§ 8902. — 8902. (Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 8, Sec. 8.)

(a)
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)
The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to exacerbate conditions associated with poverty, including food insecurity, housing and employment instability, and inadequate health care.
(2)
Community schools offer unique models to more efficiently and effectively provide trauma-informed integrated educational, health, and mental health services to pupils with a wide range of needs that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
(3)
Additional investment in community schools that provide integrated pupil supports, community partnerships, and expanded learning opportunities will
help address the trauma and loss of learning that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. Statewide investment in community schools, supported by local networks designed to coordinate services and resources, are critical to realize whole-child education.
(b)
For the 2021–22 fiscal year, the sum of two billion eight hundred thirty-six million six hundred sixty thousand dollars ($2,836,660,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Superintendent to administer the California Community Schools Partnership Program, established by Section 117 of Chapter 24 of the Statutes of 2020, as amended by Section 63 of Chapter 110 of the Statutes of 2020, in the manner and for the purposes set forth in this section. These funds shall be used in accordance with the California Community Schools Framework, as adopted by the state board. These funds shall not be used for punitive disciplinary practices or the engagement of campus law enforcement.
These funds shall be available for encumbrance or expenditure until June 30, 2032. The funds shall be distributed as follows:
(1)
At least two billion six hundred ninety-four million eight hundred twenty-seven thousand dollars ($2,694,827,000) shall be allocated to establish new, and expand existing, community schools supported by local educational agencies or consortiums that help coordinate services and manage learning networks for these schools.
(2)
Up to one hundred forty-one million eight hundred thirty-three thousand dollars ($141,833,000) shall be allocated to contract with local educational agencies to create a network of at least five regional technical assistance centers, pursuant to subdivision (
l
), to provide support and assistance to local educational agencies, or consortiums, and community schools through the 2027–28 school year. Regional technical assistance
center responsibilities shall include all of the following:
(A)
Outreach and technical assistance to potential applicants as needed before or after awarding a grant under the program.
(B)
Development of community school resources, sharing of best practices, and data collection and use.
(C)
Development of optional centralized planning templates to support interagency planning and the leveraging of funding for the community school initiative, including, but not limited to, funding from the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program, the California state preschool program, Universal Transitional Kindergarten, universal meal programs, health and mental health supports for pupils and staff, the local control funding formula, and any other available local, state, or federal funds that may facilitate and sustain the community
school initiative.
(D)
Facilitation of peer support networks for qualifying entities and county offices of education to support community engagement and the provision of supports within a multitiered system of support leading to positive and equitable pupil academic and well-being outcomes, as well as positive school climate outcomes, for both state and local measures identified in the local educational agency’s local control and accountability plan.
(3)
(A)
Up to one hundred forty million dollars ($140,000,000) shall be allocated to county offices of education serving at least two qualifying entities receiving grant funding pursuant to subdivision (g) or (h) to coordinate county-level governmental, nonprofit community-based organizations, and other external partnerships to support community school implementation at grant recipients in their county. This
shall include designating a county-level community schools liaison to coordinate with the department and technical assistance centers in capacity building, resource connection, and continuous improvement activities consistent with supporting grant recipients in their county in implementation of community schools, as specified in subdivisions (g) and (h). County office of education grant award amounts under this paragraph shall be determined based on the number of community schools funded pursuant to this chapter, and the number of pupils served in those schools, using an allocation formula determined by the Superintendent, and provide at least two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) and up to five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) annually, for seven years, for each qualifying county office of education. These funds are separate from any funds county offices of education receive pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (h) for serving as qualifying entities to a network of community schools.
(B)
County offices of education receiving funds pursuant to this paragraph shall support centralized grant recipient communications with county-level governmental partners and funding sources, which may include, but not be limited to, pupil support and health care service billing and billing practices technical assistance.
(C)
County offices of education receiving funds pursuant to this paragraph shall support local educational agency planning and use of pupil and campus data for integrating community school, expanded learning, early childhood education, county behavioral health, educator professional development, and other state-funded initiatives integral to the four pillars of a community school approach as described in subdivision (b) of Section 8901, which may be part of the qualifying entity’s local control and accountability plan process pursuant to Section 47606.5, 52060, or
52066, as applicable.
(c)
On or before November 15, 2021, the Superintendent, with the approval of the state board, shall update as necessary, the application process and administration plan for the selection of grant recipients under the program, which may include prioritization for awards. After November 15, 2021, the Superintendent shall update the state board on an annual basis regarding the administration of this chapter and present to the state board any proposed changes to the application process and administration plan.
