Upon approval, this action will result in an annual saving of approximately $2,643, and net annual pension cost saving of $464. This net savings is a result of deleting twelve positions as part of this Board action, and the deletion of one Early Childhood Educator-Project position number 17457 in Resolution No. 2019/181 approved by the Board on May 21, 2019. Added positions will be funded with 50% Federal revenue, and 50% State revenue.   

The Master Teacher-Project and Infant/Toddler Master Teacher-Project positions are needed to ensure appropriate staffing levels in all Community Services Bureau’s directly operated child care centers and to meet the operational needs of the Bureau. Currently, CSB has fourteen (14) directly operated child care centers throughout Contra Costa County. Only five (5) out of these centers are staffed with at least one Master or Infant/Toddler Master Teacher.  
  
One of the most distinguishing, essential job function for Master Teachers and Infant/Toddler Master Teachers is providing training and supervision to subordinate staff in the classroom. At a time, when CSB is experiencing significant staff shortage and is in risk of closing classrooms and centers due to lack of adequate and qualified teaching staffing, "growing our own” staff from within is one of the best ways of sustaining the childcare program and services for the community. More and more State funded Child Development programs and the National Head Start/Early Head Start programs are encouraged to grow their own staff. Because of the current structure, where only five child care centers have master teachers, CSB’s ability to grow its own staff (through training Teacher Assistant Trainees (TATs)) is extremely limited and therefore insufficient to meet the demand as we onboard and train TATs.   
  
Adding eleven more master teachers to the remaining nine CSB child care centers will significantly increase the Bureau’s ability to train and prepare its future cadre of associate teachers. Further, adding at least one master teacher to each center currently without one will allow for building a career ladder for current teaching staff and will improve the quality of services. The eleven master teacher positions will replace twelve current teacher positions.  
  
Many of the CSB’s teachers are qualified for the master teacher position and are looking for professional growth opportunities such as this. The Bureau is confident that a significant number of current teachers will apply for the promotional opportunities and that many of the new positions will be filled by current teachers. Any displaced staff will be relocated to other centers with vacancies or will be retained as Teacher-floaters, which will allow the Bureau to establish a pool of permanent staff to cover permanent and temporary teacher vacancies due to illness, on-the-job injury, etc.   
  
The eleven master teacher positions will be created by canceling currently unfilled funded teacher, infant/toddler teacher and infant/toddler associate teacher positions. Additionally, CSB recently closed permanently its Home Based pre-school program and abolished an Early Childhood Educator-Project position (Resolution No. 2019/181, 5/21/19). The funding behind this position will also supplement the creation of the proposed eleven master teacher positions.

If this action is not approved, CSB's child care services may be significantly impacted because of staff shortage. The program may need to close classrooms and centers, thus reducing or fully eliminating services to low-income families.

The Employment and Human Services Department, Community Services Bureau supports four of Contra Costa County's community outcomes - Outcome 2: Children and Youth Healthy and Preparing for Productive Adulthood; Outcome 3: Families that are Economically Self Sufficient; Outcome 4: Families that are Safe, Stable and Nurturing; and Outcome 5: Communities that are Safe and Provide a Health Quality of Life for Children and Families. Failure to add the required master teacher positions may negatively impact the Bureau's ability to timely and effectively support the outcomes listed above.