AB 185 –Makes Budgetary Allocations To Fund Early Childhood And K-12 Education Programs

AB 185 provides for statutory changes necessary to enact the K-12 and childcare-related statutory provisions of the Budget Act of 2022. It also provides $4 million for early childhood education programs. AB 185 took effect immediately upon approval of the Governor on September 27, 2022.

1. Provides $4 million to the California Department of Education (CDE) to administer preschool grants and workgroup activities.
2. Provides $300 million for allocation to local educational agencies (LEA) to support the California Prekindergarten Planning and Implementation Grant Program. AB 185 requires the Superintendent to award $100 million in competitive grants to LEAs to increase the number of highly-qualified teachers available to serve state preschool programs and transitional kindergarten pupils, and to provide training in providing instruction in inclusive classrooms, culturally responsive instruction, supporting dual language learners, enhancing social-emotional learning, implementing trauma-informed practices and restorative practices, and mitigating implicit biases to eliminate exclusionary discipline.
3. Provides for the allocation of approximately $7.9 million to support the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund. This allocation of funds shall be known as the Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant. Also clarifies reporting requirements for the Learning Recovery Block Grant.
4. Provides $184 million to the Commission of Teacher Credential (Commission) for the Teacher Residency Grant Program. The Teacher Residency Grant Program provides support to teacher and counselor residency programs that recruit and support the preparation of teachers and school counselors.
5. Provides $20 million to the Commission for allocation to an LEA to serve as a statewide technical assistance center to support teacher residency programs. Preference shall be given to an LEA a currently administers residency programs and that commits to partnering with Commission-approved teacher preparation programs with experience supporting a residency program or residency programs.
6. Adds transitional kindergarten as an eligibility requirement for the mentor teacher experience as part of the Teacher Residency Grant Program.
7. Provides for the allocation of $5 million to county offices of education to provide technical assistance, evaluation, and training services to support program improvement. County offices of education already providing technical assistance shall have priority allocation. Also makes technical changes to the Expanded Learning Opportunity Program, including defining “nonschool day” and adding back the three-year funding guarantee language.
8. Provides $20 million for the Educator Workforce Investment Grant Program to coordinate and support professional learning opportunities for educators across the state. The bill further clarifies the process for awarding the grants.
9. Provides $15 million to CDE for allocation to one or more county offices of education to coordinate and support professional learning opportunities for educators across the state. The bill amends existing law to revise the application process to apply for the grant.
10. Establishes the 2022 Antibias Education Program for the purpose of preventing, addressing, and eliminating racism and bias in all California public schools, and making all public schools inclusive and supportive of all people. To support these efforts allocates $10 million to the program. A maximum of 50 grants shall be awarded to LEAs in an amount not less than $75,000.
11. Requires the Superintendent to allocate a transportation allowance of equal to 60 percent of the home-to-school transportation expenditures reported by the school district or county superintendent of schools to each school district and county superintendent of schools that provides pupil transportation services.
12. Requires the Superintendent, in consultation with the Director of Social Services (DSS) and the Executive Director of the CDE to convene a statewide interest holder workgroup. The workgroup must be established no later than December 1, 2022. The workgroup shall include representatives from county offices of education, contracted state preschool programs, including those operated by school districts and by community-based organizations, transitional kindergarten programs, tribal preschool programs, educators, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, First 5, resource and referral programs, alternative payment programs, contracted general childcare programs serving preschool-age children, Head Start, private center-based preschool providers, licensed family childcare providers, researchers, and child development experts. The workgroup shall prove recommendations on the best practices to increase access to high-quality universal preschool programs for three and four-year-old children offered through a mixed delivery model that provides equitable learning experiences across a variety of settings and recommendations to update preschool standards. The Superintendent must submit a report to the Legislature and the Department of Finance with the recommendations of the workgroup no later than January 15, 2023.
13. Revises the eligibility requirements and rankings prescribed in the Early Education Act. It also requires that each state preschool program applicant or contracting agency give priority to part-day and full-day programs in accordance with the prescribed ranking.
14. Requires the Superintendent to authorize California state preschool program contracting agencies to offer 4 hours each instructional day of wraparound childcare services. Further allows the operation of a part-time program that allows flexibility in the operational hours and enrollment cutoff dates to better align with the enrollment for the new school year.
15. Requires the Superintendent include in the procedures it developed for state preschool contractors to identify and report data on dual language learners enrolled in their programs, to also include criteria for the family and interest interview.
