School-Age Regulations Rewrite Group
The Department of Early Learning (DEL) contracted School's Out Washington to facilitate the rewrite of the school-age regulations that legislate the licensing requirements for school-age care in our state by bringing a group of stakeholders in the field together. A committed group of approximately 30 individuals representing diverse organizations from across the state have come together to create recommendations for how to rewrite the licensing regulations. This School-Age Rewrite Group (SARG) met every 6 to7 weeks from March, 2009 to June 2010. In between these large group meetings, small work groups met to examine in depth different topics that they would then present in subsequent large group meetings. School's Out hired a professional consultant to facilitate the process of developing the recommendations.
Another component of the project included a survey that was sent out to all programs licensed as school-age child care centers. The purpose of the survey was to gather information about the potential impact of the recommendations, specifically to assess any economic implications that would arise if the changes were adopted.
On July 30, 2010, School's Out Washington submitted the recommendations that were developed by the School Age Rewrite Group. From here, DEL will take these recommendations to help create the new rules that will first be available for informal public comment hopefully sometime next year. Then, after incorporating public feedback and having the rules reviewed and edited by the Attorney Generals Office, DEL will file a formal proposal, schedule public hearings, and take written comments on the proposal. School's Out Washington annouce any time DEL opens the rules for public comment. Make sure to sign up to receive our email notifications if you are interested in keeping up-to-date about this process. For more information on the school-age rule-making, visit DEL's website.
The meeting notes from the School-Age Rewrite Group meetings are available on our website as well as some of the resources and tools used to support the work of the School-Age Rewrite Group. Purpose of the project: To provide DEL with recommendations to revise the school-age child care minimum licensing requirements. DEL at its discretion may accept or reject all or part of, the recommendations.
Questions? Contact us at 206.323.2396 or info@schoolsoutwashington.org.