2 EDCAL July 16, 2018
BUDGET
Continued from page 1
and to give LEAs the option to blend State
Preschool and Transitional Kindergarten
programs. Under budget actions approved
last year, the Legislature allowed providers
to use electronic applications for families
applying for subsidized child care; aligned
the state’s definition of homelessness with
the federal McKinney-Vento Act for pur-
poses of child care eligibility; allowed chil-
dren with exceptional needs whose families
exceed income eligibility requirements to
access part-day State Preschool if all other
eligible children have been served; and
allowed for LEAs to align program minutes
for Preschool and Transitional Kindergarten
at the same or different school sites.
Despite opposition from private early
childhood education providers and advoca-
cy organizations, one of the most favorable
budget proposals was ACSA’s advocacy for
the adoption of language to exempt State
Preschool Programs operated in a Field
Act-approved facility from Title 22 require-
ments so long as health and safety require-
ments are met under Title 5. Before this
exemption goes into effect on July 1, 2019,
the California Department of Education
will be required to adopt regulations for
California State Preschool Programs under
Title 5 related to outdoor shade, drinking
water, restrooms, supervision of children,
and maintenance of indoor and outdoor
space. The legislation clarifies that the
licensing flexibility provisions apply to any
LEA-operated classroom that is funded in
whole or in part under the State Preschool
Program. To address concerns raised by
the opposition, CDE will be required to
update the Title 5 regulations to establish a
Uniform Complaint Process for complaints
related to the preschool health and safety
requirements.
More significantly, the 2018-19 bud-
get includes $167.2 million in Prop. 98
funding for the Inclusive Early Education
Expansion Program. Under this new one-
time grant program, grants will be provided
to local educational agencies to increase
access to subsidized early care and educa-
tion programs for children from ages 0 to
5. Priority for grants will be given to those
applicants that have a need for expanded
access to inclusive early care, serve low-
income communities, leverage local part-
nerships, are able to serve a broad range of
disabilities, and plan to, or already do, serve
children with disabilities in proportion to
the rate of identification similar to LEAs in
their area. Funds may be used for one-time
infrastructure costs, adaptive equipment,
and professional development, and grantees
must provide a local match. The California
Department of Education will administer
the program.
Utilizing $10 million in one-time federal
funding, the Legislature also established a
new Inclusive Early Care Pilot Program
that allows county offices of education to
apply to receive grants to increase access
to early care and education programs for
children with exceptional needs, includ-
ing severe disabilities, from ages 0 to 5.
Grantees may use funds for a variety of
purposes to build local and regional capac-
ity, including, but not limited to, outreach
coordinators, placement navigators, adap-
tive equipment, professional learning, and
assessment and evaluation tools, among
others. Priority shall be given to applicants
with a demonstrated need for expanded
access to inclusive early care and education
within their county, particularly within low-
income and high-need communities. The
CDE shall administer the program and
conduct an evaluation.
Kindergarten facilities grants
While kindergarten education is not
compulsory in California, the Legislature
has gained interest in ensuring young chil-
dren have access to a full-day educational
program. According to the Department
of Finance, approximately 20 percent of
districts in the state only provide half-day
kindergarten, and two of the most fre-
quently cited reasons is lack of facilities
and insufficient trained staff. As part of
this $100 million one-time General Fund
appropriation, the State Allocation Board
is charged with allocating grants to school
districts that lack the facilities to provide
full-day kindergarten. Priority grants will
be provided to districts with financial hard-
ship or districts that have a high population
of low-income students. As a condition
of receiving the funds, grant recipients are
required to provide a local match, except for
those districts that meet the financial hard-
ship requirements.
Other budget items include:
•
English
Language
Proficiency
Assessment for California (ELPAC):
$27 million in one-time Prop. 98 fund-
ing for CDE to develop a computer-based
ELPAC and a computer-based alterna-
tive ELPAC for students with disabilities.
Related to English learners, CDE will be
required, on or before June 30, 2020, to
develop a standardized English language
teacher observation protocol for use by
teachers in evaluating students’ English
language proficiency. This second provision
could potentially be considered as part of
future discussions to establish standardized
English learner reclassification criteria.
