AB 185

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) The Early Education Act requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to provide an inclusive and cost-effective preschool program. Existing law requires the Superintendent to develop standards for the implementation of high-quality preschool programs. This bill would require the Superintendent, in consultation with the Director of Social Services and the executive director of the State Board of Education, to convene a statewide interest holder workgroup, as provided, to provide recommendations on best practices for increasing access to high-quality universal preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-old children offered through a mixed-delivery model that provides equitable learning experiences across a variety of settings and recommendations to update preschool standards, as provided. (2) The Early Education Act prescribes the eligibility requirements for 3- or 4-year-old children and families where a child has exceptional needs for part-day and full-day California state preschool programs, as provided, and requires each state preschool program applicant or contracting agency to give priority for part-day and full-day programs according to a specified priority ranking. This bill would, among other things, revise those eligibility requirements and rankings, as provided. (3) Existing law requires the Superintendent to authorize California state preschool program contracting agencies to offer up to 3 hours each instructional day of wraparound childcare services within a part-day California state preschool program for children enrolled in an education program as a transitional kindergarten or kindergarten pupil, if their families meet specified requirements. This bill would require the Superintendent to instead authorize those agencies to offer those services for less than 4 hours each instructional day, and would, among other things, require the Superintendent to authorize California state preschool programs operating on a local education agency campus to operate a part-day California state preschool program that allows flexibility in the operational hours and enrollment cutoff dates to better align with the enrollment for the new school year. (4) The Early Education Act requires the Superintendent to develop procedures for state preschool contractors to identify and report data on dual language learners enrolled in specified preschool programs, and requires those procedures to include, among other things, criteria for state preschool contractors to use to accurately identify dual language learners enrolled in their preschool programs based on the information collected from the family language instrument and family language and interest interview. This bill would, among other things, require those procedures to also include criteria for the family language and interest interview. (5) Existing law requires the State Department of Education, in collaboration with the State Department of Social Services, to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates, which vary with the length of the program year and the hours of service, for purposes of the Early Education Act. Commencing January 1, 2022, contractors who, as of December 31, 2021, received the established standard reimbursement rate are required under existing law to be reimbursed at the greater of the 75th percentile of the 2018 regional market rate survey or the contract per-child reimbursement amount as of December 31, 2021. This bill would require those contractors who, as of December 31, 2021, received the established standard reimbursement rate to instead be reimbursed at the greater of the 75th percentile of the 2018 regional market rate survey or the contract per-child reimbursement amount as of December 31, 2021, as increased by a specified cost-of-living adjustment. (6) Existing law establishes the California Prekindergarten Planning and Implementation Grant Program as a state early learning initiative with the goal of expanding access to classroom-based prekindergarten programs at local educational agencies, defined as school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools. Existing law appropriates $300,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for allocation to local educational agencies for grants for the 2021–22 fiscal year. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to allocate $200,000,000 of that amount to local educational agencies as base grants, enrollment grants, and supplemental grants for specified purposes. Existing law requires local educational agencies that receive grants to do certain things, including, among other things, provide specified data to the department and develop a plan for consideration by the governing board or body at a public meeting on or before June 30, 2022, for how all children in the attendance area of the local educational agency will have access to full-day learning programs the year before kindergarten that meet the needs of parents, as provided. Existing law requires the department to initiate collection proceedings for certain grant funds that are unexpended by local educational agencies by June 30, 2026, and for grant funds that are used by local educational agencies in a manner inconsistent with the program or that fail to provide required data. For the 2022–23 fiscal year, the bill would appropriate $300,000,000 from the General Fund to the department for allocation to local educational agencies for purposes of the program, as specified. This bill would, among other things, apply substantially similar provisions to the 2022-23 appropriation, as provided. (7) Existing law establishes the California Universal Preschool Planning Grant Program with the goal of expanding access universally to preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-old children across the state through a mixed-delivery system, as defined. Existing law, pursuant to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, for each of the 2022–23, 2023–24, and 2024–25 fiscal years, requires the Superintendent to consult with the State Department of Social Services to develop and administer a grant process and award grant funds to each county, as specified. This bill would revise and recast the California Universal Preschool Planning Grant Program by, among other things, requiring each county to submit a single planning grant application that contains a signed agreement from the resource and referral agencies in the county and the local planning council and requiring a grantee to