CA Educ Code § 8902 (2021)
2021 California Code|Education Code - EDC|TITLE 1 - GENERAL EDUCATION CODE PROVISIONS|DIVISION 1 - GENERAL EDUCATION CODE PROVISIONS|PART 6 - EDUCATION PROGRAMS STATE MASTER PLANS|CHAPTER 6 - California Community Schools Partnership Act|Section 8902.

8902.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to exacerbate conditions associated with poverty, including food insecurity, housing and employment instability, and inadequate health care.(2) Community schools offer unique models to more efficiently and effectively provide trauma-informed integrated educational, health, and mental health services to pupils with a wide range of needs that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.(3) Additional investment in community schools that provide integrated pupil supports, community partnerships, and expanded learning opportunities will help address the trauma and loss of learning that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.(b) For the 2021–22 fiscal year, the sum of two billion eight hundred thirty-six million six hundred sixty thousand dollars ($2,836,660,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Superintendent to administer the California Community Schools Partnership Program, established by Section 117 of Chapter 24 of the Statutes of 2020, as amended by Section 63 of Chapter 110 of the Statutes of 2020, in the manner and for the purposes set forth in this section. These funds shall be available for encumbrance or expenditure until June 30, 2028. The funds shall be distributed as follows:(1) At least two billion six hundred ninety-four million eight hundred twenty-seven thousand dollars ($2,694,827,000) shall be allocated to establish new, and expand existing, community schools supported by local educational agencies that help coordinate services and manage learning networks for these schools.(2) Up to one hundred forty-one million eight hundred thirty-three thousand dollars ($141,833,000) shall be allocated to contract with local educational agencies to create a network of at least five regional technical assistance centers, pursuant to subdivision (k), to provide support and assistance to local educational agencies and community schools through the 2027–28 school year. Regional technical assistance center responsibilities shall include both of the following:(A) Outreach and technical assistance to potential applicants as needed before or after awarding a grant under the program.(B) Development of community school resources, sharing of best practices, and data collection.(c) On or before November 15, 2021, the Superintendent, with the approval of the state board, shall update as necessary, the application process and administration plan for the selection of grant recipients under the program. After November 15, 2021, the Superintendent shall update the state board on an annual basis regarding the administration of this chapter and present to the state board any proposed changes to the application process and administration plan.(d) The Superintendent shall award, subject to the approval of the state board, grants on a competitive basis to qualifying entities for planning grants for new community schools, implementation grants for new community schools or for the expansion or continuation of existing community schools, and coordination grants to representative qualifying entities in northern, central, and southern California, and in urban, suburban, and rural areas.(e) A qualifying entity seeking a grant under this chapter shall submit an application to the Superintendent at a time and in a manner, and with any appropriate information, as the Superintendent may reasonably require. Each grant application submitted shall include all of the following:(1) A description and documentation of how the participating community and cooperating agencies have been and will be engaged in the community school model.(2) A description of all of the programs and services to be provided at the schoolsite, at a site near or adjacent to the school, or virtually.(3) A description of all direct and indirect resources to be used for the community school program, and the agencies responsible for the implementation of the program.(4) Provisions for data collection and recordkeeping, including records of the population served, the components of the service, the outcomes of the service, and costs, including all of the following:(A) Direct costs.(B) Indirect costs.(C) Costs to other agencies.(D) Cost savings.(f) The Superintendent shall prioritize grant funding to qualifying entities who meet all of the following:(1) Serve pupils in schools or a partner school or schools in which at least 80 percent of the pupil population are unduplicated pupils.(2) Demonstrate a need for expanded access to integrated services, including those disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.(3) Involve pupils, parents, certificated and classified school staff, and cooperating agency personnel in the process of identifying the needs of pupils and families, and in the planning of support services to be offered.(4) Commit to providing trauma-informed health, mental health, and social services for pupils within a multitiered system of support at or near the schoolsite, and partner with other schools, school districts, county agencies, or nongovernmental organizations.(5) Commit to providing early care and education services for children from birth to five years of age, inclusive, through one or more local educational agencies or community-based organizations.(6) Identify a cooperating agency collaboration process, including cosignatories, a mechanism for sharing governance, and for integrating or redirecting existing resources and other school support services.(7) Identify a plan to sustain community school services after grant expiration, including by maximizing reimbursement for services from available sources, including, but not limited to, the Local Educational Agency Medi-Cal Billing Option Program, School-Based Medi-Cal Administrative Activities program, and reimbursable mental health specialty care services provided under the federal Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment program (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396d(a)(4)(B)).(g) Of the amount identified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), at least 10 percent shall be available for planning grants of up to two hundred thousand ($200,000) per qualifying entity, and shall be allocated in the 2021–22 and 2022–23 fiscal years, for up to a two-year planning grant period, for local educational agencies with no existing community schools. The planning grant may be used for any of the following purposes:(1) Staffing costs for a community school coordinator.