SB 424: The California Regional Environmental Education Community Network.

Existing law contains legislative findings and declarations regarding the need for an educational program that is designed to build attitudes of stewardship toward the maintenance of the quality of our environment and to enable all citizens to use resources wisely.

This bill would establish the California Regional Environmental Education Community Network under the direction and control of a 5-member governing board appointed, as specified, for the purpose of facilitating the implementation of high quality high-quality environmental literacy in California public schools, as specified. The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of that governing board, to provide a grant to a local educational agency or consortium of local educational agencies to serve as the fiscal agent for the California Regional Environmental Education Community Network who shall be charged with specified duties. The bill would require the Superintendent, no later than the end of the 202021 fiscal year, to contract with an appropriate entity to conduct an evaluation of the California Regional Environmental Education Community Network, as specified. The bill would appropriate $4,500,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent who shall apportion these funds to the fiscal agent for purposes of the California Regional Environmental Education Community Network. make the implementation of the California Regional Environmental Education Community Network contingent upon the appropriation of funds for those purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute.