AB 252: Advanced placement program: Advanced Placement STEM Access Grant Program.

Existing law contains legislative findings and declarations stating that advanced placement courses, among other things, help to improve the overall curriculum at schools where they are provided and provide a cost-effective means for high school pupils to obtain college-level coursework experience. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to annually update the information on advanced placement available on the Internet Web site of the State Department of Education to include current information on the various means available to school districts to offer or access advanced placement courses, and to annually communicate with high schools that offer advanced placement courses in fewer than 5 subjects and inform them of the various options for making advanced placement courses and other rigorous courses available to pupils who may benefit from them.

This bill, until July 1, 2021, bill would establish a grant program overseen by the department the Advanced Placement STEM Access Grant Program, to be administered by the State Department of Education, for purposes of awarding grants of up to $8,000 to eligible school districts to cover the costs associated with a high school of establishing or expanding its a high school advanced placement STEM curriculum, as defined. The bill would require the Superintendent to submit on or before July 1, 2021, a specified report to the Legislature describing the effectiveness of the grant program. The bill would specify that the program is to be implemented only if moneys are made available to the department from state and nonstate funding sources for purposes of the program. The bill would establish the Advanced Placement STEM Access Grant Program Account within the State Treasury for purposes of awarding grants pursuant to the program. The bills provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2022.