AB 2468: School accountability: pupils with disabilities: inclusion.

Existing law establishes a single system for providing support to local educational agencies and schools and for specified federal educational programs. Existing law provides that the purpose of the statewide system of support is to build the capacity of local educational agencies, as specified.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education 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 of Education, an expert lead agency based on specific expertise in an area of need to conduct activities and build statewide capacity to address that area of need within the statewide system of support, as well as geographic lead agencies for other specified purposes, as provided.

This bill, contingent upon an appropriation for these purposes, commencing in the 202728 fiscal year, would require the department and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, through contracts or memoranda of understanding with one or two 2 county offices of education designated by the collaborative, education, to administer the Supporting Inclusive Practices project and to expand the project and build on its alignment and partnerships with statewide improvement initiatives. project. The bill would provide that the purposes of the project are, among others, to improve pupil outcomes by increasing opportunities for pupils with disabilities to access education in general education settings, as provided, and to support the educator workforce to serve pupils with disabilities. The bill would require the project to conduct specified activities, collaborative, as part of the project, to administer the universal support components, including providing technical assistance to local educational agencies, agencies and charter schools focused on supporting evidence-based practices to increase access by pupils with disabilities to education in general education settings, and supporting progress toward a high school diploma for children and pupils with disabilities. settings. The bill would require the project to, among other things, ensure that all regions of the state are provided with access to the projects support. The bill would authorize the department to contract with the collaborative for the project to provide technical assistance to local educational agencies and charter schools identified as not meeting state performance plan indicators, as provided. By imposing new duties on county offices of education, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. department, as part of the project, to administer the direct support components by deploying targeted technical assistance to support local educational agencies and charter schools, as provided. The bill would require the department and the collaborative to coordinate their respective components, including a shared referral process by which local educational agencies and charter schools receiving assistance from the collaborative may be referred to the department for direct support, as provided.