AB 2544, as amended, Roger Hernández. School finance: preschool funding.
Existing law establishes a public school system that requires state funding for county superintendents of schools, school districts, and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula, as specified. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to calculate, for each county superintendent of schools, school district, and charter school, a base entitlement for the transition to the local control funding formula that includes, among other things, the sum of the amount of funding received from appropriations contained in certain budget items of the Budget Act of 2012.
This bill would establish the school district and charter school preschool funding formula. The bill would require the Superintendent, commencing with the 2015-16 fiscal year, and each year thereafter, to calculate andbegin delete apportion,end deletebegin insert
apportionend insert a preschool funding grantbegin insert pursuant to a specified funding formulaend insert for each school and charter schoolbegin insert that offers kindergarten or first gradeend insert in thebegin delete state pursuant to a specified funding formula.end deletebegin insert state.end insert The bill would require the school district and charter school to use the money to fund either existing or startup preschools in the district or at the charter school. The funding formula wouldbegin delete beend deletebegin insert
provide for supplemental fundingend insert based on the numberbegin insert and concentrationend insert of 4 year oldsbegin delete who resideend deletebegin insert
enrolledend insert in a school district who are economically disadvantaged,begin delete anend delete Englishbegin delete learner,end deletebegin insert learners,end insert orbegin delete aend delete foster youth, as defined, or a combination thereof, as provided by each school district.
By imposing new mandates on a school district, the bill would establish a state-mandated local program.
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 these statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 42238.035 is added to the Education
2Code, to read:
(a) The amount computed pursuant to this section
4shall be known as the school district and charter school preschool
5funding formula.
6(b) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the
7following meanings:
8(1) “Economically disadvantaged child” means a child that is
9eligible to receive a free or reduced-price meal pursuant to Section
1049552.
11(2) “English learner” has the same meaning as it does in Section
1252164.
13(3) “Foster youth” has the same meaning as it does in Section
14
300 and 601 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
15(c) (1) Commencing with the 2015-16 fiscal year and each
16fiscal year thereafter, the Superintendent shall annually calculate
17a preschool funding grantbegin insert pursuant to this sectionend insert for each school
18district and charter school in the statebegin delete pursuant to this section,end deletebegin insert that
19offers kindergarten or first grade,end insert equal to the base grant calculated
20pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (d)
21of Section 42238.02. The school district and charter school shall
P3 1use the money to fund either existing or startup preschools
in the
2school district or at the charter school.
3(2) For purposes of making the calculations in subdivisions (d)
4and (e), the Superintendent shall use information obtained from
5each school district on the number of economically disadvantaged
6children, English learners, and foster youth who are four years old
7at the time of making the calculation andbegin delete residingend deletebegin insert enrolledend insert in the
8school district.
9(3) For purposes of calculating the grant pursuant to this section,
10a child may be counted more than once if the child meets more
11than one of the definitions in subdivision (b).
12(d) The Superintendent shall compute a supplemental preschool
13grant add-on equal to 35 percent of the base grant as specified in
14subdivision (c) for each school district’s percentage of four year
15oldsbegin delete residingend deletebegin insert enrolledend insert in the district, or in the case of a charter
16school, the percentage of four year oldsbegin delete residingend deletebegin insert enrolledend insert in the
17school district in which the charter school is physically located,
18in each of the categories specified in subdivision (b). The
19supplemental preschool grant shall be calculated by multiplying
20the base grants specified in subdivision
(c) by 35 percent and by
21the sum of the percentages of four year olds in the categories
22specified in subdivision (b) in that school district. For purposes of
23calculating the grant for a charter school physically located in more
24than one school district, the Superintendent shall use the school
25district with the highest number of four year oldsbegin delete residingend deletebegin insert enrolledend insert
26 in the school district where the charter school is physically located.
27(e) The Superintendent shall compute a concentration preschool
28grant add-on equal to 35 percent of the base grant as specified in
29subdivision (c) for each school district’s percentage of four year
30oldsbegin delete residingend deletebegin insert
enrolledend insert in the district, or in the case of the charter
31school, the percentage of four year oldsbegin delete residingend deletebegin insert enrolledend insert in the
32school district in which the charter school is physically located,
33in each of the categories specified in subdivision (b). The
34concentration preschool grant shall be calculated by determining
35the amount by which the sum of these percentages exceeds 50
36percent and by multiplying the base grant as specified in
37subdivision (c) by 35 percent and by any positive percentage so
38determined. For purposes of calculating the grant for a charter
39school physically located in more than one school district, the
40Superintendent shall use the school district with the highest number
P4 1of four year
oldsbegin delete residingend deletebegin insert
enrolledend insert in the school district where the
2charter school is physically located. For a charter school physically
3located in only one school district, the percentage of four year olds
4in excess of 50 percent used to calculate concentration preschool
5grants shall not exceed the percentage of four year olds in excess
6of 50 percent of the school district in which the charter school is
7physically located. If the charter school is physically located in
8more than one school district, the charter school’s percentage of
9four year olds in excess of 50 percent used to calculate
10concentration preschool grants shall not exceed that of the school
11district with the highest percentage of four year olds in excess of
1250 percent within the charter school’s physical location.
13(f) The
Superintendent shall apportion funding to a school
14district and charter school equal to the sum of the amounts
15computed pursuant to subdivisions (c), (d), and (e), multiplied for
16each school district and charter school by the number of
17four-year-old children served by each.
If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
19this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
20local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
21pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
224 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
O
98