Under supervision of the South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness Board of Trustees, there is created an Office of South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness. The office shall:

(1) provide to the board information on best practice, successful strategies, model programs, and financing mechanisms;

(2) review the local partnerships' plans and budgets in order to provide technical assistance and recommendations regarding local grant proposals and improvement in meeting statewide and local goals;

(3) provide technical assistance, consultation, and support to local partnerships to facilitate their success including, but not limited to, model programs, strategic planning, leadership development, best practice, successful strategies, collaboration, financing, and evaluation;

(4) evaluate each program funded by the South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness Board of Trustees on a regular cycle to determine its effectiveness and whether it should continue to receive funding;

(5) recommend to the board the applicants meeting the criteria for First Steps partnerships and the grants to be awarded;

(6) submit an annual report to the board, the House Ways and Means Committee, the House Education and Public Works Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and the Senate Education Committee by December first which includes, but is not limited to, the following information:

(a) the needs and resources available to meet the goals and purposes of the First Steps to School Readiness initiative statewide, to include each local partnership;

(b) a list of risk factors the office considers to affect school readiness;

(c) identification of areas where client-level data is not available;

(d) an explanation of how First Steps programs reach the most at-risk children;

(e) the ongoing progress and results of the First Steps to School Readiness initiative statewide and locally;

(f) fiscal information on the expenditure of funds, and recommendations and legislative proposals to further implement the South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness initiative statewide;

(g) kindergarten readiness results for the prior school year as well as longitudinal data to document progress toward improving kindergarten readiness;

(h) annual and five-year goals to serve a high proportion of at-risk children in the State along with a plan and timetable to reach the goals that align to the benchmarks and objectives established by the board;

(i) the evidence-based and evidence-informed programs provided and number of children and families served for the past three fiscal years. The data must include the percentage of total at-risk children served by the initiative;

(j) the total amount of state, local, federal, and other revenues received and the total amount of these funds expended by the State Office of First Steps and by each local partnership for services to children and families;

(k) availability of high-quality and affordable professional development and high-impact strategies such as coaching for child care providers to include the number of individuals, by partnership, who receive the professional development;

(l) innovative practices in counties that are making progress toward the benchmarks and objectives;

(m) technical assistance provided by State Office of First Steps to county partnerships with information related to the type of assistance provided and outcomes of the assistance;

(n) evidence of each local partnership's collaboration with public and private stakeholders; and

(o) performance reviews of the local partnership boards referenced in Section 59-152-70(F);

(7) provide for ongoing data collection. Before June 30, 2015, the board shall develop a response to the November 2014 external evaluation of each prevalent program and the overall goals of the initiative, as provided in Section 59-125-160. The office shall contract with an external evaluator to develop a schedule for an in-depth and independent performance audit designed to measure the success of each prevalent program in regard to its success in supporting the goals of the State Board and those set forth in Section 59-152-20 and Section 59-152-30. Results of all external performance audits must be published in the First Steps annual report;

(8) coordinate the First Steps to School Readiness initiative with all other state, federal, and local public and private efforts to promote good health and school readiness of young children and support for their families;

(9) complete an annual accountability report pursuant to Section 1-1-820 and identify key program area descriptions and expenditures and link these to key financial and performance results measures, and provide this report to the General Assembly to post on its Internet website; and

(10) submit to the Agency Head Salary Commission, pursuant to Sections 8-11-160 and 8-11-165, justification of and recommendations for the salary and any salary increases for the Executive Director of the South Carolina Office of First Steps to School Readiness.

HISTORY: 1999 Act No. 99, Section 2; 2014 Act No. 287 (H.3428), Section 10, eff June 18, 2014; 2018 Act No. 152 (H.3591), Section 3, eff April 12, 2018.

Editor's Note

2018 Act No. 152, Section 8, provides as follows:

"SECTION 8. Section 20B. of Act 287 of 2014 [reauthorizing the South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness Act until July 1, 2016] is repealed. Act 99 of 1999, South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness Act, as amended by this act, is reauthorized until June 30, 2025."

Effect of Amendment

2014 Act No. 287, Section 10, rewrote the section, revising the time and manner for performance audits, revising ongoing data collection provisions, and correcting an obsolete reference.

2018 Act No. 152, Section 3, rewrote (6), revising miscellaneous reporting requirements of the Office of South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness; added (9) and (10); and made nonsubstantive changes.