Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 5, § 17746 - Enrollment Priorities for Part-Day California State Preschool Program

(a) The first priority for services shall be given to California State Preschool Program (CSPP) three-year-old or CSPP four-year-old children who are recipients of child protective services or who are at risk of being neglected, abused or exploited and for whom there is a written referral from a legal, medical or social service agency.

(b) The second priority shall be given to eligible CSPP four-year-old children, not enrolled in transitional kindergarten (TK), in the following order:

(1) Eligible children who were enrolled in CSPP as a three-year-old.

(2) Children whose families have the lowest income ranking based on the most recent Schedule of Income Ceiling eligibility table as published by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) at the time of enrollment.

(A) When two or more families have the same income ranking, according to the most recent Schedule of Income Ceiling eligibility table, a child with exceptional needs, as defined in section 17700, shall be admitted first.

(B) If there are no families with children with exceptional needs, the family that has been on the waiting list for the longest time shall be admitted first.

(c) The third priority shall be given to eligible CSPP three-year-old children and shall be enrolled based on the priorities described in subsection (b)(2).

(d) After all otherwise eligible children have been enrolled, the contractor may enroll the following children in the order listed:

(1) Children from families whose income is no more than 15 percent above the eligibility income threshold. Children from families enrolled under this exception may not exceed 10 percent of the participating CSPP's total contract enrollment. Priority shall be given to four-year-old children before three-year-old children.

(2) A child with exceptional needs, whose family's income is above the income eligibility threshold. Children enrolled pursuant to this subsection, shall not count towards the 10 percent limitation. Priority shall be given to four-year-old children before three-year-old children.

(3) For CSPP sites operating within the attendance boundaries of a qualified free and reduced priced meals (FRPM) school, in accordance with section 17729, the contractor may enroll CSPP four-year-old children whose families reside within the attendance boundary of the same qualified FRPM elementary school without establishing eligibility pursuant to Education Code section 8208(a)(1). These families shall, to the extent possible, be enrolled in income ranking order, lowest to highest.

(e) When not all of the children in a family are certified based on the child receiving child protective services, or because of the child's exceptional needs, the parents in the family must meet eligibility criteria as specified in section 17750 prior to enrollment of additional children and those children shall be admitted in accordance with priorities specified in this section.

(f) Contractors shall not deny service to nor assign a lower priority to a family that needs less than full-time services.

Notes

Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 5, § 17746

1. New article 2 (sections 17746-17748) and section filed 7-1-2022; operative 7-1-2022 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2022, No. 26).

Note: Authority cited: Section 8207, Education Code. Reference: Sections 8205, 8207, 8209, 8210 and 8217, Education Code.

1. New article 2 (sections 17746-17748) and section filed 7-1-2022; operative 7/1/2022 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2022, No. 26).