16. Requires that contractors who were reimbursed as of December 31, 2021, under the Early Education Act receive reimbursement at the greater of the 75^th percentile of the 2018 regional market rate survey or the contract per-child reimbursement amount as of December 1, 2021, as increased by a specified cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).
17. Provides that new COLA add-ons to the County Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) Floor and Minimum State Aid Guarantee are cumulative from one fiscal year to the next. It also increases the base increase for the LCFF above COLA from 6.2% to 6.7%.
18. Provides support for dual language learners, three-year-old child eligibility, and intent on how to provide special education set-aside for the California State Preschool Program (CSPP).
19. Establishes the process LEAs must follow to recoup overpayment of wages from school employees.
20. Conforms adult/child ratios for childcare programs to the childcare facility licensing regulations.
21. Clarifies language for how to distribute COLA with regard to childcare costs.
22. Requires that the California Transitional Kindergarten Planning Grant Program funds be expended by June 30, 2026. Specifies how funds should be awarded and spent, and requires LEAs to provide program data to CDE.
23. Clarifies grant funding and application process for the Preschool Planning Grants.
24. Clarifies who is subject to background checks under the Cradle-to-Career project to conform to the Federal Bureau of Investigations guidance.
25. Establishes an alternative design-build process for school facilities that apply beginning January 1, 2023. Provides the governing board of a school district to authorize the use of alternative design-build contracts for projects in excess of $5 million. These provisions remain in effect until January 1, 2029.
26. Repeals the requirement to adopt regulations for Pupil Transportation Services funding.
27. Clarifies requirements for LEAs to be eligible for the 2021-2022 average daily attendance boost based on the following independent study requirements in the 2021-2022 school year.
28. Updates language for school district reorganizations or territory transfers to specify that adjustments will be made to any applicable prior fiscal year, because of the new three prior years’ average calculation.
29. Increases the necessary small school funding bands to correspond to the increase for school districts.
30. Amends existing law governing classified employee layoff rights. Allows classified employees and community college employees to be represented by an attorney or non-attorney representative of the employee organization designated as the exclusive representative of the employees in the employee’s classification during layoff proceedings.
31. Amends the Classified Employee Summer Assistance Program to define “month” which means 20 days or four weeks of 5 days each, including legal holidays.
32. Amends existing law and clarifies that transitional kindergarten class size requirements are not subject to collectively bargained class size alternatives for purposes of calculating the transitional kindergarten average class size requirements for purposes of LCFF funding.
33. Clarifies how class size and adult-to-pupil ratio should be defined for purposes of calculating the LCFF for Transitional Kindergarten, and clarifies CDE authority on expanded learning wrap for TK, using State Preschool contracts.
34. Adds language clarifying the fiscal penalties calculation for failing to meet Transitional Kindergarten requirements.
35. Extends the sunset for the district of choice program through July 1, 2028.
36. Extends the sunset for graduation requirements related to career technical education through July 1, 2027.
37. Adds exceptions for students participating for fewer than 15 school days and makes conforming changes to the Course-based Independent Study statute.
38. Adds back provision that allowed LEAs to obtain a signed master agreement within 30 days of the first day of independent study instruction.
39. Clarifies that the COLA should not be counted twice in the base rate for special education.
40. Clarifies that a provision of current law, which allows local governments to condition the approval of new residential development based on the adequacy of school facilities in the event that a future statewide school facilities bond fails passage, does not apply if non-bond state resources are provided for school facilities.
41. Clarifies the State Allocation Board process for LEA authorization to assess Level III developer fees when the School Facility Program is funded with non-bond funds.
42. Redefines TK children as school-age for purposes of school-age community care licensing, and provides the Department of Social Services authority for rule-making.
43. Increases the mental health adjustment for direct contract childcare programs to 1.1, providing parity with the CSPP.
44. Shifts the reporting deadline from June 30, 2023, to June 30, 2024, for the 2021 Kitchen Infrastructure and Training Funds.
45. Extends the encumbrance period for the Model Curriculum Coordinating Council through June 30, 2025.
46. Specifies that Computer Science is its own content area with standards and credentialing requirements apart from science for the Math and Science Professional Development Fund.

(AB 185 amends Sections 2575.4, 8208, 8210, 8211, 8217, 8240, 8241.5, 8242, 8281.5, 8320, 10873, 32526, 41850.1, 42238.02, 42238.023, 42238.05, 42282, 42284, 44415.5, 44415.6, 44415.7, 45117, 45500, 46120, 48000, 48000.1, 48313, 48315, 48316, 51225.3, 51749.5, 51749.6, 56836.146, 69617, and 88017 of, to add Sections 8202.6, 17250.52, 44042.5, and 51225.9 to, adds and repeals Chapter 2.6. commencing with Section 17250.60, of Part 10.5 of Division 1 of Title 1 of, and repeals Section 41851.12 of, the Education Code, amends Sections 65995.7 and 65997 of the Government Code, amends Sections 1596.806 and 1596.807 of the Health and Safety Code, to amend Sections 10271.5 and 10281.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to amend Section 138 of Chapter 44 of the Statutes of 2021, to amend Sections 264 and 265 of Chapter 116 of the Statutes of 2021, to amend Section 53 of Chapter 252 of the Statutes of 2021, and to amend Sections 122, 124, 125, 134, 137, and 138 of Chapter 52 of the Statutes of 2022.)