237A.23 Child care training and development system.

1. The departments of education, public health, and human services shall jointly establish a leadership council for child care training and development in this state. In addition to representatives of the three departments, the leadership council shall include but is not limited to representatives of community colleges, institutions of higher learning under the state board of regents and private institutions of higher education, the Iowa cooperative extension service in agriculture and home economics, and child care resource and referral service agencies.

2. The charge of the council is to develop a proposal for a statewide child care training and development system and to monitor implementation of the proposal. The purpose of the system is to improve support for persons providing or administering child care services. The system shall be developed in a manner so as to incorporate and enhance existing efforts to provide this support.

3. The proposal for the child care training and development system shall include all of the following elements:

a. Identification of core competencies for providers and administrators that may be incorporated into professional standards.

b. Establishing levels for professional development.

c. Implementing a professional experience registry to track the training, educational attainment, and experience of providers and administrators.

d. Implementing a unified training and technical assistance approach for identifying needs, ensuring equal access, and establishing minimum requirements for training and trainers.

e. Establishing an articulation process to permit recognition of training provided by entities that do not grant academic credit by entities that do grant academic credit.

f. Implementing a financing structure to support the training registry.

g. Identifying other means for enhancing the training and development of persons who provide and administer child care.

4. The proposal shall include an implementation plan and budget provisions and may provide for implementation through a contract with a private nonprofit agency.

99 Acts, ch 192, §21, 38; 2000 Acts, ch 1058, §26