 2 and 3) plus family child‑care recognition.
Katie McDonough explained the bill would add early childhood educators to the list of professions regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation, create a nine‑member board with five‑year staggered appointments, and authorize rulemaking. The board would adopt education, experiential and competency requirements for each license tier; transitional licenses are available for a limited period.
Janet McLaughlin, deputy commissioner at the Department for Children and Families, told senators the change "really will change, require major changes for CDD in terms of our role and approach related to staffing for early childhood education positions," and urged clearer language around exemptions for public‑school‑operated programs and careful coordination for the transition. CDD supplied workforce counts: about 7,000 individuals work across regulated early childhood settings, with roughly 4,500 in community center programs, about 800 in family child care and 1,700 in public‑school‑operated center programs.
The bill phases in licensure and establishes transitional pathways and variances: ECE 1 requires a certificate or approved credential, ECE 2 generally an associate degree or equivalent credits plus competency areas, and ECE 3 a bachelor’s degree from an approved program or an equivalent combination of credits and competencies. Family child‑care providers in good standing as of 01/01/2029 would be eligible for licensure but new family child‑care applications would close after that date.
Agency of Education representative Andrew flagged statutory language that uses the term "educator." "The use of the word educator ... is gonna make some compliance headaches for my team," he said, explaining interstate reciprocity and national educator‑licensing standards require specific educator‑preparation program elements and degrees that the bill’s ECE tiers do not exactly match.
The bill contains appropriation language: initial OPR staffing and a one‑year appropriation, with additional positions and larger appropriations listed for the next fiscal year and an intent to transfer funds from child‑care‑related special funds for initial licensing costs. Committee members asked staff to return with clearer transitional funding language and agreed to continue coordinating with CDD and AOE on definitions, exemptions and implementation timelines.
The committee recessed licensing discussion to hear scheduled testimony later in the day but said it will continue to work on transitional language and funding prior to final action.
