AB 842: California community schools.

Existing law authorizes a county board of education to establish and maintain one or more county community schools and authorizes a county board of education to enroll certain pupils in county community schools.

This bill would establish the California Community Schools Act, which would require the State Department of Education to make grants available to qualified schools to plan and operate community schools. The bill would require the department to establish an Office of Community Schools to oversee the implementation of the community schools program. The bill would require the department to provide technical assistance to applicants and would allocate $5,000,000 to the department for that purpose, subject to appropriation of those funds by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute. The bill would require the department to award community school planning grants of $300,000 to all successful applicants for planning purposes and to award community school operational grants of $750,000 per year for 5 years to applicants following the approval of a community school plan, as specified, and have demonstrated readiness to begin operation of a community school. The bill would require a grantee to establish a community school leadership team and hire a community school coordinator, and would require the community school coordinator, in collaboration with the community school leadership team and others to conduct a baseline analysis of assets and needs at the schoolsite. The bill would require a local educational agency to approve a schools grant application before the application is submitted to the department. To the extent the bill imposes additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require grant recipients to submit a report to the department including specified information relating to the implementation and effectiveness of the community school plan, and would require the department to evaluate the grant recipients report in accordance with specified criteria. The bill would require the department, no later than August 30 after the first year of operation and each year thereafter, to report to the Governor and the Legislature on the impact of the program. The bill would provide that the act shall be implemented only if funds are appropriated for its purposes by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute.

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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.