Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, § 24052: Duties, 2019

1. Duties. The duties of the council include, but are not limited to: A. Reviewing and addressing recommendations of the cabinet regarding young children in the following areas: (1) Early childhood policy implementation to ensure an effective public and private service delivery system and reporting recommendations based upon the review to the cabinet; and (2) The delivery of early childhood services by the departments of the cabinet and recommending improvements to increase efficiencies in the delivery of services; [PL 2019, c. 450, §11 (NEW).] B. Advising the Department of Health and Human Services regarding: (1) The coordination of child care services in the State; and (2) The preparation of any application, amendment, waiver request, plan or other document submitted by the department to the Federal Government regarding child care funding or other early childhood services grants; [PL 2019, c. 450, §11 (NEW).] C. Reviewing and commenting on initiatives and plans of the cabinet related to early childhood; [PL 2019, c. 450, §11 (NEW).] D. Submitting annually to the cabinet and the joint standing committees of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs and health and human services matters recommendations for changes to laws and rules to reduce barriers to collaboration and coordination among federally funded and state-funded programs and services for young children and the children's families and to improve the quality of programs and services for young children statewide. Recommendations must include, but are not limited to, methods to: (1) Promote the availability of services and programs for young children and the children's families across the State; (2) Promote innovative programs for young children and the children's families including funding models for early childhood and education programs and services; and (3) Enhance and improve quality and outcomes of early childhood and education programs and services, including child development services, home visitation, child care, education services, supervision services, health services and social services; and [PL 2019, c. 450, §11 (NEW).] E. Developing and periodically updating a process for evaluating the council's effectiveness in performing the council's duties, including advising the cabinet. [PL 2019, c. 450, §11 (NEW).] [PL 2019, c. 450, §11 (NEW).]