Windsor Unified blames delayed preschool starts on new California licensing process

Dozens of Windsor parents joined the throngs of elementary students at Mattie Washburn and Cali Calmecac schools this week, relieved — if not a little teary-eyed — to drop off their 3-year-olds so they could start their preschool journeys.

At one point over the summer, the scene looked like it might not materialize. And, even as it played out on Monday, it still came a month late.

Changes to the way the state licenses preschools and other child-care facilities are to blame for the delay to the July 15 opening date for the Windsor Unified School District’s programs for 3-year-olds, school officials say.

That left some families without child care for the last half of summer and others scrambling to find preschool spots somewhere else. About 50 families in all were affected.

“We were responsible, we did our job and filed our paperwork in a timely manner as suggested by the state,” Windsor Unified Superintendent Jeremy Decker said. “This is a new process at the state, and they are struggling.”

The process, announced to child care facility licensees, applicants and providers in an April 5 letter from the California Department of Social Services, involves a new “Centralized Application Bureau,” that’s supposed to “standardize and improve consistency in the child care licensing application process in a timely and efficient manner.”

But Jessica Borland, director of child care at Windsor Unified, says the process is anything but.

Previously, the Regional Community Care Licensing Division Child Care Office — what preschool and child care providers call the “local office” based in Santa Rosa — used to handle the bulk of the work. “Prior to the new process, the application went to the local office. They made sure it was OK, then the supervisor at the state OK’d it,” Borland explained.

After the state approved an application, an evaluator from the local office would schedule a final site visit.

Now, Borland says, with the new Centralized Application Bureau, employees at the local offices send applications to the state.

“Then the central office and local offices have to coordinate to evaluate a site visit,” Borland said. “That’s the new step that’s causing a lot of the clog.”

In the case of Mattie Washburn and Cali Calmecac in Windsor, the process to license the preschools took nine months from their first contact with the state, school officials said. Borland said the analyst originally handling their applications stopped working on their case. Then, they learned their application for their Cali Calmecac site was never received.

“The original expectations were 60 to 90 days,” he said.

A nudge from state Senate President Mike McGuire’s office helped get a site evaluator to Windsor and get the preschool programs for 3-year-olds open, said Heather Bailey, public information officer for the school district.

“The moment we heard about this delay, we moved with speed to get the doors opened and kiddos welcomed at Mattie Washburn and Cali Calmecac,” McGuire, a Democrat from Healdsburg, said in a statement. “We’re currently working with the department to get these issues that led to this delay and others fixed permanently across the state.”

Theresa Mier, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Social Services, defended the new process.

She said delays to getting licenses can be caused by many issues, including missing forms or documents, job applicants having a criminal history, and the pace at which an applicant brings a facility into compliance with state standards.

California law requires the department to grant or deny a license within 30 days of receiving a provider’s application. However, that timeline does not begin until after a site visit has been complete.

According to Mier, the average processing time from application to licensure for preschool and child-care programs in 2023 was 100 days, only slightly longer than the 60- to 90-day expectation that Windsor school officials had.

Mier said no additional staff were hired when the “Centralized Application Bureau” was created, but said that the application workload was redirected to staff located in regional offices throughout the state.

The state doesn’t just license public school preschool programs, but private child care providers and preschools as well. Like Windsor school officials, some told The Press Democrat they’ve seen an uptick in licensing delays.

“Delays have been for different reasons,” said Melanie Dodson, executive director with Sonoma 4cs, a nonprofit early-childhood education provider and advocacy group.

Without naming specific people or organizations, she said one child care provider experienced a monthlong delay getting her license because a state employee incorrectly typed the provider’s email address.

In another example, 4cs has experienced a delay trying to shift one of its licenses from one building to another.

“The process is just slower than usual,” said Dodson, adding that an influx of state funding and policy push for more child care and preschool programming is likely creating a backlog at Department of Social Services.

The state has poured millions into funding new preschools. The 2024-25 state budget includes $2.1 billion for state preschool, which represents a nearly 16% reduction from the 2023-24 fiscal year as a result of $406 million going unspent.

“You’ve got all the normal ones going forward plus an influx of new applications,” Dodson said. “At the same time you’re hit with this change that seems to be trying to make it better but it seems to be backfiring.”

Amie Windsor is the Community Journalism Team Lead with The Press Democrat. She can be reached at amie.windsor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5218.