• Multi-Tiered Systems of Support
(MTSS): $15 million in one-time Prop. 98
funding to the Orange County Department
of Education to expand upon past invest-
ments in MTSS. The Orange County
Department of Education, jointly with the
Butte County Office of Education and a
selected California postsecondary educa-
tional institution, is charged with build-
ing and disseminating statewide resources
specifically focused on improving school
climate, including social emotional learn-
ing, restorative justice and positive behav-
ioral interventions, among others. The des-
ignated county offices of education are
required to implement a pilot program to
assist school districts in creating a positive
school climate. In selecting school districts
for the pilot program, priority is provided
for those with a demonstrated need to
improve school climate, as measured by the
California School Dashboard.
• After School Kids Code Grant
Program: While there were no additional
funds allocated to districts to meet the
increased costs associated with the mini-
mum wage and the impact it has on their
After School Education and Safety (ASES)
programs, the Legislature appropriated $15
million in one-time Prop. 98 funds for
this completive grant program that will be
administered by CDE, who will determine
the grant criteria and provide grants for eli-
gible ASES programs that operate or plan
to operate computer coding programs as
part of their curriculum.
• Community Engagement Initiative: In
an effort to improve relationships between
school districts and their stakeholders, $13.1
million in one-time Prop. 98 funds will be
invested in this new initiative lead by the
California Collaborative for Educational
Excellence and a lead county office of edu-
cation. Together, they will solicit district
teams and establish three phases of profes-
sional learning networks focused on build-
ing the capacity of communities, school
districts and county offices of education to
engage more effectively in the LCAP pro-
cess. The CCEE is also required to conduct
statewide training on community engage-
ment based on the findings of the profes-
sional learning networks.
• Suicide prevention: $1.7 million in
one-time General Funds will be allocated
for the State Superintendent to identify
evidence-based training programs for LEAs
on suicide prevention and to provide a grant
to a county office of education to acquire
and disseminate a training program identi-
fied by CDE to LEAs at no cost.
• System of Support: Establishes a
structure for the selection and support of
between six and 10 county offices of edu-
cation as geographic lead agencies in their
region, whose responsibilities would include
building the capacity of other county offices
of education in the region, coordinating and
collaborating technical assistance across the
region, providing technical assistance to a
school district if a county office of educa-
tion is unable to, and identifying existing
resources and developing new resources.
• Special Education Local Plan Areas:
Establishes a structure for the selection and
support of between six and 10 SELPAs to
serve as special education resource leads
to work with county offices of education
to improve outcomes for students with
disabilities. Incorporates special education
resource leads into the statewide system
of support and specifies that at least three
resource leads selected shall be focused
directly on building SELPA capacity to
work with county offices of education.
Aligns the SELPA planning process with
the Local Control and Accountability Plan
process for LEAs. Requires the CDE to
develop a template for a SELPA annual
assurances support plan and a template for
a summary document that supplements the
SELPA plan and links SELPA budgeted
activities with services and activities identi-
fied within, and that demonstrate consisten-
cy with, the LCAPs of LEAs in the SELPA.
Requires SELPA annual assurances support
plans to be updated to be three-year plans
beginning July 1, 2019.
•
Uniform Complaint Procedures:
Clarifies and consolidates statute related to
the Uniform Complaint Procedures (UCP),
including specifying instances in which a
60-day timeline is applicable for the CDE
to complete UCP appeals. In addition,
adds complaints related to preschool health
and safety requirements, as required to be
added to Title 5 under provisions allowing
for licensing flexibility for State Preschool
Programs operated by LEAs, to the UCP
with specific timelines.
• 2017 wildfires’ impact on funding
and testing: The Superintendent of Public
Instruction will be required to provide a
third year of average daily attendance relief
for school districts where no less than 5 per-
cent of the residences were destroyed by the
2017 wildfires. School districts impacted by
the 2017 wildfires will also be exempted,
upon receipt of a waiver from the United
States Department of Education, from the
requirement to administer the CAASPP
during the 2017-18 school year. By January
30, 2019, the Department of Finance will be
required to adjust funding provided to the
CDE to reimburse basic aid school districts
for property tax losses incurred in the 2017-
18 fiscal year as a result of the fires.
• Willful defiance: The budget bill also
includes a provision to eliminate the sunset
date of a provision of law that disallows the
use of suspension based on acts of wi llful
defiance for students in grades K-3. Unless
other legislation passes, this implies willful
defiance can only be used for suspensions
for students in grades 4-12, but is prohib-
ited as a justification for suspensions in the
earlier grades.
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