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HOUSE LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

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Agency History and Timeline

Below is information on the history of the agency. This information was obtained through various sources. A list of the sources is included at the end of the timeline.

1999

Governor: James Hovis Hodges (Democrat) (1999-2003)

South Carolina became the third state in the nation to create a statewide public-private partnership to increase school readiness outcomes for children. South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness was created as leaders recognized an alarming gap in students' preparedness for school success.

Act 99 created First Steps Initiative for improving early childhood development by providing grants to local partnership boards to provide services and support to children and their families to enable children to reach school ready to learn. Pursuant to Act 99, the First Steps Initiative would have terminated on July 1, 2007, unless it was reauthorized by the General Assembly.

Director of State Office: Marie-Louise Ramsdale (June 1999 - October 2003)

2000

Part II, Section 52 (B) of the General Appropriations Act allowed taxpayers to designate a contribution to the First Steps Fund on their individual income tax return (Provisos 64.21 in FY 2004-05 and Proviso 64.19 in FY 2005-06 specify the contribution shall be used exclusively for children's services from age 0-4).

2001

Proviso 72.80 of the General Appropriations Act required $25 million in First Steps Carry Forward funds to be carried forward from FY 2000-01 and credited to the General Fund to be expended on education.

2002

Proviso 1.84 of the General Appropriations Act required the First Steps State Office to negotiate existing contracts for financial management and accounting services through the Materials Management Office with accounting firms to reduce the contract amounts so that they were in line with county appropriations.

2003

Governor: Mark Sanford (Republican) (2003-2011)

January 1, 2003 - The First Steps' in-depth performance audit required by law was due. First Steps timely submitted the evaluation performed by Child Trends.

Director of State Office: Susan DeVenny (October 2003 - December 2015)

2004

Proviso 1AA.1 of the General Appropriations Act included provisions for funds set-aside for First Steps to draw down lottery unclaimed prize revenue on a dollar-for-dollar basis when matched by contributions with match monies distributed through a demographic funding formula.

2005

2006

January 1, 2006 - First Steps in-depth performance audit required by law was due. First Steps timely submitted the evaluation performed by High/Scope.

The General Assembly passed Act 412 that reauthorized the First Steps Initiative until July 1, 2013, and provided statements for the basis of the reauthorization.

The following provisos from the General Appropriations Act, impacted First Steps: (1) Proviso 1.64 specified that the Department of Education prohibition on implementing the Early Childhood Environment Rating Program did not apply to First Steps (Proviso 1.59 in FY 2008-09); (2) Proviso 1.80 required the First Steps Initiative to convene a task force to develop quality standards for certain programs serving children 0-4 and issue a report by January 9, 2007; (3) Proviso 1.75 created the SC Child Development Education Pilot Program (CDEPP). The four-year-old kindergarten expansion program, created in response to a December 2005 Circuit Court ruling in the state's school equity funding lawsuit (Abbeville County School District et. al. vs. South Carolina) delivered 4K programming in both the public and private sectors. First Steps was charged with responsibility for overseeing the private sector providers (Proviso 1.66 in FY 2007-08; Proviso 1.64 and 1.73 in FY 2008-09; Proviso 1.62 in FY 2009-10, and Proviso 1A.49 from FY 2010-11, and Proviso 1A.45 in FY 2011-12, Proviso 1.83 and 1A.34 in FY 2013-14, Proviso 1.85 and 1A.33 in FY 2014-15, Proviso 1A.66 and 1A.60 in FY 2015-16 all relate to CDEPP); and (4) Proviso 73.14 appropriated unobligated FY 2005-06 General Fund revenue to the First Steps Initiative.

2007

January 9, 2007 - Original scheduled due date for the First Steps Initiative task force's report on quality standards for certain programs serving children 0-4 required by Proviso 1.8 from 2006. First Steps timely submitted a report that stated that a subcommittee of the task force would develop "expanded, measurable quality standards."

Proviso 1.69 of the FY 2007-08 General Appropriations Act included the same requirement as the previous year's Proviso 1.80 (i.e. First Steps Initiative to convene a task force to develop quality standards for certain programs serving children 0-4 and issue a report by January 9, 2007), but eliminated the due date for development of the standards.

2008

The General Assembly passed a Rescission Bill that reduced funding for many state agencies. It reduced funding for First Steps by $1,781,214.

The First Steps State Board adopted 5 goals as part of its strategic planning: (1) Optimize early childhood investments in SC; (2) Strengthen outcomes-based accountability; (3) Enhance collaboration across public and private sectors; (4) Support community-based planning and capacity-building; and (5) Expand research-based practices and validate the efficacy of innovative approaches.

First Steps partnered with the General Assembly and the Duke Endowment to bring the Nurse-Family Partnership Program to South Carolina.

2009

January 1, 2009 - First Steps' in-depth performance audit required by law was due. First Steps submitted the audit in November 2010.

Executive Order 2009-12 from the Governor transferred the BabyNet lead agency designation from the Department of Health and Environmental Control to First Steps. BabyNet is South Carolina's interagency, early childhood special education system for infants and toddlers.

December 10, 2009 - First Steps State Board adopted a new strategic plan, "Vision 2013." The vision statement included in the plan was, "Connect SC's high-risk children to coordinated, individualized interventions designed to improve their education and development trajectories."

2010

Executive Order 2010-06 designated the SC First Steps Board of Trustees as South Carolina's Early Childhood Advisory Council.

Proviso 1A.45 of the General Appropriations Act required the Education Oversight Committee to transfer EOC 4 Yr Old Evaluation funds to First Steps.