(2) Conducting a comprehensive school and community needs and asset assessment, including, but not limited to, pupil and community demographics, school climate, integrated support services, expanded learning time, family and community engagement, new or existing partnerships with governmental entities or community-based organizations, and available funding sources.(3) Grant application support, service billing development, and other administrative costs necessary to launch a community school model at scale.(4) Partnership development and coordination support between the grantee and cooperating agencies.(5) Providing training and support to local educational agency and cooperating agency personnel to develop best practices for integrating pupil supports.(6) Preparing a community school implementation plan for submission to the governing board or body of the local educational agency and to the department.(h) (1) Of the amount identified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), up to 70 percent shall be available for implementation grants to qualified entities of up to five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) annually for new community schools or for the expansion or continuation of existing community schools. New community schools shall be funded for a minimum of five years, upon submission to the department of a community school plan. The implementation grant may be used for any of the following purposes:(A) Staffing, including, but not limited to, a community school coordinator, and contractor capacity.(B) Coordinating and providing support services to pupils and families at or near community schools, including through childcare, expanded learning time before and after school, and during school intersessions.(C) Providing training and support to local educational agency personnel, and partner agency personnel on integrating school-based pupil supports, social-emotional well-being, trauma-informed practices, and establishing sustainable community school funding sources.(D) Designing and executing community stakeholder engagement strategies.(E) Ongoing data collection and program evaluations.(2) The Superintendent shall prioritize new community schools for implementation grants under paragraph (1) and those moneys shall supplement, not supplant, existing services and funds.(i) (1) All planning and implementation grants awarded under subdivisions (g) and (h) shall be matched by the qualifying entity or its cooperating agencies with a local match equal to one-third of the grant amount. The local match shall be contributed in cash or as services or resources of comparable value, as determined by the department.(2) The Superintendent shall reserve adequate funding pursuant to this section to preserve capacity for qualifying entities receiving planning grants pursuant to subdivision (g) to receive implementation grants pursuant to subdivision (h) at the end of their planning grant period, if all planning grant requirements are met.(j) (1) Of the amount identified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), at least 20 percent shall be available for coordination grants to qualifying entities of up to one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) annually per site of an existing community school, and shall be allocated, beginning with the 2024–25 fiscal year, through the 2027–28 fiscal year.(2) The funding under paragraph (1) shall supplement, not supplant, existing services and funds, and shall be used for ongoing coordination of services, management of the community school, and ongoing data collection and program evaluations.(3) All coordination grants awarded under paragraph (1) shall be matched by the participating qualifying entity or its cooperating agencies with a local match equal to one dollar ($1) for each dollar ($1) of coordination grant funding received. The match shall be contributed in cash or as services or resources of comparable value, as determined by the department.(k) Of the amount identified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), the Superintendent shall contract, subject to the approval of the state board, on a competitive basis with at least five local educational agencies to serve as regional technical assistance centers to provide technical assistance to grant recipients seeking to establish or expand community schools. Preference shall be given to local educational agencies that commit to partner with institutions of higher education or nonprofit community-based organizations. Technical assistance shall, to the extent practicable, be provided in consultation and collaboration with the statewide system of support established pursuant to Section 52059.5, and be made available to share best practices and assist both prospective applicants and grant recipients with tasks, including, but not limited to, all of the following:(1) Conducting a comprehensive school and community needs and asset assessment.(2) Improving authentic family and community engagement in the languages spoken in the community.(3) Creating community partnerships.(4) Developing sustainable funding sources.(5) Coordinating services across child-serving agencies and schools.(6) Accessing and combining funding for services from multiple revenue sources.(l) Grant recipients and regional technical assistance centers shall commit to providing program and expenditure data to the department, as specified by the Superintendent, and participating in overall program evaluation.(m) (1) The impact of the grant program in achieving the goals described in this section, including an evaluation of the effectiveness of the opportunities provided, shall be included in the comprehensive report that is required to be submitted on December 31, 2025, to the Governor and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, pursuant to Section 117 of Chapter 110 of the Statutes of 2020.(2) The Superintendent shall provide a comprehensive report, on December 31, 2027, to the Governor and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on the impact of the grant program in achieving the goals described in this section, including an evaluation of the effectiveness of the opportunities provided.(n) For purposes of making the computations required by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, the appropriation made by subdivision (b) shall be deemed to be “General Fund revenues appropriated for school districts,” as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 41202 of the Education Code, for the 2020–21 fiscal year, and included within the “total allocations to school districts and community college districts from General Fund proceeds of taxes appropriated pursuant to Article XIII B,” as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 41202 of the Education Code, for the 2020–21 fiscal year.(Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 44, Sec. 8. (AB 130) Effective July 9, 2021.)