Texas Early Learning Council August 2025 Meeting

001Morning, council members. Um, it's 11:00 a.m. and I'm going to call the meeting to order. Um, this is the Texas Early Learning Council meeting. I'm Reagan Miller. I'm the chair of the Early Learning Council. Um, and I'm also the uh director of child care and early learning at the Texas Workforce Commission. So, welcome members and welcome public folks who are coming to join us today. Um, we're producing this as a Zoom webinar. uh council members, presenters, and agency staff are are participating as panelists. Uh members of the public are able to participate in a listenonly mode. A reminder to council members, please keep your electronic devices on mute when you're not speaking. Um Megan will mute us if she needs to. Uh Megan is our inter agency director of early childhood support and she's going

002to serve as the meeting facilitator today. Um and council members, if you can try to remember to state your name um before you speak. Okay. Public comment um closed yesterday uh at 5:00 p.m. uh written public comment, but members of the public are still able to request uh oral public comment today by emailing the request to Megan and Megan is dropping that um instruction into the chat for everyone. Um, so council members, I wanted to I wanted to start off um letting you know that we've had some membership changes. So, we've had a few members who have been on the council for a long time and have have just um retired or or are no longer in their previous roles. So, I want to give a thanks to Sarah Abrahams, Terry Breeden, and Melissa Hosington

003who have all now cycled off of the council. So, we'll have some vacancies um for those individuals uh that will need to um be considered by the governor's office and we also have had um some other prior vacancies um that will need to get processed. So, just know that we're working with a smaller group right now and um looking forward to seeing uh who our new council members will be. Okay. So, for today's um agenda, uh we are going to start off with the approval of the meeting minutes from April. So, all of the council members should have received a copy of this in email. So, I'd like to see if any council members have um comments or edits that you'd like to make on those draft meeting minutes. Okay. Um, can I get a

004motion to approve the April 2025 meeting minutes? Meeting minutes. >> This is Kim Coffin. I will so move to accept the meeting minutes from April. >> Thank you, Kim. And do we have a second? >> Shy, was that you? >> Okay. Okay, thank you. I'm have I'm having a little difficulty hearing you, but perfect. Okay, so um with that, Megan is going to conduct um a roll call vote um so that we can both approve the minutes and um do our um our roll call to see members that are present today. So, Megan, to you. >> Sure thing. Um, and with that said, uh, just before I do this, I'm getting notes from a few council members who are having trouble getting into the meeting. So, if some of them aren't here and join later,

005we'll just revisit that. Um, so when I say your name, please say for um, for against or abstain. And as a reminder, you are able to um, approve the minutes by saying even if you weren't present at the last meeting. So we will start with Shriy RS Mendes >> four >> Welen Beard April Crawford four Alma Giles four >> Becky Huskiller Kim Coffin >> four Tori Lee I got a message from Tori that she is trying to get into the meeting so she is not here yet but we'll be sure. >> I see her now. >> Oh great. Okay. Um Batres Mata Reagan Miller, >> four, >> Marcela Nava, >> four. >> Stephanie Ruben, >> I know. I saw Stephanie join, so I'm going to give her a second. >> I I did. And Stephanie,

006we can't hear you. You're off mute, but we can't hear you. >> Uh, how about that? Four. >> There we go. Yeah, >> Amber Scanland. >> Sorry, it's Scanlin in four. Thank you. >> Okay. Apologies. >> That's okay. Thanks. >> Kristen Schwab, >> four. >> Jennifer Stuckmer. and Megan Young >> four. >> Great. Um, with that, the motion to approve the April 2025 meeting minutes has carried and I will pass it back to you, Reagan. >> Wonderful. So, our next agenda item is public comment. Um, so Megan, have we had anyone um sign up to provide public comment? >> We didn't receive anything in advance. Um, let me see if anything came in. Um, no, we did not receive any uh requests for public comment. So, just as a reminder to those tuned in, um,

007we always welcome public comment. You have about three minutes uh to give thoughts about um, anything that's on the agenda. Um, and I will pass it back to you. >> All right. Okay, our next agenda item um is the Texas Early Learning Strategic Plan. Uh so a reminder that as part of the preschool development grant um we developed an early learning strategic plan in 2023 and we're sharing out progress reports at each of our Texas Early Learning Council meetings. So there were four goals in the strategic plan and today we're going to hear updates related to goal two workforce recruitment, retention and support and goal four um on integrated data and systems. So our first update is on goal two focusing on strategy 2.4 and a couple of action items under that 2.4.5 4.5 uh

008workforce preparedness and 2.4.7 uh professional development around mental health. Um so with that we've um got some invited speakers with us here today. Uh Jennifer Jenny Baldwin and Holly Gerson. And how do you say your last name? Holly >> Betta. >> Besetta. Wonderful. All right. So, they're going to provide some updates on our work around infant and early childhood mental health. So, let me turn it over to you guys. >> Great. And Megan, are you sharing those slides? >> Happy Davis is running slides for you. Yeah. >> Wonderful. We're gonna put a second to get those up. >> Oh, they're up. I don't know if you can see them, but they are already up. >> Okay, great. Well, I will just assume um >> I I can see them, Holly. >> Okay, great. >> Okay.

009Well, I will just assume they're happening and then Jenny, you can cue me if if something is is going ary. Um well, thank you everybody for having us today. Um we're excited to update you on all work related to infant early childhood mental health consultation. It's being funded by the preschool development grant birth through $5. So, our update today, we're going to do a quick grounding slash reminder of what it is we're even talking about. Um, and then how our work uh pilot project got up and running, a quick bit about the background, where it's happening, where the work is, and then what's to come. So, if you could go to the next slide for me. So, I know this is a lot on one slide and um a little bit of picturing, but infant

010early childhood mental health consultation is a preventionbased approach that pairs a mental health professional with adults who care for young children like families, teachers, home visitors, pediatricians, and childcare providers. And the goal is simple but powerful. It's to build the capacity of the adults um and to help them better understand, support, and respond to the social emotional needs of infants and young children, especially those facing stress or adversity. It's not therapy for the child. It's about strengthening the relationship and the environment around that child so that every child has the best chance to thrive. Decades of research and evaluation in other states um and coupled with a national center of excellence have shown that this approach consistently leads to positive outcomes and not only for the child or the children um but who are ultimately

011impacted but also the adults then who care for them. So consultation improves children's social skills and emotional regulation. It decreases behavioral challenges identified by adults. It reduces suspension and expulsion rates. It reduces stress, burnout, turnover among early childhood providers and it provides um a better understanding for the adults on child development, trauma, emotional regulation, infant mental health. So then providers then feel more confident, providers and parents, caregivers feel more confident and effective in their work and interactions with children. And that kind of stability benefits everyone, especially the child. So again, infant early childhood mental health consultation is not talk therapy. It's not play therapy. It's not family counseling. It's not clinical services. It's d it's not directed specifically at the child. And instead, it's that consultative role, consultative stance for the adults designed to build

012their confidence, their intelligence, their awareness uh to better support the healthy development and respond effectively to um challenges children and families are facing. The shift from thinking about direct services to a child to more of that um focus on the adult was exactly what makes this service unique and why it is so effective. It's already happening in 20 other states across early childhood settings. So we had a lot to learn from. And then who are these folks? So consultants are specialized providers as you can imagine. They have expertise and experience working with diverse families across early childhood systems. They understand how to collaborate with early other early childhood professionals. They're licensed M's level clinicians who have specialized training in infant and early childhood mental health. And they meet the newly published set of Texas core