May 2010 - 14 Senators submitted a request that the Legislative Audit Council ("LAC") conduct an audit of First Steps. The LAC approved the audit in March 2012.

November 2010 - First Steps submitted evaluation that was required by law to be submitted on January 1, 2009. In the evaluation, the external panel asserted that the lateness resulted from delays in receiving data from partner agencies.

2011

Governor: Nikki Haley (Republican) (2011-Present)

The LAC issued a report on BabyNet administered by the First Steps Initiative.

The following provisos from the General Appropriations Act impacted First Steps: (1) Proviso 117.99 in the FY 2015-16 General Appropriations Act required First Steps to post online and provide legislative committees quarterly reports about implementation of LAC's BabyNet recommendations; and (2) Proviso 1A.46 of the General Appropriations Act provided for a First Steps Initiative representative to serve on the SC Reading Achievement Systemic Initiative.

2012

January 1, 2012 - First Steps' in-depth performance audit required by law every 3 years was due. First Steps did not submit the audit. First Steps considered the audit due November 2013, since First Steps published the last audit in November 2010 (due January 2009).

March 22, 2012 - The LAC approved the audit of First Steps that was requested in May 2010.

September 1, 2012- Scheduled due date for development of common reporting format for BabyNet per Proviso 89.125 of FY 2012-13.

September 15, 2012- Scheduled due date for First Steps to develop recommendations to implement LAC's recommendations regarding BabyNet and to publish its progress quarterly per Proviso 89.125 in FY 2012-13.

2013

June 2013 - LAC issued a report on the operations of First Steps. LAC found: (1) the need for programming to address school readiness remained; (2) First Steps had made significant improvements in collecting data but had reported questionable statistics to the public; (3) State Board Members were not attending meetings; (4) in FY 11-12 First Steps, as permitted by law, granted waivers to 21 Local Boards to exceed the 8% overhead limit set in statute; (5) FY 12-13 errors in funding calculations led to over and under funding of Local Boards; and (6) alternatives to placement of First Steps within state government existed.

First Steps disagreed with some of LAC's findings and asserted that it did not report questionable statistics to the public.

The following provisos from the General Appropriations Act impacted First Steps: (1) Proviso 117.114 reauthorized the First Steps Initiative for the duration of FY 2013-14 (July 1, 2013 was the repeal date, if the proviso had not been passed); and (2) Proviso 118.17 allocated nonrecurring revenue to the First Steps Initiative.

November 2013 - Due date, claimed by First Steps, for the 3 year in-depth performance audit required by law. First Steps did not submit. First Steps asserted that it did not want to duplicate efforts since LAC was performing an audit.

2014

The General Assembly passed Act 287, which:

(A) Reauthorized the First Steps Initiative until July 1, 2016, and

(B) Codified some recommendations from June 2013 LAC report: (1) established new accountability provisions, new qualification requirements for grants awarded to Local Boards; (2) provided as a condition of receiving state funds, each Local Board must be subjected to performance reviews; (3) required First Steps State Board to report annually to the General Assembly on activities and progress to include recommendations for changes and legislative initiatives and results of program evaluations; (4) reduced State Board from 37 members (voting and non-voting) to 25 members (all voting); (5) authorized Local Boards to enter multi-county arrangements; and (6) established Office of First Steps Study Committee.

The following provisos from the General Appropriations Act impacted First Steps: (1) Proviso 1.74 required the First Steps State Board to incorporate the findings of the LAC Report in the scope of its next evaluation due November 14, 2014; (2) Proviso 1A.76 provided for First Steps Initiative input on prekindergarten assessments (Proviso 1A.77 of FY 2015-16 relates to assessments); and (3) Proviso 118.16 provided nonrecurring revenue to the First Steps Initiative.

September 2014 - Ken Wingate was designated new Chair of State Board.

November 14, 2014 - Scheduled due date for external evaluation incorporating the findings of the LAC Report. First Steps submitted the evaluation in March 2015.

2015

January 1, 2015 - Scheduled due date for First Steps State Board's report to the General Assembly on the results of its program evaluations, etc.

March 15, 2015 -Scheduled due date for the Office of First Steps Study Committee recommendations per Act 287 of 2014. H.3843 - Extended deadline for Office of First Steps Study Committee to complete review and present recommendations to January 1, 2016.

March 16, 2015 - First Steps submitted the external evaluation that was originally due November 14, 2014.

The following provisos from the General Appropriations Act impacted First Steps: (1) Provisos 1.66 and 1A.31 provided that First Steps is responsible for collection and maintenance of data on state funded programs provided to private providers for full-day four-year old kindergarten; and (2) Proviso 1.84 included provisions for First Steps Initiative four-year old kindergarten technology with reports on its expenditures to legislative committees scheduled no later than January 15, 2016.

November 1, 2015 – Scheduled due date for First Steps report to various legislative committees about acquiring unique student identifiers for students enrolled in the CDEPP Program per Proviso 1A.66.

November 3, 2015 - Report of the Office of First Steps Study Committee submitted to the General Assembly pursuant to Act 287 of 2014. Mr. Michael Brenan serves as Chair of the Study Committee and The Honorable Nikki Setzler serves as Vice Chair.

2016

July 1, 2016 - Scheduled First Steps Initiative repeal date, unless reauthorized per Act 287 of 2014.

Sources of Information

First Steps to School Readiness 2015 Annual Restructuring Report

First Steps to School Readiness 2015 Program Evaluation Report

First Steps to School Readiness website