(a) Findings.
(1) Early care and education (ECE) is an essential service and economic imperative for the well-being of children, families, employers, and the greater community.
(2) High quality ECE services prepare young children to enter school ready to learn and start on a pathway of success in life.
(3) Accessible ECE programs are economic drivers that allow parents to participate in the workforce and support the local economy. ECE programs play a key role in workforce development by attracting and retaining a talented workforce through support to families with young children, and by addressing the opportunity gap to ensure a future skilled workforce by addressing the opportunity gap.
(4) A strong system of high quality, accessible, sustainable ECE is needed to support the well-being of children and families in the County and eliminate systemic racism and structures that have been barriers for vulnerable, racially and ethnically diverse populations.
(5) Designating an independent nonprofit entity with parents, employers and providers as key stakeholders will ensure community priorities are reflected in building a robust system that supports all residents having access to high quality, affordable early care and education.
(b) Designation.
(1) The Council must designate, by resolution approved by the Executive, a single nonprofit corporation which complies with all requirements and criteria of this Section as the County’s Early Care and Education Coordinating Entity. If the Executive disapproves the resolution within 10 days after receiving it, the Council may readopt the resolution with at least 6 affirmative votes.
(2) To continue to qualify as the County’s Early Care and Education Coordinating Entity, the Entity’s articles of incorporation and bylaws must comply with all requirements of this Section.
(3) Any designation under this Section expires 3 years after the resolution is adopted unless the Council extends the designation by adopting another resolution under this Section.
(4) The Council at any time may suspend or revoke the designation of a corporation as the County’s Early Care and Education Coordinating Entity by resolution, adopted after at least 15 days public notice that is approved by the Executive, or, if the Executive disapproves the resolution within 10 days after receiving it, readopted by a vote of at least 6 Councilmembers.
(c) Board of Directors. To qualify as the County’s Early Care and Education Coordinating Entity, the Corporation’s Board of Directors must have no more than 9 ex-officio voting members and 12 other voting members appointed by the County Executive and confirmed by the County Council. Each member must reside or work in the County. Each member appointed from the public sector as an ex officio member represents the public interest and is not precluded from participating in a matter as a board member if that member’s government employer is a party to the matter. The Executive should appoint the following ex officio voting members:
(1) a Council staff member with expertise in early childhood education;
(2) two representatives jointly designated by the County Board of Education and the Superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools;
(3) 3 representatives of the County Department of Health and Human Services;
(4) a representative of the Office of Management and Budget;
(5) a representative of Montgomery College; and
(6) a representative of the Universities at Shady Grove.
The Executive should appoint the following voting members:
(1) 3 parents or guardians with children in childcare and/or pre-kindergarten programs, including 2 low income parents or guardians;
(2) 2 center based early care and education providers;
(3) 2 family child care providers;
(4) 2 representatives of an employer who is not an early childhood education provider;
(5) a representative of a philanthropic foundation; and
(6) 2 representatives of a nonprofit corporation focused on equity and inclusion, youth development, economic development, or workforce development.
The Board must permit the County Executive, the County Council’s Lead for Early Care and Education, and the President of the Montgomery County Board of Education, or a designee of each public official, to attend and participate at each Board meeting without voting. The Executive must strive to achieve Board representation from diverse geographic areas, socio-economic groups, and ethnic groups.
(d) Leadership. The Board must elect a chair and vice-chair from its members.
(e) Term; Removal.
(1) Board members serve for three years. The individual terms of the voting members must be staggered. Of the voting members first appointed, approximately one-third must be appointed for a 1-year term, approximately one-third must be appointed for a 2-year term, and approximately one-third must be appointed for a 3-year term. A voting member appointed to fill a vacancy serves the rest of the unexpired term. The Executive may reappoint a member, but a member who is not a government official or a designee of a government official must not serve more than 2 consecutive full terms, not including any portion of an unexpired term. A voting member continues in office until his or her successor is appointed and confirmed.
(2) The Executive may remove a member for violation of law or other good cause specified in the bylaws of the corporation, after giving the Council at least 15 days’ notice of the proposed removal.
(f) Compensation for Board Members.
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), a member of the Board must serve without compensation. The corporation may reimburse a member who is not a government official or a designee of a government official for expenses incurred in attending meetings or carrying out other duties, including travel and dependent care costs at rates established by the County.
(2) The Entity may adopt guidelines based on need to provide stipends to members appointed as a parent of a child enrolled in an early child care or early education program.
(3) A member is not eligible to receive benefits under any County retirement system for serving as a Board Member.
(g) Ethics.
(1) A member is not subject to Chapter 19A because of serving on the Board. The Entity’s bylaws must protect against any conflict of interest or similar impropriety by members of the Board of Directors or the Executive Director or any other employees. The bylaws must include:
(A) a prohibition against self-dealing and collusive practices;
(B) a provision for the disclosure of a financial or similar interest of any person in any matter before the Entity that may create a conflict of interest;
(C) a provision establishing conditions under which a person is disqualified from participating in decisions or other actions in which there is a conflict between the person’s official duties and private interests;
(D) appropriate remedies for a violation of the bylaws, including removal or termination; and
(E) a policy to protect whistleblowers.
(2) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of Code §19A-21, a member of the Board of Directors or a staff member of the Entity who engages in legislative, administrative, or executive advocacy as part of that person’s duties is not required to register as a lobbyist under Article V of Chapter 19A because of the advocacy.
(h) Status; Incorporation; Bylaws.
(1) To qualify as the County’s Early Care and Education Coordinating Entity, the Corporation’s articles of incorporation must provide for the appointment of the members of its Board of Directors as set forth in this Section. The articles of incorporation must also provide that the Entity is:
(A) a Maryland nonprofit, non-stock corporation with the purposes and activities limited to those that are permitted to be performed by a corporation that is recognized as exempt from Federal income tax under 26 U.S.C. §501, as amended;
(B) not an instrumentality of the County;
(C) incorporated for the purpose of serving as the County’s Early Care and Education Coordinating Entity responsible for monitoring and supporting the early care and education system in the County;
(D) organized and operated under the laws of the State of Maryland; and
(E) headquartered in the County.
(2) The Entity’s bylaws may contain any provision necessary to govern and manage the Entity that does not conflict with this Section. The Corporation may exercise all powers and is subject to all requirements which apply to non-stock corporations under the Corporations and Associations Article of the Maryland Code.
(3) The bylaws must require the Entity to comply with the Maryland Open Meetings law and the Maryland Public Information Act.
(i) Duties. In developing an equitable system of high quality, accessible, sustainable early care and education and eliminating systemic racism and structures that created access barriers for vulnerable, racially and ethnically diverse populations, the Early Care and Education Coordinating Entity must:
(1) develop recommendations for increasing availability of and access to high quality early care and education programs, with particular attention to underrepresented and special populations, including low-income children, families of children with special needs, and English language learners and with a focus on children from birth to 5 years old;
(2) convene and solicit input from all ECE stakeholders to identify unmet needs and barriers to accessing quality ECE services, develop common goals and priorities for system expansion and improvement, and identify opportunities for and barriers to collaboration and coordination among stakeholder groups. The Entity must seek advice from the members of the Early Childhood Coordinating Council while the Entity develops final recommendations for realigning existing County committees and advisory groups that provide input into the early care and education system;
(3) solicit board members through a community-based process involving parent groups and other advisory bodies. Create and/or maintain existing advisory bodies to ensure continuing direct input from a wide range of community perspectives;
(4) engage and educate families and the wider community about the importance of high-quality early care and education programs and advocate at the Federal, State, and local level for greater public and private investment in and improvements to the early care and education system;
(5) research and facilitate innovative service models and strategies to improve the early care and education system and identify community needs through periodic mapping of early care and education services and resources and County-wide needs assessments;
(6) secure and administer private-sector funding to support the early care and education system and manage and administer public funding that is directly appropriated to the Entity;
(7) measure and report on the efforts to improve and expand the early care and education system with a focus on achieving tangible results that improve access to high-quality ECE across the County;
(8) address current inequities imposing barriers to accessible high quality, affordable care for all communities; and
(9) create, as a neutral convener, a common early childhood education agenda based on community consensus that all major stakeholders commit to and maintain a 360 degree view of all aspects of the County’s early childhood education sector.
(j) Racial Equity and Social Justice. To effectively address the complex needs of the County’s racially and economically diverse children and their families and strategically expand access to critical early care and education services to underrepresented populations, the Entity must adopt and implement a racial equity and social justice policy that applies a racial equity and social justice lens into all aspects of the Entity’s operations in alignment with the County’s racial equity and social justice strategic plan. The racial equity and social justice policy must include:
(1) a statement of commitment to racial equity and social justice as part of the organization’s core values;
(2) active recruitment of potential Board members from diverse backgrounds and outreach to communities of color for consideration by the County Executive and County Council;
(3) a formal process to assess Board culture and identify barriers to inclusion in Board participation and leadership;
(4) communications and business practices that are tailored to the needs of communities of color and other marginalized communities;
(5) a process to identify and address discriminatory or non-inclusive behaviors;
(6) organizational policies and procedures that address diversity and inclusion; and
(7) a clear, realistic, actionable, and measurable commitment to addressing racial equity that is woven into the governance, culture, and membership of the entity that includes representatives of an inclusive group of community stakeholders.
(k) Direct Services. The Entity must not provide direct services or deliver programs for early childhood education.
(l) Reports.
(1) The Board of Directors must report annually on the activities and finances of the Entity and provide an audited financial statement of the Entity to the Executive and Council by October 1 of each year. The report must include:
(A) the Entity’s plan to solicit and receive additional public and private funding for its operations;
(B) outcomes data that measures the progress of early care and education system improvements, including changes in:
(i) the level of public and private investment;
(ii) the availability and use of early care and education seats in the County as a whole and for isolated and vulnerable populations; and
(iii) school readiness (including academic, physical and social emotional competencies) rates broken out by total population, race/ethnicity, income categories, and special education status; and
(C) advocacy efforts.
(2) The Entity must make public data sets available on the internet to improve public knowledge of the Entity and its operations, further its mission, or increase its accountability and responsiveness.
(3) The Entity must provide the Executive and Council, upon request, all non-confidential data produced and received by the Entity, including research, data related to the delivery of early care and education services, and minutes of Board meetings. (2022 L.M.C., ch. 5, §1; 2023 L.M.C., ch. 21, § 1.)