Title 17. Education

Chapter 1. General School Law

Part X-a. Louisiana Early Childhood Education

17:407.30          Louisiana Early Childhood Education Fund

A. There is hereby created in the state treasury a special fund to be known as the Louisiana Early Childhood Education Fund, hereafter in this Section referred to as the “fund”. 

B. Any appropriations, public or private grants, gifts, or donations received by the state or the Department of Education for the purposes of this Section, other than federal funds for the Child Care and Development Fund Program, shall be credited to the fund. 

C. Monies in the fund shall be invested by the state treasurer in the same manner as monies in the state general fund. Interest earned on the investment of monies in the fund shall be deposited in and credited to the fund. Unexpended and unencumbered monies in the fund at the end of the fiscal year shall remain in the fund. 

D. The fund shall be administered by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Monies in the fund shall be awarded to local entities approved by the board for the purpose of funding early childhood care and education slots through the Child Care Assistance Program in Type III early learning centers that have at least one classroom with children age fifteen months or younger if a local entity provides funds from nonstate sources. No such award shall be made unless the local entity’s financial commitment to the project proposed for funding provides matching funds from nonstate sources at a rate of at least two to one. 

E. If a local entity provides funding for the purpose of providing early childhood care and education, the board may award additional funding in accordance with the Child Care Assistance Program in the jurisdiction of the local entity. Any such award shall not exceed fifty percent of the nonstate funds. Monies from the fund shall not be used to displace, replace, or supplant the amount appropriated to the Child Care Assistance Program. 

F. The department shall actively solicit and use resources to fund the Child Care Assistance Program slots. 

G. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education shall promulgate rules and regulations to administer the distribution of monies from the fund to the Child Care Assistance Program. 

Added by Acts 2017, No. 353, § 1.