form a single working group with specified members. This bill would authorize the State Department of Education to enter into exclusive or nonexclusive contracts with nongovernmental entities on a bid or negotiated basis for the purposes of the California Universal Preschool Planning Grant Program and the statewide interest holder workgroup described in paragraph (1) above, as provided, and would authorize these entities to subcontract as necessary, subject to approval of the Superintendent. The bill would appropriate $3,966,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent to administer the California Universal Preschool Planning Grant Program and the statewide interest holder workgroup described in paragraph (1) above, as provided. (8) Existing law establishes the Cradle-to-Career Data System for the purpose of connecting individuals and organizations to trusted information and resources, as a source for actionable data and research on education, economic, and health outcomes for individuals, families, and communities, and to provide for expanded access to tools and services that support the education-to-employment pipeline, as specified. Existing law requires the Office of Cradle-to-Career Data, also known as the "managing entity," to submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint images and related information required by the Department of Justice of all employees, prospective employees, contractors, subcontractors, volunteers, and vendors whose duties include or would include access to nonanonymized confidential information, personally identifiable information, personal health information, or financial information contained in the information systems and devices of the managing entity provided by the data providers for the purposes of creating longitudinal datasets in service of the data system. This bill would remove vendors from that requirement. (9) Until January 1, 2025, existing law authorizes a school district, with the approval of the governing board of the school district, to procure design-build contracts for public works projects in excess of $1,000,000, awarding the contract to either the low bid or the best value, as provided. This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2029, a school district, with the approval of its governing board, to procure alternative design-build contracts for public works projects in excess of $5,000,000, awarding the contract to either the low bid or the best value, as provided. The bill would define "alternative design-build" as a project delivery process in which both the design and construction of a project are procured from a single design-build entity based on its proposed design cost, general conditions, overhead, and profit as a component of the project price. The bill would require specified information to be verified under penalty of perjury. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require, beginning January 1, 2023, these provisions to govern a project using an alternative design-build contract entered into on or after January 1, 2023. (10) Existing law creates the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund in the State Treasury for the purpose of receiving appropriations for school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and community college districts related to the state of emergency declared by the Governor on March 4, 2020, relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing law appropriates $7,936,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for transfer to the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund. Existing law requires the Superintendent to allocate these appropriated funds to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, as provided, and requires local educational agencies receiving apportionments to report interim expenditures of those apportioned funds to the department by December 1, 2024, and December 1, 2027, and a final report on expenditures no later than December 1, 2029. This bill would, among other things, require recipients to make those reports using a template developed by the department, which the bill would require the department to develop, and would require recipients to make those reports publicly available on their internet websites, as provided. (11) Existing law requires the Superintendent, commencing with the 2022–23 fiscal year, to apportion to each school district and county superintendent of schools that provides pupil transportation services, a transportation allowance equal to 60 percent of the home-to-school transportation expenditures reported by the school district or county superintendent of schools, as specified. Existing law requires the Superintendent to adopt regulations for purposes of making those apportionments. This bill would expand the recipients of the above-described transportation allowance to also include school districts and county offices of education that provide transportation services by means of a joint powers agreement, a cooperative pupil transportation program, or a consortium, and would specify home-to-school transportation expenditure allocations for component and reorganized school districts, as provided. The bill would repeal the requirement for the Superintendent to adopt regulations. (12) Existing law authorizes a local educational agency, for pupils enrolled in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to provide independent study courses pursuant to specified conditions. This bill would, among other things, exempt from some of those conditions pupils that participate in an independent study program for fewer than 15 schooldays in a school year and pupils enrolled in a comprehensive school for classroom-based instruction who, under the care of appropriately licensed professionals, participate in independent study due to necessary medical treatments or inpatient treatment for mental health care or substance abuse, as specified. The bill would require local educational agencies to obtain evidence from appropriately licensed professionals of the need for those pupils to participate in independent study. (13) Existing law establishes a public school financing system that requires state funding for school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula, as specified. Existing law includes average daily attendance as a component of the calculation under the local control funding formula. Existing law requires the local control funding formula to include, in addition to a grade span-adjusted base grant, a 10.4% adjustment to the kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive, base grant for school districts that maintain an average class enrollment of not more than 24 pupils for those grades unless a collective bargained alternative is agreed to by the school district. Existing law, for the 2022–23 fiscal year, requires the Superintendent to increase the base grants for transitional kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, by an additional 6.28%, as specified. This bill would require the Superintendent, for the 2022–23 fiscal year, to increase the base grants for transitional kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, by an additional 6.7% instead of the additional 6.28%, as specified. (14) For the 2021–22 fiscal year for school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools that meet specified requirements relating to independent study, existing law requires the Superintendent to calculate an attendance yield for the 2019–20 and 2021–22 fiscal years, as specified, and to adjust the 2021–22 fiscal year average daily attendance for purposes of apportionments under the local control funding formula for these local educational agencies, as provided. This bill would, among other things, revise those requirements relating to independent study, as specified. (15) As part of the local control funding formula, existing law prescribes funding provisions, requirements, and potential penalties for school districts and charter schools relating to the provision of transitional kindergarten, as specified. This bill would revise and recast those provisions, as specified. (16) Existing law provides for the funding of necessary small schools and high schools, as specified. Existing law requires, among other things, that funding to include various specified amounts per pupil and teacher for different tiers of numbers of pupils and teachers. This bill would revise the funding for necessary small schools and high schools by increasing some of those specified amounts. (17) Existing law creates and regulates various educational entities for purposes of providing and supporting instruction, including school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education. Existing law prescribes personnel requirements for these entities. Existing law prescribes a process for recovering payments from employees when the state determines an overpayment has been made. This bill would require a school employer, as defined, to notify an employee when a wage overpayment has been made to the employee and afford the employee an opportunity to respond before commencing recoupment actions, and would require reimbursement to be made through one of three specified methods mutually agreed to by the employee and the employer. The bill would require installment amounts deducted from payment of salary or wages pursuant to these provisions to not exceed 25% of the employee's net disposable earnings, except as specified. The bill would prohibit an administrative action taken by the employer to recover an overpayment unless the action is initiated within 3 years from the date of overpayment. The bill would provide that if these provisions conflict with a memorandum of understanding, the memorandum of understanding controls without further legislative action, except as provided. (18) Existing law establishes the Teacher Residency Grant Program and appropriates funds from the General Fund to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to make one-time grants to develop new, or expand, strengthen, or improve access to existing, teacher residency programs that support, among other things, a list of designated shortage fields. Existing law appropriates $184,000,000 from the General Fund to the commission to augment the Teacher Residency Grant Program to support teacher and school counselor residency programs that recruit and support the preparation of teachers and school counselors, as provided. This bill would authorize the commission to allocate, as specified, up to $10,000,000 of the $184,000,000 appropriation to capacity grants that would be required to be awarded on a competitive basis to local educational agencies or consortia partnering with regionally accredited institutions of higher education to create school counselor residency programs that lead to more credentialed school counselors that reflect a local educational agency community's diversity. (19) Existing law authorizes a classified employee of a school district or community college district to request a hearing to determine if there is cause for not reemploying the employee for the ensuing year, as provided. This bill would authorize an employee who has requested a hearing to be represented at the hearing by an attorney or by a nonattorney representative of the employee organization designated as the exclusive representative of the employees in the employee's classification, if any. (20) Existing law establishes the Classified School Employee Summer Assistance Program. Existing law authorizes school districts and county offices of education to elect to participate in the program, and authorizes a classified employee of a participating local educational agency who meets specified requirements to withhold an amount from the employee's monthly paycheck during the school year to be paid out during the summer recess period, as provided. Existing law authorizes a classified employee to be eligible to participate in the program if the classified employee is employed by the local educational agency in the employee's regular assignment for 11 months or fewer out of a 12-month period. This bill would define "month," for purposes of these provisions, as 20 days or 4 weeks of 5 days each, including legal holidays. (21) Existing law establishes the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program and requires the Superintendent, commencing with the 2022–23 fiscal year, to allocate $2,750 per unit of average daily attendance, as specified, to local educational agencies with a prior fiscal year unduplicated pupil percentage of 75% or more, and requires those local educational agencies to offer to at least all unduplicated pupils in classroom-based instructional programs in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, and to provide access to expanded learning opportunity programs to at least 50 percent of those pupils. Commencing with the 2023–24 school year, as a condition of specified funding, existing law requires those local educational agencies to offer access to expanded learning opportunity programs to all pupils and to provide access to any