013competencies which you can find on our website and I'm sure Jenny will assist me momentarily in putting that website link in the chat for you all. Um, and so they've become a powerful tool in our state's quality improvement and workforce stabilization efforts. You can go to the next slide, Kathy. >> So, we did have a little bit of a snafu on the slides there. So, the information Holly was just speaking to, if you'll go back one more, Kathy, just so that folks can see it with clarity, that'd be great. Thank you so much. So, um, so this is the the reference point on what Holly was just speaking to. And then now we can go to the next slide in case folks reference this in the future. >> Thanks Jenny. So hopefully now you all

014are seeing a slide that says um the early childhood continuum of care. This is really for folks's reference later on. Um but the goal here was to show where infant early childhood mental health consultation fits into that ear larger early childhood continuum. consultation fills a need or gap uh related to serving and supporting infants and children's social emotional well-being across these different services and continuums. Um and they do this primarily through promotion. So training, educating, modeling, and then prevention, coaching, reflective action planning with a provider, all those types of strategies. But then they can also make quality referrals to treatment if needed for families based on their vast knowledge of both adult and child mental health needs. So what does this look like then? Look, successful implementation would look like an infant early childhood mental

015health consultant being placed in a community-based organization with a supportive network or team who has access to children and families and is trusted in their community as a partner that families go to seek out and engage with for services. So on the next slide, hopefully you're seeing a map of Texas. So, we've given you a little bit of the what, the why, and the how. So, this is now where uh through multiple funding um sources, including the preschool development grant, we've had seven sites start and begin establishing their consultation program, and it's supporting 10 counties. So, we're really excited about that. Each of these sites listed in a little over a year was able to employ at least one infant early childhood mental health consultant and began providing services to their local early intervention programs,

016early education programs, home visiting programs, and medical programs. And that also makes Texas really unique. Go to the next slide for me, Kathy. So on this one, hopefully you're seeing what we call our menu of services. So this is kind of giving you a picture of what are these consultants doing. This is a list um or menu uh of some of the services consultants can offer. Multiple services can be offered at once. These sort of activities can eb and flow. Um unique service provision plans are developed between the consultant and the organization that they're working with to meet those unique needs. It's not an exhaustive list. um and specific services offered will vary depending on the consultant's expertise as well, but it's meant to meet the the unique needs of communities. Um and these are

017the different activities that they could be doing at any given time. Through this list, you can also begin to see how a consultant impacts multiple layers of services. So, for example, they can support workforce development and support. They can work on systems, policies, procedures, and then they can also impact family supports as well. So, I'm going to turn it over to my colleague Jenny who's going to talk about then from everything we've learned and how we got established then how our pilot work happened um and the exciting and lots and lots and lots of state work that you've done as well. >> Thanks Holly. All right, we can go to the next slide please. Okay. So here we have some information um that we've recently developed in regard to kind of impact of mental health

018consultation. So this is really output focused uh and it speaks to what a 1.0 FTE one mental health consultant could do in a community uh within a year. So within one year we would expect for that uh mental health consultant to be able to serve three early ch early early childhood programs. That means at the program level uh so they would be working with the director uh providing support to the entire staff of that program. That program could be an ECI program uh an early care and education program like a childare center a prek a home visiting program. everyone in that organization would benefit from the consultative services. Um the 1.0 would also uh work with 95 early childhood professionals. Uh so that would be on an individual basis that would be working one-on-one with

019one of those staffers uh with their case load uh with their classroom with a particular case. uh and so uh those 95 would be person-toperson kind of interactions at a deeper level. Uh we would expect that that uh consultant would also be able to train around uh 600 uh professionals or so within the year. Uh training is a core component of what their functions are. And so they would be providing regular trainings to not only the clients that they work with through the early childhood programs but to the general community as well in regard to infant and early childhood mental and behavioral health. And then finally residual of all of that, all of those professionals trained, all of those professionals supported through mental health consultation, we have the potential to impact over 2,000 families. There's

020a range here. Um, and this is a projection as well for all of these numbers because where we are in Texas is we are still learning what it's actually going to look like in the field. Uh, we're new uh this is a pilot and so we don't have years of data to go back to look at uh yet uh to analyze and see what those averages are. So this is these this is an educated guest composed of what we know the activities uh a consultant does in their 40 hours a week. Um and so this is where we are right now. And so let's talk more if we go to the next slide. Thanks. Great. Let's talk more about what outcomes we can um expect. So that was outputs. Let's move into outcomes. How do

021we know that this mental health consultation is working? So through our identified evaluation measures, we're looking at three buckets of outcomes. Improving children's emotional and behavioral functioning, improving early childhood professionals well-being, and finally improving the parent caregivers's well-being. And then within each of these buckets, we have some uh designated outcomes and indicators that we're looking at. So through this these buckets of work, we can expect to see an increase in social and emotional pro protective skills in children and those protective skills then lead to a decrease in social and emotional risk factors. You'd also see fewer early childhood professionals experiencing burnout and compassion fatigue and then more early childhood workers reporting job satisfaction. So that of course leads to a higher staff retention rate which is great for the kids that we serve because it

022it provides them with stability in services. And that consistency in staffing also improves the workplace for other team members who otherwise would have to be juggling roles and filling in during times of vacancies. And then finally you would see a reported reduction in parent and caregiver stress which leads to improved parent child relationships. All right let's go to the next slide please. Okay great. All right. So, in 2023, TAMH, our institute, uh, began partnering with the Texas Workforce Commission on the PDG grant, and it was to consider how we might bring this, uh, mental health consultation as a statewide approach to Texas. So, here you have some details on the progress of this project to date. There's a lot of resources here that you can link to, but I'd like to bring your attention to

023the information about the Texas Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Program Manual. We're working on that in sections so that we can get information out as quickly as possible. We have half of the manual already posted on the website which is in in the chat box. There are two sections there. One is an orientation to mental health consultation and the other uh goes over program competencies for mental health consultation. In about a month or so, we'll have our third section online and it addresses recommended trainings for mental health consultants. And then by December, we'll have our final section bringing it all together. Uh and that's going to address program evaluation. You also see here some links to promotional videos. Uh those there's one for ECI and one for early care and education settings. They're

024free for your use. Please use them and disseminate them broadly. Uh they're short videos that describe the ser what these services look like in the field. And um the audience for them includes early childhood professionals, state partners, and families. We're also currently working on a third and final video that would demonstrate consultation in home visiting settings and that will be online by December. These are a great chance to really understand what we're talking about, not just mental health consultation, but what are we talking about when we're talking about early childhood mental and behavioral health. And then finally on here, you'll see an update on our pilot. So, as Holly said, we're working in uh seven communities across Texas. Six of those are part of the PDG pilot, and that includes 10 counties. All sites are

025operational, serving early childhood professionals and families. Uh they're also all implementing all facets of mental health consultation. So, those three types of consultation, the programmatic, the one-on-one, and then um the the classroom or case load kind of level. And then they're also providing trainings to early childhood professionals. And they're serving across three types of settings, early care and education, ECI, and home visiting. All right, next slide, please. So, this is just a list of some of the same resources. Really, this is just for your reference. We're going to skip skip ahead really quickly, but this just might be a little more digestible to find those links so you can grab those resources for later. All right, next slide. Okay, great. So, then what's next? We're closing in on the end of this project. It runs

