CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2507

Introduced by Assembly Members McCarty and Carrillo

February 17, 2022

An act to amend Sections 46111 and 46120 of the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2507, as introduced, McCarty. Pupil instruction: the Universal Afterschool Program.
Existing law establishes the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program to provide funds to school districts and certain charter schools to offer, outside of any instructional time, expanded learning opportunities, as defined, to pupils enrolled in classroom-based instructional programs in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, under specified funding methodologies and program conditions.
This bill would rename the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program as the Universal Afterschool Program and would change references to “expanded learning opportunity programs” to instead refer to “afterschool programs.” The bill would express the intent of the Legislature to commit more public funding to provide pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, with a welcoming and enriching space through afterschool programs. The bill would also make nonsubstantive and conforming changes.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) Research shows that participating in “afterschool programs,” including before school, after school, intersessional, and summer learning programs, improves children’s school attendance, reading and math performance, English language proficiency, grades, and behavior in class.
(2) Afterschool programs reduce childhood hunger by serving nutritious snacks and or meals daily and promote physical activity and healthy behaviors.
(3) Quality afterschool programs provide supportive and diverse mentors and are a safe space where pupils build social-emotional skills, confidence, and a sense of belonging and develop healthy relationships with their peers and adults.
(4) Pupils who participate in afterschool programs are more likely to graduate high school and have lower rates of suspension and expulsion, and less likely to become involved in the criminal justice system and abuse substances.
(5) Publicly funded afterschool programs help close the opportunity gap that exists between children from higher-income families and children from low-income families who could otherwise not afford enrichment activities and academic support.
(6) The state is committed to the goal of expanding universal access to afterschool programs to all school-aged children in the state to increase educational equity, help meet the needs of working families, and provide a safe and engaging place that promotes the physical, social, emotional, and academic growth and wellbeing of the whole child.
(7) The Budget Act of 2021 invested over one billion seven hundred million dollars ($1,700,000,000) to expand access to after school and summer learning programs for children in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, through the establishment of the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program, and stated the legislative intent to grow the state’s share of that investment to five billion dollars ($5,000,000,000) by 2025.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to commit more public funding to provide pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, with a welcoming and enriching space through afterschool programs, and to especially help those pupils address the disconnection, stress, and trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic, and, in alignment with the state’s universal afterschool goals, to engage those pupils and provide the experiences and skills to succeed in school, career, and life.

SEC. 2.

 Section 46111 of the Education Code is amended to read:

46111.
 (a) (1) A pupil in a kindergarten shall not be kept in school in any day more than four hours excluding recesses except for pupils in Early Primary Programs, as set forth in Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 8970) of Part 6, and kindergarten pupils in expanded learning opportunity afterschool programs intended to supplement instructional time provided by a school district pursuant to Section 46120.
(2) A pupil in a kindergarten in a school operating on a program of multitrack year-round scheduling pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 37670 may be kept in school on any day for 265 minutes of instruction, excluding recesses.
(b) This section shall not apply to the Pasadena Unified School District or counties of the third class as determined pursuant to Section 28024 of the Government Code, as it read on January 1, 1977.
(c) This section shall not apply to the San Bernardino Unified School District with regard to any pupil of that district who is determined by the principal of the school in which that pupil is enrolled, pursuant to testing, teacher recommendation, or both, to be developmentally and academically suited for the longer instructional day.

SEC. 3.

 Section 46120 of the Education Code is amended to read:

46120.
 (a) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature that all local educational agencies offer all unduplicated pupils in classroom-based instructional programs access to comprehensive after school and intersessional expanded learning opportunities. afterschool programs.
(2) The Expanded Learning Opportunities Universal Afterschool Program is hereby established.
(b) (1) (A) Commencing with the 2021–22 school year, local educational agencies that receive funds pursuant to subdivision (d) shall offer to at least all unduplicated pupils in classroom-based instructional programs in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, and provide to at least 50 percent of enrolled unduplicated pupils in classroom-based instructional programs in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, access to expanded learning opportunity afterschool programs. Funding received pursuant to this section for the 2021–22 school year shall be expended to develop an expanded learning opportunity afterschool program or provide services in accordance with program requirements. Commencing with the 2022–23 school year, as a condition of receipt of funds allocated pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (d), all local educational agencies shall offer to all pupils in classroom-based instructional programs in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, access to expanded learning opportunity afterschool programs, and shall ensure that access is provided to any pupil whose parent or guardian requests their placement in a program. Expanded learning opportunity
(B) Local educational agencies operating afterschool programs pursuant to this section shall include all of the following: ensure the afterschool programs meet both of the following conditions:

(A)

(i) On schooldays, as described in Section 46100 and Sections 46110 to 46119, inclusive, and days on which school is taught for the purpose of meeting the 175-instructional-day offering as described in Section 11960 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, in-person before or after school expanded learning opportunities that, when added to daily instructional minutes, are no less than nine hours of combined instructional time and expanded learning opportunities per instructional day.

