S. 1411 — PROSPECT Act

This section authorizes the Secretary to award four types of grants to eligible entities from amounts made available under section 103: (1) planning grants under section 122; (2) access grants under section 123 to provide free high-quality child care for as many as 500,000 infants and toddlers with a community college or minority-serving institution student parent; (3) impact grants under section 124 to expand child care supply and quality through training, mentorship, technical support, and expansion funding for providers; and (4) pipeline grants under section 125 to launch and expand early childhood educator preparation programs and form partnerships to strengthen the infant and toddler care workforce pipeline. This section also requires the Secretary, in administering the title, to consult with the Secretary of Health and Human Services on all grants and with the Small Business Administration Administrator on impact grants.

This section requires eligible entities seeking grants under subtitle B to submit applications containing (1) landscape reviews of infant and toddler child care needs and workforce in their service areas, with emphasis on community college or minority-serving institution student parents in communities of color and low-income parents; (2) a vision for leveraging grants to enhance access and quality; (3) a description of advancing child development, family engagement, and culturally/linguistically responsive pedagogy; (4) assurances of annual impact reporting; (5) commitments to wages for child care staff comparable to elementary educators with similar credentials/experience or at a minimum a living wage; and (6) for impact, access, or pipeline grants, continued consultation with an infant and toddler care committee. It directs the Secretary to award grants competitively, prioritizing entities that (A) enroll high percentages of Pell-eligible students with children under age 3, (B) are in or near infant and toddler child care deserts, or (C) have compelling plans for grant activities, and—per funding priorities—(1) awarding not less than 80% of funds to eligible institutions as defined in section 312(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (i.e., higher education institutions with low average educational and general expenditures per full-time equivalent undergraduate student compared to peers and required enrollment of needy students); (2) awarding at least one grant per state; and (3) providing special consideration (and potential additional funding) to access grant applications offering nontraditional hours, supports for dual language learners or children needing trauma-informed/disability care, or care for ages 3+; and pipeline grant applications developing culturally/linguistically responsive early childhood education courses.

This section establishes parameters for grants under subtitle B to eligible entities (community colleges and minority-serving institutions), including (1) maximum amounts of $20 million for an individual entity and $220 million for a consortium; (2) durations of four years, except one year for planning grants under section 122; (3) limits of one planning grant per entity under section 122, with multiple impact, access, and pipeline grants allowed under sections 123, 124, and 125 (including overlapping periods); and (4) annual grant competitions by the Secretary. The section further provides that nothing in the title limits other federal programs, including the Higher Education Act of 1965, Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

This section authorizes the Secretary to award four types of grants from amounts made available under section 103 to eligible entities to support infant and toddler child care for student parents at community colleges or minority-serving institutions: (1) planning grants under section 122 to assess child care needs and develop proposals; (2) access grants under section 123 to provide free high-quality child care for up to 500,000 children under age 3; (3) impact grants under section 124 to expand child care supply and quality through training, mentorship, technical support, and funding for providers; and (4) pipeline grants under section 125 to launch or expand early childhood educator preparation programs and form partnerships to strengthen the child care workforce pipeline.

This section authorizes planning grants for eligible entities to (1) establish an infant and toddler child care committee composed of specified members, including student parents, faculty, local educational agency representatives (as defined in 20 U.S.C. 7801), and child care professionals; (2) conduct a needs assessment of infant and toddler child care for current and prospective community college or minority-serving institution student parents, covering nontraditional hours, children under age 3, children with disabilities, non-English-speaking households, and child care deserts; (3) conduct research, outreach, and planning to expand access to free infant and toddler child care, potentially including delivery agreements with providers; and (4) develop a detailed proposal focused on parents of children under age 3 to address identified needs, potentially including applications for further grants under §§123-125. The section further requires grantees to submit a report to the Secretary within 30 days after the grant period ends, including needs assessment results, the proposal, and any application for §§123-125 grants.

This section establishes a grant program administered by the Secretary of Education under which eligible entities may receive funds to expand access to free infant and toddler child care for student parents at community colleges or minority-serving institutions through one or more specified activities, including (1) paying child care costs at licensed centers or home-based providers; (2) operating or contracting for on-campus child care centers; (3) coordinating with child care resource and referral agencies; (4) expanding existing on-campus centers' space, equipment, or staff; (5) extending hours or operations during breaks; (6) establishing drop-in or flexible care; and (7) renovating facilities to meet accessibility and high-quality standards (i.e., state quality rating systems, Early Head Start standards, or accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children or equivalent). This section further requires that any on-campus child care center supported by these grants (1) be state-licensed and meet high-quality standards; (2) prioritize enrollment for children of student parents, first for low-income families, with at least 85% of student parents required to be Federal Pell Grant-eligible (waivable by the Secretary); (3) serve children under age 3 of full- or part-time student parents for free; (4) reserve slots for drop-in care per Secretary regulations; (5) use sliding-fee scales for non-students; and (6) maintain continuity of care during enrollment breaks or transfers and comply with Head Start suspension and expulsion standards. (Thus, the program targets low-income Pell Grant recipients, who comprise a majority of community college and minority-serving institution students, to reduce child care barriers to degree completion.)

This section establishes impact grants to eligible entities for expanding the supply and quality of child care in communities, particularly infant and toddler care, through activities such as (1) contracting with child care resource and referral organizations for technical assistance, training, and mentorship; (2) supporting staffed family child care networks; (3) establishing or partnering with provider networks; (4) developing training content on business practices; (5) compensating trainers; (6) awarding microenterprise grants to licensed professionals, centers, or home-based providers to open or expand infant and toddler programs; (7) developing career pathways for low-income and underrepresented individuals; (8) prioritizing communities of color and low-income areas; and (9) offering professional development in non-English languages. The section requires that professional development funded under the grants be accessible to both unlicensed and licensed providers and not exceed 30% of grant funds. Grant recipients must consult annually with infant and toddler child care committees and state CCDBG lead agencies and submit annual reports to the Secretary detailing metrics such as numbers of providers trained (including non-English speakers and credential recipients), community colleges or minority-serving institutions in networks, child care spots created for children under age 3 (disaggregated by location and recipient demographics), mentorship participants (disaggregated and cross-tabulated by gender, race, and ethnicity), and providers receiving technical support.

This section establishes a grant program authorizing the Secretary to award funds to eligible entities to strengthen the infant and toddler child care workforce, particularly in child care deserts (i.e., areas with limited access to such care), for activities including (1) establishing associate degree programs or stackable credentials focused on infants and toddlers; (2) hiring faculty to teach infant-toddler courses; (3) coordinating early childhood educator preparation programs with on-campus child care centers; (4) partnering with four-year institutions for articulation agreements; (5) upgrading on-campus child care centers into lab schools; (6) awarding microgrants to students for tuition, books, and related costs; (7) developing culturally responsive teaching courses; and (8) partnering with high schools for career and technical education programs. Grantees must consult annually with an infant and toddler child care committee and submit reports to the Secretary detailing student enrollment and microgrant usage (disaggregated by demographics including age, gender, race or ethnicity, family income, disability status, and student status); persistence, retention, and completion rates; dual-enrollment data; and partnership details—with cross-tabulated demographic information anonymized and compliant with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA; 20 U.S.C. 1232g).

This section requires the Secretary to evaluate annually the effectiveness of grants under this chapter using specified criteria for (1) access grants under section 123, (2) impact grants under section 124, and (3) pipeline grants under section 125. For access grants, the criteria include the number of community college or minority-serving institution student parents receiving infant and toddler child care (disaggregated by age, gender, race or ethnicity, family income, disability status, marital status, and enrollment status); average weekly usage hours and peak times of on-campus child care; and semester-to-semester and fall-to-fall persistence rates and degree/certificate completion rates for student parents using such child care compared to those not using it (disaggregated as above). For impact grants, the criteria include the number of child care professional development session attendees; the number of community colleges or minority-serving institutions joining or establishing child care provider networks; the number of state-licensed child care spots created for children under age 3 in infant/toddler child care deserts and communities of color via microenterprise grants; and the number of non-English-fluent child care providers receiving professional development. For pipeline grants, the criteria include the number of new or expanded early childhood educator preparation programs; student enrollment in such programs (disaggregated by degree/credential type and by age, gender, race or ethnicity, second language ability, family income, disability status, and enrollment status); microgrant funding amounts allocated to students (disaggregated by usage category and student demographics); persistence, retention, and completion rates for microgrant recipients compared to non-recipients; new partnerships with high schools; dual-enrollment students; and dual-enrollment program completers (disaggregated by degree/credential).

This section directs the Secretary to submit an annual report to Congress on the grant program under this title, including (1) the results from the most recent evaluation under section 126 and (2) information on grant progress based on the most recent reports submitted under sections 122(b), 123(c), 124(c), and 125(b).

This section prohibits discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth, medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth, or sex stereotypes), or disability in any program or activity funded in whole or in part under this title or with grants, contracts, or certificates similar to those under the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (CCDBG; 42 U.S.C. 9858n). It provides for enforcement of this prohibition through the same manner and means as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.). The section specifies that it does not alter the religious nondiscrimination provisions of CCDBG §658N (42 U.S.C. 9858l), which generally prohibit child care providers receiving CCDBG funds from discriminating against children or employees on the basis of religion while permitting sectarian organizations limited religious preferences in employment.