026until December 2025. So let's talk about what we do know and what we don't yet know. So decades of research and evaluation uh including support from the National Center of Excellence for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation that's out of uh Georgetown University all show that mental health consultation consistently leads to positive outcomes for both children and the adults who care for them. Consultation improves children's social and emotional uh regulation skills and as we talked about that means a decrease in behavioral challenges and reductions in suspension and expulsion rates for early care and education settings. It also reduces stress, burnout and turnover among early childhood providers like teachers, ECI professionals, home visitors. And then those providers gain an understanding of child development, uh, trauma, emotional regulation, and they feel more confident and effective in

027their roles. So that stability just really benefits everyone across the team and particularly the children. Mental health consultation is already happening in over 20 states across the nation and we're hoping that Texas is about to join those ranks. We've made a lot of strides in the last two and a half years as uh as a part of this PDG support. However, the challenging funding landscape right now could jeopardize that pro progress. Our community organizations we're working with as a part of this pilot are looking to identify new funding options to sustain this work, but more support is definitely needed. We also know that states that have had long-term success in sustaining mental health consultation have a centralized training and technical assistance entity to oversee their statewide meal health consultation efforts. right now uh we don't

028have anyone in Texas who's identified to support as a TNTA center beyond the PDG uh project. So without that, what we're at risk for is backsliding our efforts to where we were before PDG, which means there's not necessarily going to be an opportunity to have a shared understanding of what infant and early childhood mental health consultation is. And this is a problem because it leads to a variety of approaches across the state. Um some of those may not be research informed and that inconsistency also leads to confusion amongst providers and families and we don't have an ability to track what the impact of the work really is. So a TNTA center is also a critical component of the statewide infant and early childhood health system that we currently are able to achieve through PDG. All

029right. So in 2025 uh a cross- sector group of state agency leads formed to kind of help address some of these sustaining issues in Texas and it continues to be a work in progress. All right, last slide please. Great. So, here's our contact information. We encourage you to reach out to us. Uh we are in the midst of those sustaining efforts. We would love to talk to you if you have ideas. Also, if you're in one of the communities where we're currently working for the PDG pilot for infant early childhood mental health consultation and you'd like to be connected with the program there, please reach out to us. We would love to connect you. Uh I'm also going to pass off to Holly because she has some information on some of our upcoming trainings that

030we have for early childhood uh professionals this fall. >> Yes. I just wanted to pop back in really quickly just label two upcoming uh professional development opportunities that kind of go along with implementing a successful infant early childhood mental health consultation system. One of those is going to be reflective supervision training spanned out uh as far as we can reach. We're gonna So reflective supervision um is a supported process uh for providers to have a collaborative space to talk about their professional experience, their emotions, their interactions, their uh beliefs and then how that affects the work that they do with the children and families that we serve. So the the the training will be done in two ways. We'll have one that's a foundational training um so that folks can gain a better understanding of

031what is reflective supervision, where is it happening, how do they participate in it and we'll be offering three of those at a large scale in the fall. Um and we have plenty of seats. So it'll be offered as a first come first- serve basis. The second option for reflective supervision training is going to be a smaller inviteonly cohort up to 30 people who are providing reflective supervision already but may have never received formal training who are moving into roles that could be doing reflective supervision next or they've been doing reflective supervision but they haven't done training in a while where they want to hone their skills. That cohort will be doing five intensive trainings between September and December and then four mentoring circles to essentially continue to practice their skills and then be able to

032offer reflective groups when they're done. Registration for both of those opportunities will be coming out late next week. So, keep your eyes open. The second professional development opportunity is going to be around pyramid model training with an emphasis on both infant, toddler, and um prek curriculums. Again, we'll be offering it in two different formats. Um, one will be a two-day event for our direct service providers so that they'll be learning the core concepts, foundational information, um, and how to work within that curriculum. And the second will be a three-day intensive format for our trainers, our coaches, our infant mental health consultants, um, our directors. And that one is geared much more toward the core concepts and how do we implement those core concepts and keep it sustained. Registration for those trainings will also be coming

033out in the next two weeks. So, please stay tuned. >> Okay. I think we're also just here for any questions anyone has about the project. >> Hi, Stephanie. >> Hi. I think actually um Holly I might have brought your name up at the last meeting because people had some questions about it and I think I said we might as well just get a presentation from Holly I think. >> So nice to see you. So I mean I have some bigger questions. Of course this is like a mental health early childhood mental health consultation is one aspect of addressing infant and early childhood mental health. like it's a model. It's not the only thing is um I guess one question is about the label and calling it that as opposed to other things. Um has there

034been some discussion about how kind of landing on this as this consultation model talking about infant mental health? Like do people wonder what the heck that is? Um, is are there are there other states that call it something different? Like how how have you all as a kind of lots of players come around to to use that title, I guess? >> Yeah, great question. You can imagine that there's been many many many meetings about what do we call this particular service because infant early childhood mental health consultation doesn't always roll very easily off the tongue unless you're practicing it and even then it gets a little complicated. So, I guess I want to start by saying currently one of the reasons why we use the full name is to help create clarity from the national

035um lens and also other states lens so that we're all talking about the same thing. Also to help differentiate it from other early childhood support services right now. help folks understand the difference of who a consultant is and what their background is and what they're providing versus a pyramid model coach or an inclusion specialist or an early interventionist. And so we're using the title currently as we're bringing a brand new program to Texas to help define it and kind of use it as as its definition. Yes, other states do call it other things where there's funding aligned with it, legislation aligned with it, and it's kind of meeting the needs of their families, but they've also been in progress for 20, 30 years of services, and so the name change is not affecting an understanding

036of the work. Um, and then do we expect it to change in Texas? Absolutely. Yeah. Even the model itself, we expect there to be some testing of the model, fidelity of the model, changing to see how it meets the unique needs. Currently, as we're establishing it, we just decided that it was the most helpful um to keep that clarity. We also learned from other states as we convene with them um quarterly that outreach and communication around infant early childhood mental health consultation has been the biggest challenge. And so for us that lesson was let's keep it as simple as we can at the moment and then change it as it gets established within the state. >> Yeah. >> So um one other question and then I guess a a comment based on some stuff that

037happened in the legislature. So the question is you're training um in the child care you're training the child care workforce you're consulting for the childare workforce which has a lot of turnover and of you know even the probably the consultant workforce is going to have a lot of turnover so I guess one question is how how do you manage that because it's a lot of resources to train people and then they don't maybe don't stay in the field or they move into a school or you know how Um it it seems like in order to really make this work, we have to have more stability in the childare workforce, right? >> Yeah. I would say this is a strategy to achieve that stability in the childare workforce. in the states that have had um mental

038health consultation programs for for longer um especially those that have h have a decade or more where we really can see some longitudinal results they have seen that stability increase. So that's one of the things that uh data over time has shown that really is a result of this program. This program was actually originally born from early care and education settings and then later on MCV um the maternal infant and early childhood home visiting program authorized that it could be used in home visiting settings. Now some places are looking like Texas at ECI and medical settings but it started back in early care and education. So the most data we have is about that setting and it really it really speaks to the idea um and the impact right that that that's what we what

039we see when you have more support in those high stress positions the turnover rates really go down and when you're kind of speaking to what we said earlier if if I'm not getting pulled into other classrooms and having to bridge my role I might not be that second domino that falls you know, because that's often what happens too. One person leaves and then another person leaves because everybody becomes more stressed and more stretched then. And so, uh, this is the the benefits really kind of extrapolate out like that. >> I also like to go back to your question about infant early childhood mental health and how that is a a bit of a nebulous topic sometimes. Um, this is a core issue I think that we need to talk about. That's also part of the