(B)

(ii) For at least 30 nonschooldays, during intersessional periods, no less than nine hours of in-person expanded learning opportunities per day.
(2) Local educational agencies operating expanded learning opportunity afterschool programs pursuant to this section may may, on schooldays, operate a before school component of a program, an after school component of a program, or both the before and after school components of a program, on one or multiple schoolsites, and shall comply with subdivisions (c), (d), and (g) of Section 8482.3, including the development of a program plan based on all of the following:
(A) The department’s guidance.
(B) Section 8482.6.
(C) Paragraphs (1) to (9), inclusive, and paragraph (12) of subdivision (c) of Section 8483.3.
(D) Section 8483.4, except that programs serving transitional kindergarten or kindergarten pupils shall maintain a pupil-to-staff member ratio of no more than 10 to 1.
(3) Local educational agencies shall prioritize services provided pursuant to this section at schoolsites in the lowest income communities, as determined by prior year percentages of pupils eligible for free and reduced-price meals, while maximizing the number of schools and neighborhoods with expanded learning opportunities afterschool programs across their attendance area.
(4) Local educational agencies may serve all pupils, including elementary, middle, and secondary school pupils, in expanded learning opportunity afterschool programs provided pursuant to this section.
(5) Local educational agencies may charge pupil fees for expanded learning opportunity afterschool programs provided pursuant to this section, consistent with Section 8482.6.
(6) Local educational agencies are encouraged to collaborate with community-based organizations and childcare providers, especially those participating in state or federally subsidized childcare programs, to maximize the number of expanded learning opportunities afterschool programs offered across their attendance areas.
(7) This section does not limit parent choice in choosing a care provider or program for their child outside of the required instructional minutes provided during a schoolday. Pupil participation in an expanded learning opportunities afterschool program is optional. Children eligible for an expanded learning opportunities afterschool program may participate in, and generate reimbursement for, other state or federally subsidized childcare programs, pursuant to the statutes regulating those programs.
(c) A local educational agency shall be subject to the audit conducted pursuant to Section 41020 to determine compliance with subdivision (b).
(d) (1) The Superintendent shall allocate funding appropriated in Item 6100-110-0001 of the annual Budget Act and in subdivision (f), if applicable, in the following manner:
(A) For local educational agencies with a prior year local control funding formula unduplicated pupil percentage calculated pursuant to paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) of Section 42238.02 of equal to or greater than 80 percent, the amount of one thousand one hundred seventy dollars ($1,170) per unit of the local educational agency’s prior year second period reported kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, classroom-based average daily attendance multiplied by the local educational agency’s unduplicated pupil percentage. Prior year average daily attendance and unduplicated pupil percentage shall be considered final as of the second principal apportionment for that fiscal year.
(B) For all other local educational agencies not receiving an allocation under subparagraph (A), the amount of funds remaining from the appropriations in Item 6100-110-0001 of the annual Budget Act and subdivision (f), if applicable, after the amount allocated pursuant to subparagraph (A), shall be allocated on a per-unit basis of the local educational agency’s prior year second period reported kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, classroom-based average daily attendance multiplied by the local educational agency’s unduplicated pupil percentage. Prior year average daily attendance and unduplicated pupil percentage shall be considered final as of the second principal apportionment for that fiscal year.
(2) A local educational agency with prior year classroom-based average daily attendance in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, shall not receive funding pursuant to paragraph (1) of less than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).
(3) Funds provided to a local educational agency pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be used to support pupil access to expanded learning opportunity afterschool programs.
(4) A local educational agency receiving funding pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) shall be provided at least three years of funding pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) upon becoming eligible to receive funding pursuant to that subparagraph. A local educational agency that does not meet the requirements of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) for four consecutive years shall be ineligible to receive funding pursuant to that subparagraph.
(5) It is the intent of the Legislature to increase rates for expanded learning opportunities afterschool programs in future years to two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) per unduplicated pupil on a schedule to be determined each year in the annual Budget Act pursuant to the availability of funds, prioritizing increases based on the local control funding formula unduplicated pupil percentages calculated pursuant to paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) of Section 42238.02 for local educational agencies.
(6) The Superintendent shall proportionately reduce the amount of funding allocated pursuant to this section for a charter school that has ceased operation during the school year if school was actually taught in the charter school on fewer than 175 calendar days during that school year. The reduction shall be commensurate to the number of days that the charter school failed to operate due to the closure.
(7) For the 2021–22 fiscal year only, a school district or charter school may expend the funds received pursuant to this subdivision from the 2021–22 fiscal year to the 2022–23 fiscal year, inclusive.
(e) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Afterschool program” means a program of expanded learning opportunities that is offered to pupils before school, after school, both before and after school, in the summer, or during intersession. “Afterschool program” does not mean an extension of instructional time.

(1)

(2) “Expanded learning opportunities” has the same meaning as “expanded learning” is defined in Section 8482.1. means learning opportunities that focus on developing the academic, social, emotional, and physical needs and interests of pupils through hands-on, engaging learning experiences. “Expanded learning opportunities” does not mean an extension of instructional time, but rather, includes opportunities to engage pupils in enrichment, play, nutrition, and other developmentally appropriate activities. activities, and opportunities that are pupil-centered, results driven, include community partners, and complement, but do not replicate, learning activities in the regular schoolday and school year.

(2)

(3) “Local educational agency” means a school district or charter school, excluding a charter school established pursuant to Section 47605.5.

(3)

(4) “Unduplicated pupil” has the same meaning as in Section 42238.02.
(f) For the 2021–22 fiscal year, the sum of seven hundred fifty-four million twenty-one thousand dollars ($754,021,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Superintendent for allocation for the Expanded Learning Opportunities Universal Afterschool Program in the manner and for the purpose set forth in this section.
(g) For purposes of making the computations required by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, the appropriation made by subdivision (f) shall be deemed to be “General Fund revenues appropriated for school districts,” as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 41202, for the 2020–21 fiscal year, and included within the “total allocations to school districts and community college districts from General Fund proceeds of taxes appropriated pursuant to Article XIII B,” as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 41202, for the 2020–21 fiscal year.