California Cares

PACE was selected to conduct this study under an interagency agreement with the California Depart­ment of Education, California Department of Social Services, and the Governor's Office of Child Devel­opment and Education.

PACE's task is to analyze the issues and options for improving California's childcare system—using the task force's definition of "seamlessness" as the goal and its seven principles as guideposts—with a particular focus on the relationship among access, quality, and funding.

Phase I of the study includes

• analyses of issues surrounding childcare;

• descriptions of childcare and development pro­grams in California and comparisons of those programs in terms of access, quality, and fund­ing;

• a review of relevant literature on childcare; and

• childcare experiences of other selected large urban states similar to California.

Phase II will produce a final report that includes

• optional approaches for removing or reducing the barriers to the effective and efficient deliv­ery of child care services to eligible families and their children;

• a series of alternatives for structuring California's system of childcare and develop­ment programs that will achieve a greater de­gree of seamlessness in the delivery of those services;

• results of focus group discussions and interviews with families about their experiences with childcare and development programs in California and their opinions regarding alternative systems;

• conceptual models for analyzing various policy alternatives in terms of access, quality, and fund­ing, which also incorporate data from the Phase I report and the experiences and opinions of families; and

• an examination of more efficient financing of childcare programs and services.

This report, therefore, summarizes the work that has been completed in Phase I.