040role of this person is to bring more understanding and awareness not just with professionals but also with families that behavioral health, mental health, it exists from birth. This is something as humans we have from birth. It's just relational when we're that young. It's about our relationship with the other people around us. So supporting those parents, caregivers and the early childhood professionals that are in their lives to help them to kind of create again those uh social and emotional skills really leads to improved uh mental and behavioral health for kids. Sorry to interrupt you Stephanie. >> Oh no that's thank you for clarifying that. I I was just going to comment, you know, this session there was a bill HB6 that reinstated well made it much easier to suspend do out of school suspension for young

041kids which had been um restricted in a prior session. And there was a lot of testimony about the kind of social emotional challenges, behavioral challenges that teachers are facing. And it does seem like it kind of calls out for this as a strategy to address that as opposed to, you know, sending kids home with no support. >> Um, so I, you know, when I, >> when I saw that, it just, I think the teachers were asking for many tools and it seems like if this is expanded in childare, it might really help address that problem. >> Yeah. PreK classrooms. >> Yeah. Yeah, I was going to say what a more important time to to continue to support an effort like this where there's intentional planning around reducing suspension expulsion practices and rates and working with

042children in those families who have been identified as being challenging. Um, and I think the other thing Stephanie I just wanted to add real quick, I know Kim, you have your hand up. We're we're coming to you. Um when we think about training, providing education and promotion and information about infant mental health to providers, even if they end up worst case scenario leaving their role, if they end up going to another one because we often see sort of this like cycling of educators moving around, we've we actually haven't lost anything because whatever they've been given, that modeling, that coaching, that information, that support is moving to the next place where maybe then they find >> just one different level of support that they needed to then start exuding those behaviors and going right I remember

043I was learning this thing I'm going to try it here as I kind of reset and start over. So I think that's the other piece of it is to me it doesn't feel like a lost resource if if they're going into something really similar. >> I would add to that Holly not even if they go into something similar if they just become parents one day helps them become a better parent. That's what we always said about about professional development and the early childhood, but they just going to leave. Well, if they leave and become a better parent, that's that's a win. Um, two questions for you uh for you and Jenny both. Um, and thank you for the presentation. Um, one, what's what's been your biggest lesson learned over the last couple years? And what

044do you think is really the magic sauce to to make this a more of a statewide program versus the little pockets that we currently have? Yeah. >> Yeah. I can speak to one lesson learned and then I'll I'll toss it over. But originally when this was first being established, there was some concern, I'd even say fear about whether or not we could fill the role of who an infant early childhood health consultant would be and would our sites be able to find these qualified individuals, get them into the organizations, get them into the role and get them started. And there was, you know, genuine concern about that workforce. Do we have it? We're about to find out. Can they meet language needs, diversity needs, those sorts of things? And the answer was surprisingly, and a

045great lesson learned was yes. We fill those roles surprisingly quickly. Folks are eager to take on this exciting work because it combines their expertise and skill sets that they've gained over time, both in early childhood work, then also in the mental health field, and brings them into direct contact again with providers, right? And I think that's exciting. Um, and so I think one of our biggest lessons learned was it it it wasn't difficult to fill the role and that people are excited about this. And then as we supported um some foundational training to get a larger workforce prepared or could start to build capacity, we were able to fill every training spot we offered. So that was another exciting lesson learned um is that it what we suspected there was a need or interest for

046there absolutely was. And so when we think about scaling, we haven't had any hardship with that. And you know, when folks think, do could we hire another consultant? We have a couple sites who have more than one. And it was filled and they're bilingual and it's they're licensed mental health providers and it's been um a surprisingly fruitful process. So I'll say that was my biggest lesson learned was just it's not as scary as it sounds. >> Yeah. We even have one of our sites that has 2.0 know um uh consultant and is considering a third because of the need in that area. It's an urban area but um they they're seeing quite a lot of need. Um yeah, I think I think another uh interesting lesson learned are the are the differences in the settings

047uh that we're working in and of course uh how different it is to organize this work for a classroom based setting versus a homebased uh uh intervention like ECI or home visiting versus in launch in project launch we have one setting that's an FQC so in a medical setting and Um, and that is kind of the final frontier really right now because that's the most rare in other states. Um, and figuring that out, uh, with com competing priorities of those other programs and what they have to do. Uh, and so, uh, that's something I think that a lot of states actually are still figuring out uh, more so in the ECI home visiting and medical settings. Like as I said, those are kind of newer uh places where we're seeing this work happen. Um so

048we are the only state that has ever said we're doing all of it right off the bat. And I think that's an exciting place to be. Um and uh because of the work that we've done through this project that is inclusive of a national scan uh where we've spoken to 17 of those states that um have programs. Um, we've really made some great connections. Texas has really made some great connections nationally with these other programs and now our subject matter experts at a national level where even the early childhood, excuse me, the uh center of excellence uh for infant and early childhood mental health consultation is coming to us for data and things like that. So, Texas is at a really exciting place. We just want to keep that energy going forward beyond PDG. >>

049And Kim, you had asked about, you know, what's the bread and butter? What keeps it going? And I think because we're at an earlier stage, one is, I think, keeping um a an ability to keep all the newly established consultants as a network. They need to also be able to learn from each other, support each other, understand their cross systems work. And so to have the ability of a a group that can convene them to do that that they maintain support and reflective supervision. Um and that then there's also some cross system evaluation and understanding. One of the things we learned at even a national level is that return on investment data isn't quite there yet. And we are lucky enough that when we started we thought thought about that initially. So even some of

050our early evaluation interests about the service and program, we're already thinking about how many years from now can we give some information on return on investment and how can we get that out quickly. Um and so that's going to also be a very exciting um adventure moving forward. So that will also be a big part of what keeps us going. >> Great. Thank you both. >> All right, any other questions or comments? Okay, >> thanks everyone. >> Thank you Jenny and Holly. >> All right, moving on to our next update um from our strategic plan. We're going to talk about um goal four on data and system coordination. A couple of strategies in there um on EIDS and then on data platforms um that can be used um locally. So Megan, I believe you're going

051to have a an update on our ESIDS work. Yeah, thank you, Reagan. So, I'm Megan Schneider um facilitating this meeting, but also now putting on my TEA hat um or cross agency hat, I guess, uh to give an update about this early childhood integrated data system work. So, the work really started with y'all like with this uh work group um of the Texas Early Learning Council and I know it's been a few years now that this has been underway. So we just wanted to come back and give a bit of an update. So for those who are uh new to this topic, I wanted to give a little bit of an overview of what an early childhood integrated data system is. Uh so it is for the purposes of our state. Um we plan to

052start it with these three agencies that are part of the early childhood inter agency work group and all of whom are members of this council. So, TEA, workforce commission as well as health and human services commission. And so, the goal of an EIDS is really to enable that cross agency analysis of of service access, eligibility, and gaps. So understanding who is um what children and families are we serving across our programs that are perhaps the same folks um and where are there folks who we are not serving that we could be uh to help us do a better job with policy planning and investment decisions and promote positive outcomes for kids and their families. So importantly that last bullet on the slide it does not entail any new data collection. It's really just making better

053use of the data that we already have in hand across our agencies. Um but um as we know that data is is siloed across our different agency systems. So um if you want to go to the next slide Kathy for us um in Texas and this project um the a subwork group of of the Texas Early Learning Council, it's been a couple years ago now came together and created a roadmap um which we'll link out to. But y'all came up with these five questions of if we were able to put our integrated data, if we were able to better integrate data across these three agencies in the context of early childhood services and programs, what would we want to be able to answer? Uh so the feedback we've gotten from other states who are farther