(d)
The Superintendent shall award, subject to the approval of the state board, grants on a competitive basis to qualifying entities for planning grants for new community schools, implementation grants for new community schools or for the expansion or continuation of existing community schools, and extension grants, as provided, to representative qualifying
entities in northern, central, and southern California, and in urban, suburban, and rural areas.
(e)
A qualifying entity seeking a grant under this chapter shall submit an application to the Superintendent at a time and in a manner, and with any appropriate information, as the Superintendent may reasonably require. Each grant application submitted shall include all of the following:
(1)
A description and documentation of how the participating community and cooperating agencies have been and will be engaged in the community school model.
(2)
A description of all of the programs and services to be provided at the schoolsite, at a site near or adjacent to the school, or virtually.
(3)
A description of all direct and indirect resources to be used for the
community school program, and the agencies responsible for the implementation of the program.
(4)
Provisions for data collection and recordkeeping, including records of the population served, the components of the service, the outcomes of the service, and costs, including all of the following:
(A)
Direct costs.
(B)
Indirect costs.
(C)
Costs to other agencies.
(D)
Cost savings.
(f)
The Superintendent shall prioritize grant funding to qualifying entities who meet all of the following:
(1)
Serve pupils in schools or a partner school or schools in which at least 80
percent of the pupil population are unduplicated pupils.
(2)
Demonstrate a need for expanded access to integrated services, including those disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
(3)
Involve pupils, parents, certificated and classified school staff, and cooperating agency personnel in the process of identifying the needs of pupils and families, and in the planning of support services to be offered.
(4)
Commit to providing trauma-informed health, mental health, and social services for pupils within a multitiered system of support at the schoolsite, or an adjacent location, and partner with other schools, school districts, county agencies, or nongovernmental organizations.
(5)
For qualifying entities that serve elementary school pupils, or
for schools where there is a demonstrated need for childcare, including, but not limited to, programs for pregnant and parenting teens, commit to providing early care and education services for children from birth to five years of age, inclusive, through one or more local educational agencies or community-based organizations.
(6)
Identify a cooperating agency collaboration process, including cosignatories, a mechanism for sharing governance, which may include a plan to use existing or create shared decisionmaking teams that include pupils, families, educators, and community-based organizations, and for integrating or redirecting existing resources and other school support services.
(7)
Plan to support a network of site-based community schools at schoolsites that have the capacity to ensure that services, professional development, and engagement can occur on schoolsite, or at an
adjacent location, with the support of community-based organizations and other relevant providers, for all relevant stakeholders.
(8)
Identify a plan to sustain community school services after grant expiration, including by maximizing reimbursement for services from available sources, including, but not limited to, the Local Educational Agency Medi-Cal Billing Option Program, School-Based Medi-Cal Administrative Activities program, and reimbursable mental health specialty care services provided under the federal Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment program (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396d(a)(4)(B)).
(g)
(1)
Of the amount identified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), including all other funds appropriated for this program in the Budget Act of 2021, at least 10 percent shall be available for planning grants of up to two hundred thousand dollars
($200,000) per qualifying entity, and shall be allocated in the 2021–22 and 2022–23 fiscal years, for up to a two-year planning grant period, for local educational agencies with no existing community schools. The planning grant may be used for any of the following purposes:
(A)
Staffing costs for a community school coordinator.
(B)
Conducting a comprehensive school and community needs and asset assessment, including, but not limited to, pupil and community demographics, school climate, integrated support services, expanded learning time, educator, family, pupil, and community engagement, new or existing partnerships with governmental entities or community-based organizations, and available funding sources.
(C)
Grant application support, service billing development, and other administrative costs necessary to launch a
community school model at scale.
(D)
Partnership development and coordination support between the grantee and cooperating agencies.
(E)
Providing training and support to local educational agency and cooperating agency personnel to develop best practices for integrating instruction and pupil supports.
(F)
Preparing a community school implementation plan for submission to the governing board or body of the local educational agency and to the department.
(2)
Any remaining planning grant funding available at the conclusion of the planning grant period shall be made available for implementation grants.
(h)
(1)
Of the amount identified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b),
including all other funds appropriated for this program in the Budget Act of 2021, up to 72 percent shall be available for implementation grants to qualified entities. Implementation grants shall be at least one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) and up to five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) annually per schoolsite for new community schools or for the expansion or continuation of existing community schools that agree to align with the provisions of this chapter. New and existing community schools shall be funded for five years, upon submission to the department of a community school plan and evidence of ongoing progress as part of the annual formative evaluations specified in subdivision (n). The implementation grant may be used for any of the following purposes:
(A)
Staffing, including, but not limited to, a community school coordinator, and contractor capacity.