pupil whose parent or guardian requests their placement in a program. This bill would, among other things, require a local educational agency receiving that $2,750 per unit of average daily attendance to receive at least three years of funding upon becoming eligible to receive funding pursuant to that provision, and would provide that a local educational agency that does not meet the eligibility for that funding for four consecutive years shall be ineligible to receive that funding. (22) Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to accept pupils from other school districts by adopting a resolution to become a school district of choice, as defined, in accordance with specified procedural requirements and limitations. Existing law requires the Legislative Analyst to conduct an evaluation of the school district of choice program and to make recommendations on specified matters to the appropriate education policy committees of the Legislature and the Department of Finance by January 31, 2021. Existing law makes the school district of choice program inoperative on July 1, 2023. This bill would require the Legislative Analyst to conduct an evaluation and make recommendations consistent with the above-described requirements by September 30, 2026, and would extend the inoperative date of the school district of choice program to July 1, 2028. (23) Existing law requires each pupil completing grade 12 to satisfy certain requirements as a condition of receiving a diploma of graduation from high school. These requirements include the completion of designated coursework in grades 9 to 12, inclusive. The coursework requirements include, among others, the completion of one course in visual or performing arts, foreign language, or, commencing with the 2012–13 school year, career technical education. Existing law eliminates the authorization for career technical education to count toward that graduation requirement on July 1, 2022, or upon the occurrence of a specified event relating to career technical education requirements of the University of California and the California State University, whichever occurs earlier, as specified. This bill would extend the inoperative date of that graduation requirement to July 1, 2027, or upon the occurrence of a specified event relating to career technical education requirements of the University of California and the California State University, whichever occurs earlier, as specified. If a pupil completed a career technical education course that met that graduation requirement between July 1, 2022, and the effective date of this bill, the bill would, notwithstanding any other law, require the course to be deemed to have fulfilled that requirement. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on local educational agency officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (24) Existing law requires the Superintendent, for purposes of calculating the amount of funding per unit of average daily attendance for the special education local plan area identified as the Los Angeles County Juvenile Court and Community School/Division of Alternative Education Special Education Local Plan Area for the 2022–23 fiscal year, to increase the amount of funding per unit of average daily attendance computed for that special education local plan area for the 2021–22 fiscal year by 14 percent, and then to adjust that amount by a specified inflation factor. This bill would delete the requirement for the Superintendent to adjust that amount by the specified inflation factor. (25) The Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 provides for the adoption of rules, regulations, and procedures, under the administration of the Director of General Services, for the allocation of state funds by the State Allocation Board for the construction and modernization of public school facilities. Existing law authorizes a school district to levy a fee, charge, dedication, or other requirement against any construction within the boundaries of the school district for the purpose of funding the construction or reconstruction of school facilities, as specified. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to impose a specified amount as an alternative to the amount that may be imposed on residential construction, as specified. Existing law authorizes a school district to increase the alternative fee, charge, dedication, or other requirement, as prescribed, if state funds for new school facility construction are not available, as specified. Existing law specifies that state funds for new school facility construction are not available for these purposes if the State Allocation Board is no longer approving apportionments for new construction, as specified. Existing law requires the State Allocation Board, upon making a determination that state funds are no longer available, to notify the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly, in writing, of that determination, as specified. This bill would, after the determination that state funds are no longer available is made, prohibit increasing the alternative fee, charge, dedication, or other requirement as of (A) the date that funds are transferred into an account that has been identified for new construction apportionments for purposes of the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 or (B) the date of the first meeting of the State Allocation Board at which apportionments for new construction resume, whichever is earlier. The bill would require the Office of Public School Construction to post on its internet website the status of the above-described provisions, as provided. (26) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that the lead agency proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. Existing law sets forth the exclusive methods of mitigating environmental effects related to the adequacy of school facilities when considering the approval or the establishment of conditions for the approval of a development project under CEQA, as provided. Existing law conditions the inoperation of that provision on the approval of a statewide general obligation bond measure submitted for voter approval that includes bond issuance authority to fund construction of kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, public school facilities, as specified. This bill would instead condition the inoperation of that provision on the approval of a statewide general obligation bond measure submitted for voter approval that includes bond issuance authority to fund construction of kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, public school facilities or if provided state resources, as defined, are available. (27) Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, provides for the licensure and regulation of child daycare facilities, as defined. Existing law exempts a room used as a classroom and other school grounds used by a schoolage childcare program from certain requirements imposed on child daycare facilities, including square footage, fencing, and toilet requirements, and defines "schoolage childcare program" for these purposes to partly mean a program for children who are 4 years and 9 months or older and are currently enrolled in school, as specified. This bill would remove that age requirement from the definition of "schoolage childcare program," and would specify that a school under that definition includes transitional kindergarten, as defined. The bill would authorize the department to implement these changes through letters or similar written instructions until regulations are adopted. (28) Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age, which includes various programs and services, including, among others, CalWORKs Stage 2 and Stage 3 childcare, migrant childcare, childcare and development services for children with special needs, the alternative payment program, and Head Start programs. Under existing law, for purposes of establishing initial income eligibility for services under the Child Care and Development Services Act, "income eligible" means that a family's adjusted monthly income is at or below 85% of the state median income, adjusted for family size. Existing law excludes from income for these purposes specified foster care payments made on behalf of a child and guaranteed income payments, as defined. The bill would authorize the department to implement the exclusion of those 2 forms of payments from the definition of "income eligible" for those purposes by letter or similar directive until regulations are adopted, and would require the department to adopt regulations no later than July 1, 2025. Existing law establishes adjustment factors for a provider agency's reported child days of enrollment in order to reflect the additional expense of serving specified children, including an adjustment factor of 1.05 for infants and toddlers who are 0 to 36 months of age, inclusive, and are served in general child care and development programs, or children who are 0 to 5 years of age, inclusive, and are served in a family child care home education network setting, as specified. This bill would change that adjustment factor to 1.1. (29) Existing law, commencing January 1, 2022, requires $289,000,000 in one-time funding to be made available to support family childcare providers through reimbursement rate supplements to be allocated over a 24-month period. Of that $289,000,000, existing law requires $89,000,000 to be allocated from specified funds from the Budget Act of 2021, as specified. This bill instead would require up to $291,000,000 in one-time funding to be made available to support family childcare providers through reimbursement rate supplements to be allocated over a 24-month period, and of that up to $291,000,000, would require up to $91,000,000 to be allocated from specified funds from the Budget Act of 2021, as specified, thereby making an appropriation. (30) Existing law, commencing January 1, 2022, requires $188,760,000 in one-time funding to be made available to address inequities between the standard reimbursement rate and the regional market rate ceiling for center-based childcare providers in the general childcare, migrant, and California state preschool programs by providing reimbursement rate supplements, to be allocated over a 24-month period, as specified. This bill instead would require $184,794,000 in one-time funding to be made available to address inequities between the standard reimbursement rate and the regional market rate ceiling for center-based childcare providers in the general childcare and development, migrant childcare and development, childcare and development for children with special needs, and California state preschool programs by providing reimbursement rate supplements, and would revise those allocations over a 24-month period, as specified, thereby making an appropriation. (31) Existing law appropriates $150,000,000 for the 2021–22 fiscal year to the State Department of Education for specified nutrition-related purposes, including $120,000,000 for allocation to local educational agencies to expend on kitchen infrastructure upgrades that will increase pupil access to, or improve the quality of, fresh and nutritious school meals. Existing law conditions receipt of that funding on a local educational agency reporting to the department, on or before June 30, 2023, on how it used the funding to improve the quality of school meals or increase participation in subsidized school meal programs. This bill would delay that reporting condition by one year until June 30, 2024. (32) Existing law appropriates $750,000 to the California History-Social Science Project to develop, establish, and maintain a centrally located platform for hosting specified model curricula and appropriates $281,000 for the Superintendent, in consultation with and subject to the approval of the executive director of the State Board of Education, to contract with a nongovernmental research institution for the purpose of convening a Statewide Model Curriculum Coordinating Council to help ensure alignment and coordination in the development of those model curricula. This bill would extend the time for which those moneys are available for encumbrance to until June 30, 2025, thereby making an appropriation. (33) Existing law appropriates $85,000,000 to the Superintendent and requires the Superintendent to allocate $50,000,000 of that appropriation to a county office of education that is then required to partner with the Fresno County Office of Education's Early Math Initiative and collaborate with other state-sponsored and nonprofit mathematics and science educator training initiatives to do certain things, including expand existing statewide infrastructure and capacity to provide educator professional development and coaching in mathematics and science for grades 4 to 12, inclusive. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the executive director of the State Board of Education, to establish a competitive process, administered by the department, to select, subject to approval by the executive director of the state board, a county office of education-led consortium with demonstrated expertise in developing and providing professional learning and mentoring for educators in public schools to strengthen math and science instruction for all pupils, and requires applicants to demonstrate a desire and the capacity to work in collaboration with existing efforts to build a coherent and comprehensive system of statewide supports for all children from birth to grade 12, inclusive. This bill would, among other things, require those provisions to specifically include computer science in addition to mathematics and science, thereby making an appropriation. (34) Existing law requires the department and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence to establish a process, administered by the department, to select, subject to approval by the executive director of the state board, one or more local educational agencies with expertise in developing and providing high-quality professional learning to teachers and paraprofessionals in public schools serving transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to conduct specified activities in a manner that aligns with the statewide system of support. Existing law requires the department to prioritize applicants that propose to partner with a county office of education or consortium of county offices of education that were part of the consortia awarded a grant as part of the Educator Workforce Investment Grant Program. Existing law appropriates $20,000,000 to the department for allocation in a manner consistent with these provisions. This bill would, for purposes of that appropriation, instead require the department and the collaborative, through a competitive grant process and subject to the approval of the executive director of the state board, to select a county office of education or a consortium of county offices of education, thereby making an appropriation, and to prioritize applications from a county office of education or consortium of county offices of education that were part of the consortia awarded a grant as part of the Educator Workforce Investment Grant Program. The bill would authorize applicants to submit an application in partnership with one or more institutions of higher education or one or more nonprofit organizations. (35) Existing law appropriates $15,000,000 to the department for allocation to one or more local educational agencies, as specified, to coordinate and support professional learning opportunities for educators across the state. Existing law requires the department, through a competitive grant and subject to approval by the executive director of the state board, to select one or more institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations with expertise in developing and providing professional learning to teachers and paraprofessionals in public schools serving kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to, in partnership with a county office of education or consortium of county offices of education, provide professional learning for teachers and paraprofessionals statewide in strategies for providing high-quality instruction and computer science learning experiences aligned to the computer science content standards in a manner that aligns with the statewide system of support. This bill would instead require the department to allocate that appropriation to one or more county offices of education for those purposes and would require the department, through a competitive grant process and subject to the approval of the executive director of the state board, to instead select a county office of education or a consortium of county offices of education with that specified expertise, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would authorize applicants to submit an application in partnership with one or more institutions of higher education or one or more nonprofit organizations. (36) Existing law appropriates $3,560,885,000 from the General Fund to the department to establish the Arts, Music, and Instructional Materials Discretionary Block Grant, for allocation by the Superintendent to county offices of education, school districts, charter schools, and the state special schools, in accordance with a formula based on a per-pupil basis, as provided. This bill would, among other things, instead require the Superintendent to apportion those funds proportionally on the basis of an equal amount per unit of average daily attendance for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and would provide that the average daily attendance for the state special schools for these purposes shall be deemed to be 97% of enrollment, as specified. (37) Existing law appropriates $250,000,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent for allocation to local educational agencies meeting certain criteria for the Literacy Coaches and Reading Specialists Grant Program in order to employ and train literacy coaches and reading and literacy specialists to develop school literacy programs, mentor teachers, and develop and implement interventions for pupils in need of targeted literacy support, as provided. Existing law defines local educational agencies for these purposes to mean a school district, county office of education, or charter school. This bill instead would define local educational agency for those purposes to mean an elementary or unified school district, county office of education, or charter school. (38) Existing law appropriates money from the General Fund to the State Department of Social Services for childcare purposes. This bill would make available $2,000,000 from those funds to provide a state-subsidized childcare or preschool provider operating or serving a program funded by a county, alternative payment program, or family child care home education network up to 16 paid nonoperational days for use between the effective date of this act and June 30, 2023, inclusive, if the provider is closed due to COVID-19 self-quarantine or self-isolation, when recommended by local public health department guidelines, and would require the State Department of Social Services and State Department of Education to issue guidance, as specified. By adding a new purpose for which previously appropriated funds may be spent, this bill would make an appropriation. (39) This bill would update references and make other conforming and technical changes. (40) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (41) Certain funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution. (42) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.