054along in this work is don't just don't just throw all the data together and then think you'll magically, you know, have insights from that. go into it knowing what are the insights and what are the um questions that you want to be able to answer. So that is what is on the left side here that list of five. The first four you see are what we think of as the foundational questions. So just understanding better what the landscape is around that total population of kids in our state who are birth to five. Um, and then who is eligible for our different early childhood services and programs? Who has access to those programs? And and who is and is not being served um by our early childhood services and programs. That fifth question, are the state's

055children starting at birth healthy and on track to succeed? Is really getting more at the um question of outcomes. So what is happening in that birth to five age range that then impacts how a child does um in the you know longer span of their career and life um thinking particularly of school outcomes. Um and then in this list of questions on the right side every every time that we're talking about early childhood services and programs that can mean a lot of different things. There's a lot of different programs and services that touch kids and their families in that age range. For the purposes of our starting point with an early childhood integrated data system, we are thinking of the programs and services listed there on the right. So within TEA, we're really thinking about

056public school um preK also probably kindergarten um touching up to that age five as well as special education. So, the early childhood special education that serves kids ages three to five. From a workforce commission perspective, we're thinking about CCS, childcare services, um, also known as subsidies. And then for Health and Human Services Commission, there's a lot of different programs that that um, agency runs. We are looking just at ECI, early childhood intervention, and family support services, formerly known as prevention and early intervention. um when I was at DFPS, we're looking at those two programs to start. So um for those of you have who have been tuned into this conversation over the years, none of that is new. Um that's all the same the same kind of foundational groundwork that we laid during the road

057map. Uh the new update and the work that we've been able to do over the course of the last couple years thanks to funding through the preschool development grant is to actually hire up and start to build up a team of folks at TEA who can really tackle um building out the first uh starting point of this early childhood integrated data system which we're calling an MVP. So a minimum viable product in that technology lingo and um tuned into the call we have the first two hires um who are are tuned in as panelists here uh which is Adnan Chowi uh who is our product manager at TEA for the early childhood integrated data system uh work as well as Sudir Kapara who's our business analyst. So a small team of two um and we

058have a developer who we've hired recently. So this small but mighty team is really using those preschool development grant funds to pick up the roadmap and all of the work that's been done to date and work with a cross agency group of folks from these three agencies to put bones and kind of dig more into these five use cases and turn them into actionable dashboards and um content that we can use to inform our programs and services um and to better understand um you know who we are are serving and where that overlap might be across our programs. So um that is my general update about goal for actions 4.1 and 4.2 that were on the a couple slides ago and then just know that we will there is a goal for us to have

059a public facing aspect of this EIDS in the minimum viable product. So we will be coming back to this group and to folks who were part of the roadmap uh workg group to just help uh make sure that that starting point makes sense and and again this will all be version 1.0 with the hopes that it builds a strong foundation for us to then build on uh going forward. So I am happy to answer any questions that folks might have and I would also say um folks from these agencies are on both a cross agency work group that's kind of rolling up their sleeves and looking you know in design sessions with us and then also steering committee members who are helping to steer the overall view. So um Reagan, Megan, Tori, anyone else who's

060deeply involved in this work, feel free to jump in and share anything I might have missed. and then happy to answer any questions. >> Megan, this is Stephan. >> Um, so the preschool development grant funds have run out or going to run out. What's um >> in December? Yeah, at the end of December. And there was not funding in the new budget to supplement or sustain. So is is this going to be TEA funding or kind of combined agency contribution to continue it or or what what are you thinking? It's a great question, Stephanie, and it reminds me I completely neglected to mention one giant part of an update about this, which is that, um, a bill passed in the House this last session, uh, HB 3963, which really picked up a lot of that

061language from the road map and, you know, codified it into into statute. Um, it was not, as you mentioned, funded uh, directly by the legislature. So, that is something that we are figuring out now. Um Stephanie, I think it's the right question and um we're hoping that we'll be able to continue the work on past December. >> Okay, cool. Thank you. >> But feel free to get out the Texas Care for Children checkbook and you know, >> right? >> Yeah. And um I think David has joined some meetings, but he he's a new dad, so he's he may not be at your next one. So that's very exciting news. Team news. Anyway, >> congrats to David. All right. Any other questions or comments for Megan? All right. Um so then our next update on the

062strategic plan also in goal four on data and systems um is alignment and coordination across across agencies to improve family access. and Kathy Arwood is going to give us an update on the eligibility screener that we have under development. >> Yes. Um I am requesting to share my screen Megan so that I can show or Kathy Davis. >> Megan, you may need to do that. I'm not quite sure how to do that. I think you just need to promote her um to a host. >> I think you just need to stop sharing maybe Kevin. >> Okay. >> Thank Okay. You should be able to see my browser. Great. But um so I wanted to share information about our updated Early Childhood Texas um website. So, some of you will probably remember that we developed this

063site I want to say 2021, Megan um when it was first launched and the team worked with families to um talk about what they wanted to see on the site and and worked through this with families. So, this is the original site still up right now. Um we talk about health and development, parenting, child care and education, eligibility programs, so state programs that um families may qualify for depend you know some are income based and such. But um and so we shared a lot of this information. This is a um inter agency project um which is very exciting. So when this was first launched, it was TEA, TWWC, um, HHSC. So we've talked about all of these agencies. And then when when the, um, family support services was part of Department of um, Family Protective

064Services, then it was um, DFPS as well. So this is the original site and then I want to share this is a a preview of the updated site will be launched um it's planned to be launched in um late August and um very similar with our our um lovely kite logo and we worked with actually four different um focus groups as we were developing the site talking to parents child care providers, other um professionals in the early childhood workforce that determine eligibility for programs. Um and we talked to to one group that was Spanish. It was kind of a mixture. So um all the all of the others were in English and then one that was in Spanish that was with um parents and child care providers and um got some really great information from

065them. But overall they they talked about how they access information and what they want to get out of information. Um and so big the big topics were you know having something that's mobile friendly and we actually went into this with a mobile first approach understanding that a lot of the parents will be accessing this information because this is intended to support parents. That's our our primary audience. and we want to make sure that they're accessing it um knowing that they often using um some type of mobile device either a cell phone or a tablet typically. Um so and that's that's what we heard from parents as well. Um and then they're really looking for a hub where they can get a lot of information in one place and um trusted information. So those are some

066of the things that we were thinking about as we developed this. also a clean and streamlined lift. So, um, so we gave the site a bit of a faceelift, but you can see that we still have the same information here. Um, child care and education, health and development. I'm just going to click where you can see what's beneath there. Um, where we're talking about different programs, parenting so that um, they can access some great parenting resources. And we changed the name of the eligibility program. So it's find a program. Um again just kind of helps them understand where where things might be um income eligible programs marked here with the little kite logo um and a variety of programs that they can explore. And then what we're really excited about is the addition of the

067eligibility screener. So, um this screener is designed to help parents identify if they are eligible for um child care services, Head Start or Early Head Start or um public prek. So, um, we're really focused on helping them understand those programs, look at the similarities and differences, and understand, um, which one is going to be best for their family and that they are eligible for. So, while I don't really have time to to demo the screener itself, I did want to share a couple of the other features around here. So, we've got a program at a glance that helps parents look and see, okay, if I'm considering all of these options because they may get results that show that that their child is eligible for childcare services, Head Start and PreK. So, how do I know

