(a) Definitions. In this Section, the following words have the meanings indicated:
Coordinating Council means the Early Childhood Coordinating Council.
Department means the Department of Health and Human Services.
Director means the Director of the Department or the Director’s designee.
(b) Established. The Executive must appoint, subject to confirmation by the Council, an Early Childhood Coordinating Council.
(c) Composition and terms of members.
(1) The Coordinating Council has up to 33 members.
(2) The Executive must appoint up to 15 public members. The public members should include:
(A) up to 4 representatives of local providers of early childhood education and development services;
(B) one representative of the Montgomery County Council Parent Teacher Associations;
(C) one representative of the Montgomery County Commission on Child Care;
(D) one representative of the Organization of Child Care Directors;
(E) one representative of the Family Child Care Association of Montgomery County;
(F) one representative of the Maryland Association for the Education of Young Children;
(G) one representative of the business community with demonstrated leadership in early childhood care and education;
(H) one representative of the local pediatrician community;
(I) one representative of the local philanthropic community;
(J) one representative of the local interfaith community; and
(K) up to 2 parent representatives.
(3) The Executive must appoint the following to serve as an ex officio member:
(A) the Director of the Department;
(B) one representative of the Department’s Division of Early Childhood Services;
(C) one representative of the Department’s Community Health Services;
(D) one representative of the Department’s School Health Services;
(E) one representative of the Department’s Infants and Toddlers Program;
(F) one representative of the Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families;
(G) one representative of the Montgomery County Child Care Resource and Referral Center;
(H) one representative of the Montgomery County Community Action Agency, the administrator of public Head Start programs in Montgomery County;
(I) one representative of Montgomery County Department of Public Libraries; and
(J) one representative of the Montgomery County Council;
(4) The Executive must invite the following to serve as an ex officio member:
(A) the Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent or the Superintendent’s designee;
(B) one representative of the Montgomery County Public School’s Division of Early Childhood Programs and Services;
(C) one representative of the School’s Division of Prekindergarten, Special Programs and Related Services;
(D) one representative of the Office of Child Care Region 5, Maryland State Department of Education;
(E) up to 2 representatives of public institutions of higher education in the County;
(F) one elementary school principal in Montgomery County Public Schools; and
(G) one prekindergarten teacher in Montgomery County Public Schools.
(5) The term of each member is 4 years. If a member is appointed to fill a vacancy before a term expires, the successor serves the rest of the unexpired term.
(d) Voting, officers, chairs, meetings, and compensation.
(1) Each member of the Coordinating Council is a voting member.
(2) The Executive must designate the Chair and Vice-Chair.
(3) The Coordinating Council meets at the call of the Chair. The Coordinating Council must meet as often as necessary to perform its duties, but not less than 9 times each year.
(4) A member serves without compensation. However, a member may request reimbursement for mileage and dependent care costs at rates established by the County.
(e) Duties. The Coordinating Council must:
(1) conduct a periodic county-wide needs assessment concerning the quality and availability of early childhood education and development programs and services for children from birth to school entry, including an assessment of the availability of child care, prekindergarten, and other supportive services for low- income children and their families in the County;
(2) identify opportunities for, and barriers to, collaboration and coordination among child development, child care and early childhood education programs, services, and advocacy groups including collaboration and coordination among State and local agencies and organizations responsible for administering or providing oversight for such efforts;
(3) develop recommendations for increasing the overall participation of children and their families in existing programs, including outreach to underrepresented and special populations;
(4) develop recommendations regarding the implementation and use of the State- established unified data collection system for public early childhood education and development programs and services throughout the County;
(5) develop recommendations regarding professional development, career advancement plans, compensation scales and incentives for early childhood educators in the County; and
(6) assess the capacity and effectiveness of 2- and 4-year public and private institutions of higher education toward supporting the development of early childhood educators, including the extent to which such institutions have in place articulation agreements, professional development and career advancement plans, and practice or internships for students to spend time in Early Head Start, Head Start, prekindergarten, or child care programs;
(7) recommend uniform regulations for the availability of quality child care in public spaces;
(8) develop ways to leverage public and private partnerships between private businesses, Montgomery County Public Schools, and the County;
(9) develop a hub consortium that connects family child care providers to accredited child care centers and schools to provide training, technical assistance, and mentoring to family child care providers; and
(10) update and implement an Early Childhood Initiative to integrate public and private early childhood services, including areas such as child care, early literacy, early childhood mental health consultation services, and parent support services.
(f) Advocacy. The Coordinating Council must not engage in any legislative advocacy at the State or federal levels unless that activity is approved by the Office of Intergovernmental Relations.
(g) Staff. The Department of Health and Human Services must provide appropriate staff to the Coordinating Council. (2015 L.M.C., ch. 24, § 3.)
Editor’s note—2015 L.M.C., ch. 24, § 7, states as follows: “Transition of the Early Childhood Coordinating Council. The County Executive must stagger the terms of the public members initially appointed to the Early Childhood Coordinating Council under Section 10A-3 as added by Section 3 of this Act so that approximately one-fourth of the terms of the public members expires each year.”