068which one is best for for my child? And so um we share a lot of information where they can find out um what those programs offer, what the eligibility is. We also have some um some FAQs, just frequently asked questions um about the programs and the screener. and then a little uh another little shot where they can see information about the what how the screener works and then um eligibility for those programs. So they know going into it what's required and then um it's a a relatively easy screener to walk through for a family and um determine where they might be eligible. they get results that they can then take to one of those programs and say, "Okay, this is what I found out and um and then walk through either the application process or

069um I I think all of them would have an application process." So, but um but we link to those so that they can um easily access it. And um really exciting to be able to work very closely with um we work with the with Alma with the um Head Start collaboration office and um with several f folks from TEA and um you know be able to just determine and you know as you guys know our our eligibility um requirements are different across each program. So, uh, um, really figuring out where they align and where they differ and make sure that we have some easy streamlined questions that parents can can walk through to find out what what they're likely eligible for. Uh, um, so I think that's really everything that I want to share on

070this. Um I'll also share that um as part of the process you know I mentioned that we worked with parents and um other eligibility staff for um focus groups and then we also brought them back actually twice. So we brought them back to talk about okay this is what we what we laid out for um for this new design and um they looked at it. They shared several great insights. We made some changes based on their input. One of those changes being this nice little back to the top button so you can easily find your way back on a long page. Um rearranging some things. So um it was really great getting that feedback and then also we engaged them again with um user acceptance testing. So once we said okay this is the final

071version we um asked some parents providers and eligibility staff to go in in multiple languages um looking at different pages providing their feedback testing the eligibility screeners. So um it was a great opportunity to get that family engagement um and that cross- sector engagement as we went through this. So, um, Megan, is there anything you want to add as you worked very closely with us on this? >> No, it's a great overview. I think we're just really excited to get it out into the world and and see how it's working. >> Agree. All right, we're happy to take some questions. I see Kirsta. >> Hi, Kathy. Um I'm just curious, is there an opportunity for partners to share um you know connections to other content? So you know we have a number of great resources

072under PBS Kids parents. Is it possible to connect to that or other station um information? There absolutely is and we do I believe connect to some um PBS parent resources already with that. >> Yeah. So Kirsten, we um have in the I think it's we renamed at home learning and it has a different title now but that same content is still there like all the great links that we had worked with y'all to curate for PBS. >> Yes, it's under learning resources now. Thank you. Kathy is a >> suggestion from our parent. Go ahead. >> My perennial question when we talk about the screener is um is there a timeline or hope to add in um Medicaid and SNAP and other programs like that since some of the eligibility is similar. >> That is I

073remember it was going to be like a little off into the future you were going to try this first. So I just wanted to mention >> Yeah, that's a much bigger lift I think. um what we kind of think about as next steps and and designed it with next steps in mind was to be able to um streamline the connections to apply for these services. Uh um when we're combining programs across different agencies, um it it does make it a little bit more difficult. And then with SNAP and U Medicaid um yeah much much larger lift. So there is, you know, a similar program, what is that called? Um, my benefits or my >> Texas benefits >> that that already is is offering that for that program. And we do, I think, link to that

074on the site. But, um, at this time, I don't think we have plans to put that into this eligibility screener. Uh um but yeah, I mean obviously the hope would be to get as integrated as we can and it still be um useful for parents. >> Kathy, sorry if I missed this. Did you say when this was going to launch? >> So our goal is um late August. >> Late August. Okay. >> Um yeah, we'll we'll let you know when it when it does launch. >> And I know this is a tricky question for TWWC. what the out what's the outreach plan to let parents know it's available. >> We do have an outreach plan. Um I think we're going to start with the soft launch and um just kind of check it again once

075it's actually in that final production stage. U make sure that that everything is still running smoothly. Um but we'll be we'll be sharing it out with our networks for sure. Reagan, I saw you come off mute. Did you want to add something from there? Nope. Nope. That's all good. Any other questions or comments for Kathy? All right. Thank you, Kathy. All right. And then we don't have a slide on this, but we do have an update from Kirsten, who is chairing um the Early Learning Council. Or do we have slides? Did we add a couple of slides? >> Let me see. >> I can't remember. Um, but Kirsten, you're you're going to give us an update on the TELC strategic plan workg group. >> Yes. Um, I can go ahead and do that. I don't

076Kathy, I don't know if you have a slide. I don't I think you don't. Um, but just wanted to um remind everyone that our group has been meeting. Um, it's been a fantastic group, very productive. Um, we've had a lot of good input um, and ideas. Um and so just want to publicly thank the group that's been meeting. We um we feel like we have um you know done a lot towards um helping to um connect what what some resources are out there with um with the work that's going on. um we would love to have the opportunity to continue meeting if that's um you know the pleasure of this group um because I think there's still some work and refinement that we can do as a group. Um so just to give you some

077updates from the pre I did I did give you an update I think at the last meeting but um some additional updates um in terms of the first goal which is around family support um that we um then that and that goal um that we focused in on was sharing consumer insight and feedback collected across programs to inform family engagement and connection. So, um, if you're following along at home, it would be action 1.4.2, um, as well as action 1.4.5. Um, and the work group has, um, some really good ideas about how to distribute the upcoming early learning needs assessment survey that will be going out to families. Um, and we, um, had some good suggestions for Dr. Mandel who's leading that work um and has done a terrific job on that and we look

078forward to the updated needs assessment uh later this year which will help in both of these action items. Um so then in the category of goal two which is we were focused on the workforce supports um we um and one of those is um action 2.3.5 which is to to make a starting point for trying to expand the number of higher ed programs for physical occupation and speech therapists that educate or train on early childhood service provision. Um, and we have to give an incredible shout out to um to Becky um um Fuss Miller. Am I saying her name right? Uh Hus Hus Miller, sorry. um and she went around and studied what each um program throughout the state was doing and compiled a spreadsheet to help us better navigate what programs are out there

079offered by universities, colleges, and community colleges. And it's an incredible um gift that she spent time doing this because both as she's an expert as she's a professor at um in Houston, but she also um you know really learned a lot about what programs are out there, how they're um you know how they're um provided on people's websites. the language they use is obviously, you know, can be very different across all of these different institutions and so helped us kind of navigate that. And so I want to give a shout out to Becky. I know she's not here today, but for that great work. Um, and so I think that's a great addition to this work that we are doing. Um, for the um action item that was 2.3.6, six, which was to involve retired

080teachers back in the early childhood profession. I think it's fair to say our group thought that was such a fantastic idea. Um, but we did struggle a little bit with how to how to do that, you know, and how to um help make progress on that um goal. Um and so we um so we we want to continue to kind of looking at that one, but we feel like there are some opportunities. Um several members uh pointed to some mentor programs run through colleges and universities and some other ideas. So I think there I think we need to learn a little bit more. Um but we um we feel like that's such an excellent um uh uh piece of all of this. Um in terms of action item 2.4.9, we think that the um techs

081um would be able to handle publishing a list of events and conferences, which is what that goal was around. Um and um April um is is studying um what that looks like and they have a real interest in providing that as part of techpaded. So I think that some movement is is going on that but still more to come about that. And then the work group has documented additional peer-to-peer mentoring programs including um one called CARES which is childcare advancement resources and experience sharing um techs connect and first three years. So the next step there is to share the list for further input from a broader audience and determine where can be posted. So that's kind of I and that was a little in the weeds. Um but but that was the great work of

082this group and and shows you the kind of dedication and attention to how we can kind of move many of these ideas forward. >> Any questions or comments? I cur it may be in the weeds, but I think that's I think that's a great update. I I love seeing those very specific kinds of of action recommendations that the work group is coming up with um to further the the work within the strategic plan. That's really great. Any other questions or comments? All right, let's go to our next agenda item. This is legislative updates. So, um, we don't have anyone specifically who requested to provide legislative updates. Let me ask if any of the members would like to share any updates on this agenda item. >> I'm going to nominate Kim and >> I was going

083to nominate you >> and then we can supplement. Well, we can supplement too because we have a legislative recap which I'll put in the chat and and an update on prek funding which I'll put in the chat and so I won't have to mention as much but um Reagan, it would be um great if you I don't know who who who wants to give the update about the governor's task force on early childhood and what role um maybe there will be for for TELC members. Um, I I don't have great detail on that, but I'd love to hear what what you've learned, I guess, about >> Well, let me So, so so let me let me provide an update just from from TWWC's perspective on some of the key bills that that we have the

084lead on. >> Um, so there was a bill that passed, Senate Bill 462 that created a new waiting list priority for child care workers, children. um they have to be eligible uh for CCDF, but they basically become, you know, a priority population. Um and so they they skip the very long waiting list that's currently in place. Uh we are proposing rules. The commission will approve proposed rules at the August 12th commission meeting. So, we've got a a pretty quick rule package coming forward so we can get the rules in place that are needed to implement this legislation. Um, so these um these won't be all the rule changes that we need um to make to the childcare rules. Uh but but we're moving this one forward quickly. Uh so we can go ahead and take

085the steps needed to implement that legislation. So, proposed rules August 12th, they'll be published for 30-day public comment, and then they'll come back um to the full commission for approval in late October for effect in early November. Um there is another piece of legislation um the the quad agency initiative. Uh uh TWWC has the lead on that quad agency initiative uh where we're tasked with pulling together TEA, HHSC, DFPS along with us um in an effort to review existing or proposed policies, rules, regulations um related to the child care industry. Uh the legislation notes that the first quad agency meeting has to be held before the end of the calendar year. Um, I will be hiring a project manager to for for the work that that we will need to do coordinating on behalf of

086the quad agency initiative. Um, so we expect that position to be on board this month. Um, and then we'll start putting together um more of the operational details and and getting that quad agency established and getting a a meeting on the books. Um, so those are kind of two two of the big of the big bills that that we're working on. Now, um, Stephanie, on your question on the the other bill, House Bill 117, um, the governor's task force on the governance of early childhood education and care. TWWC is a member, but we are not the lead agency implementing this. So, I don't have any updates on that bill. uh the Texas Education Agency has the lead in on on overseeing that particular piece of legislation. So, they may be able to speak to that,

087but I don't have any updates on that bill specifically. All right. Um, so I see you dropped some resources in the chat, both Kim and Stephanie. So, are there things that you guys want to provide an update on? Well, I think we just I mean we would be um remiss if we didn't take a little moment to celebrate the $und00 million um of unused Half dollars that will now be in your budget, Rean. Um so um I know we have increased costs and all things that are factoring into that that piece of things, but it is still a first time the ledge has recognized that the our funding just from the federal government is not enough. Um it's obviously um um not still not enough, but we are thrilled um and thankful to our partners

088um Texans Care and all of the partners and all of you across the state that that lend your voice and signed on letters or testified um or were interviewed for an interview uh on the in the media. So um uh thank you, thank you, thank you. The we obviously it's the fight continues, but we are also going to take a moment and celebrate the win. Um it's historic in Texas. So, um, so thank you for all your This is not a, um, you know, this wasn't the first time we've asked for money. This is not a, you know, as, as many of you know, anything with the legislature is is not a one and done and it's not a, you propose something one year and it gets through. Um, so this has been a long

089effort for many of us across across decades. So, thank you. Thank you. >> Yeah. And I will say, I know a lot of people have said, well, how many more kids are you going to serve? Um the unfortunate reality is that the cost of care went up even more than the amount of money that the legislature appropriated. Um we we increased our allocation this year. Um it went up about gosh we went from like 1.3 billion to 1.4 billion. So you know a pretty good increase like a 9% increase in the amount of funding that's out there. But our cost of care increased. Um the we base our base rates on the 75th percentile of the market rate survey and statewide the base rate went up 9%. Um it's it differs it differs you know

090area by area but overall a 9% increase is the biggest I can remember seeing in a one-year period. Um I think you know we usually see five or 6%. So 9% was very very significant. Um that's not the that's not the only increase. Um, that's the base rate increase. When you actually look at the average cost of care, which also include factors like Texas rising star status, if you compare compare last year when we when we set performance targets to this year when we set performance targets, um, it was like a almost 13% increase in the cost of care from the beginning of last year to what we're estimating the beginning of of fiscal year 26. um because we benchmark our base rates annually to the market rate survey, we generally raise rates every year.

091Um so that 50 million in you know in the first year of the bianium certainly was very very helpful um because we wouldn't be able to serve as many kids as we are serving now if we had not received um those additional state funds. So that's interesting because and I know David's um on my team has tried to be very judicious about trying to say how many more kids would be served because the numbers were hard in the first place. I mean we know it was to address the 95,000 family wait list but like how how low it would get to or how many you know families would get a a scholarship was always a little bit unclear. So what I guess what you're saying is that money is basically helping to just maintain the

092the current situation which just gives us a lot of thought about how to talk about more money next time because >> uh you know we were we were trying to be careful to not have them say okay well did you serve 10,000 kids like 10,000 additional families and so we didn't want to set that up for failure if if in fact you know the reimbursement and cost of care and all that stuff went up. Um, but uh, you know, it was compelling to the legislators. The the the weight list was a simple big number to that helped galvanize people and I think that number is obviously going to remain really high. So, we that should be helpful next time. But, uh, but that's interesting to know. Thanks for sharing that, Reagan. Yeah, >> I think

093adding, you know, the the we always never know what's going the federal government is going to do. Um and so and you know, we don't anticipate a cut with CCBG, but um you know, that that extra money is just that's one thing I like we don't know what the feds are going to do. So, but hopefully we'll fill fill that gap in. So, um >> yeah. And so >> well and and and so and we we have said an additional 50 million supports about 5,000 kids. >> Okay. >> So that's you know 5,000 kids that that you know that are supported with those additional >> if they were if they were currently in care and they just get to keep their care or if they are coming off the wait list they're still serving 5,000

094kids. >> Exactly. Right. >> Exactly. >> All right. Any other updates from council members on legislation? >> Um, I'll share one. This is Megan from TEA on Tori's behalf. She has to run soon, but in answer to your question, Stephanie, about HP17, which is the governor's task force. Um, like Reagan mentioned, TEA is the lead of that bill. Um, so more info to come. Um, as you might have noticed, there's a lot of different education bills um coming our way out of session. Um, but more info to come and you are correct that there is a role for the Texas Early Learning Council in that bill because um it's named as a member. So, it will be up to the governor's office is our understanding of um of how that which members are named, but

095it does designate that there will be two members of the Texas Early Learning Council who are part of that um task force or group. So, I'm happy to answer any other questions folks might have about 117. Um just don't have a ton of information right now. Yeah, truth. >> Yeah, go ahead. >> Um, I put in the chat a Lauren McKenzie did a summary of like what happened around prek funding because there were some lots of discussion differences between House and Senate bills, a budget bills, a school finance bills. And so hopefully that's helpful. It's a it's a kind of a confusing like there is money dedicated to full day prek but it doesn't end up really addressing the lack of half day funding for that other half a day. So anyway, I hope hope

096that's helpful. If you have any questions, let us know about that. Um I mentioned the HB6 the suspension. It's really HB6 was a big discipline bill kind of across kids of students of all ages, but there was a push to allow districts to um do out of school suspension for young students pre-K through 2 um for I can't remember the exact language, but it's basically like uh disruptive behavior. It's a it's a very general category that um is at that developmental stage like h can happen to anyone um you know that could that could that could apply to you know any child and so there is some you know concern about whether districts will use that um immediately that option or try to get supports for teachers or kids before using that option. And um

097one of the things we had pushed for was to try to get uh make sure that districts if they did suspend based on that reason to be able to explain that it was for that reason. And so that TEA and you know district leadership would have a good sense about maybe what kind of supports those teachers and districts needed to you know help those families. So um we'll just have to monitor that one a little bit. Um but that that it it did come off um in the arguments for it by teachers was that they really have a lot of children with challenging behaviors and really are struggling with that in terms of classroom management. So, um, and then the last thing I was going to mention is there was a provision in the school

098finance bill that was added at basically at the last few days, last couple weeks that um is going to make it very difficult for districts to continue or start um offering spots for tuition paying families uh for for preK And um the bill says that uh there will now be at least four quote intermediaries who will uh basically uh analyze and let districts know if um they uh can add new prek classrooms or support tuition based prek based on the availability of child care slots for families and sort of how that availability like how that's going to get defined, how that's going to be researched um is still needs to be worked out. But the tuition based prek piece doesn't go into effect until 2027. We have heard some districts who learned about this bill

099and provision and just decided to cancel their tuitionbased prek programs, which is um which is, you know, distressing. Uh and um so anyway, that's kind of coming down the pike and lots of people talked about, you know, we really need more options for families, not not fewer. Um and and even in this case where maybe there is availability of child care, that's that's probably full cost and tuition based prek at at the district level is usually more affordable than that. Um the other change on the pre-K piece of course is that teachers uh pre uh teachers in school districts are now um an eligibility category for public prek which is great. >> Yeah, I I know that we've been we've been working with tea, you know, to understand how they are going to be implementing

100all of the um all of the prek legislation um as it relates to partnerships. Um, so we're we're looking forward to to seeing, you know, their their detailed implementation plans um coming out. I believe they said winter of this year. So, >> we'll get more details on how all of those new provisions um will impact prek. >> Shruuthy. >> Yeah. I just want to provide quick updates on the DSHS side and the bills that we were following on maternal and child health side. Um, beyond the two bills that we've already talked about, the task force as well as the integrated um, data system, there were four other bills that we followed for specific for this group. There is a bill that got passed. House Bill 3940 is going to require us to make updates to

101our uh, information for parents of newborns publication as well as the parents guide to raising happy healthy children pamphlets. is it's going to include more information about Medicaid numbers and the coverage for those newborn children. So that would be specific for this group. Um we did receive lots of monies for on the maternal side. Um I won't go into too much detail for that. If you guys have any questions or um want information on the maternal side, I can provide those updates at a later time. >> All right. Thank you. All right. Any other updates? Okay. So, um our next agenda item um are updates from Texas Early Learning Council members and Megan Young with ECI is going to provide us with an update. >> Hi. Uh good afternoon everybody. Um, I do have just

102a quick update and we wanted to put a slide because it's a lot of words and I'm going to be reading out to y'all. Um, but in collaboration with some local ECI programs as well as faculty at some of the universities that have letters of collaboration with ECI, we've identified some additional degrees that meet the minimum requirements for the early intervention specialist credential. So, we have a set of degrees that have been added as qualifying, which means someone with this degree meets the minimum standards to be an early intervention specialist. And so, we've added childlife, infant and toddler studies, and infant and toddler development as qualifying degrees. Then we've also added a set of degrees as related which means that someone with these this this degree whose transcript also shows that they have three course

103credit hours specific to early childhood development or early child childhood special education as well as nine semester course credit hours relevant to early intervention. And those degrees are child development, early childhood education, looking at early childhood through grade six or pre-K through grade three, family sciences or family studies, nursing and rehabilitation rehabilitation therapy. So we've updated this information on our early intervention specialist credentiing web page which is linked on the slide. Um, and local ECI programs are now today using this expanded list of qualifying and related degrees when hiring early intervention specialists. Our hope is that this change will streamline the hiring and credentiing process for these professionals and expand the pool of individuals who are um qualified to provide early intervention services. Any questions? Thanks. >> You're still on mute, Reagan. Thank you. Allison

104um has an update for us. >> Hey, good afternoon. Um I don't have a slide for this. Um this is late breaking, but we wanted to let you know, excuse me, that we did release a request for application yesterday afternoon. It was published. Um I did drop some information in the chat along with a link. Um this is for a new statewide initiative we're funding. It's called elite which is an acronym for early learning intervention training and education. So there will be three main focus areas for this grantee. The first will be providing um training and support to local workforce solutions staff who are determining um when it's appropriate and how to assess um the inclusion rate for children with disabilities who are receiving subsidies. So we um we hear a lot about the need

105for for help with that. Um this entity will also be providing support and technical assistance um to boards and staff um to you know just support implementing those inclusive practices um for children with disabilities. And then lastly, they will also be delivering um training to Texas Rising Star providers around inclusive practices and developmentally appropriate um strategies and supports. And this will cover not only diagnosed um disabilities, but also undiagnosed disabilities and you know behavioral challenges which we hear so so much about continue to hear a lot about. So that will also be part of of what their their training addresses. So we're excited that that's out there. So share it with your networks if you know of a potentially qualified um applicant. That's it. >> All right. Thank you, Allison. Um any other updates from

106council members? All right. Okay. So, our last agenda item, we have um upcoming early childhood events. All right. And so, um Megan, who's going to provide an overview of this? >> This is a standing item. Shy, I don't know if you want to maybe reh highlight the echo series for us. >> Sure. Um so we work closely with UT um in doing the echo series. So they provide webinars every single month. Um it's the second Friday of each month from 1 to two and each um webinar is a different topic. I can put in the chat the next date and time if you guys want to register for that webinar, but it is something that's done every month. Um it's part of the Texas developmental screening and surveillance. >> Great. Thank I think the next

107one is today, like immediately after this meeting. So, >> Oh, all right. Kim, >> uh, we are hosting an early childhood summit next Thursday. I'm dropping the link in the chat. Um, have a legislative overview. Um, we'll be a part of it. We also have, um, Elliot Haspel, who has a a new book out next week on on making the case for child care across um, raising a nation is what it's called. um as well as um some uh advocate uh some early child leaders from other states Georgia, Arkansas and Louisiana on their structure of childcare. So as we are living into uh sunset uh season for many of our agencies and our quad agency and our governor's task force um so getting us some outside information to see how we can continue to improve

108child care and our early childhood systems for children and families. So, so join us next week. It's from 10 to noon webinar. Um, should be lots of good information and good conversation. >> Great. Megan, >> um, I also just wanted to flag that the ECI advisory committee will meet on August 20th and I put a link in the chat to the meeting agenda and that's also um, available for folks to join anywhere in the state on teams. >> All right. Okay. Any other events from council members? Okay. Then that takes us to an announcement of our next meeting date, October the 24th. Mark your calendars 11:00 a.m. to 100 p.m. And with that, it is 12:39 and we will adjourn the Texas Early Learning Council. Thank you members very much um for joining and for

109all of the members of the public who are here with us today. Thank you everyone. >> Thank you Reagan.