(B)
Coordinating and providing support services to pupils and families at or near community schools, including through childcare, expanded learning time before and after school, and during school intersessions.
(C)
Providing training and support to local educational agency personnel, and partner agency personnel on integrating school-based pupil supports, social-emotional well-being, trauma-informed practices, and establishing sustainable community school funding sources.
(D)
Designing and executing educator, family, pupil, and community engagement strategies.
(E)
Ongoing data collection and program evaluations, including at least one measure of growth in individual pupil well-being as measured through pupil surveys or the compilation of screening tool results.
(F)
Implementing the sustainability plan described in paragraph (8) of subdivision (f) and updating the plan as necessary.
(G)
Securing various long-term funding streams and commitments from partners that will continue to provide financial assistance or other means of support.
(H)
Building capacity around sustainability and other efforts to support ongoing community school programming.
(I)
Conducting a comprehensive school and community needs and asset assessment to support a continuous improvement process.
(2)
The Superintendent shall prioritize new community schools for implementation grants under paragraph (1) and those moneys shall supplement, not supplant, existing services and funds.
(3)
A local educational agency grantee may retain up to the lesser of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) or 10 percent of the total funds awarded pursuant to this subdivision for its sites each year. These funds shall be used to administer implementation grants locally, manage professional learning and networking, and coordinate services and funding streams for community schools under the local educational agency grantee. Funds retained by the local educational agency grantee to provide direct services to pupils may be retained separately from this administrative set-aside.
(4)
The funding under paragraph (3) shall supplement, and not supplant, existing services and funds, and shall be used for ongoing coordination of services, management of the community school, and ongoing data collection and program evaluations.
(5)
Implementation grant funds may carry over from year to year and are restricted to permitted uses of the funds.
(6)
Qualifying entities that receive implementation grants shall annually report and publicly present their community school plans, including data and outcomes from the prior year, at the schoolsite and at a meeting of the governing board of the school district, county board of education, or the governing body of the charter school. Implementation grant recipients shall publicly post their community school grant application and community schools plan on the local educational agency’s internet website.
(7)
The department may allocate any funds returned pursuant to this subdivision for the purposes provided in subdivision (k).
(i)
It is the intent of the Legislature that qualifying entities that serve high school pupils with significant populations of undocumented pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, implement a Dream Resource Center as part of their community school model.
(j)
(1)
All planning and implementation grants awarded under subdivisions (g) and (h) shall be matched by the qualifying entity or its cooperating agencies with a local match equal to one-third of the grant amount. The local match shall be contributed in cash or as services or resources of comparable value, as determined by the department.
(2)
The Superintendent shall reserve adequate funding pursuant to this section to preserve capacity for qualifying entities receiving planning grants pursuant to subdivision (g) to receive implementation grants
pursuant to subdivision (h) at the end of their planning grant period, if all planning grant requirements are met and planning grantee applicants meet implementation grant eligibility requirements pursuant to this section.
(3)
Beginning July 1, 2024, the Superintendent shall prioritize awarding implementation grants to planning grantees. Notwithstanding paragraph (2), to the extent that sufficient funding is not available to fund implementation grants for all planning grantee applicants, the department shall use the priorities described in subdivision (f) to determine which planning grantee schools receive implementation grants.
(k)
(1)
Of the amount identified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), at least 18 percent shall be available for the option to extend implementation grants from five years to seven years for ongoing coordination costs to local
educational agency implementation grantees of up to one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) annually per site of an existing community school, and shall be allocated, beginning with the 2027–28 fiscal year, through the 2031–32 fiscal year.
(2)
(A)
The funding under paragraph (1) shall support the ongoing implementation of the community school initiative’s sustainability plan pursuant to paragraph (8) of subdivision (f) at each schoolsite receiving funding pursuant to subdivision (h). The department may request evidence that the local educational agency grantees have spent implementation grant funding in alignment with their implementation plans and are tracking short-term results of their efforts before awarding implementation grant extensions.
(B)
The funding under paragraph (1) shall supplement, not supplant, existing services and funds, and shall be used
for ongoing coordination of services, management of the community school, and ongoing data collection and program evaluations.
(3)
All grant extensions awarded under paragraph (1) shall be matched by the participating qualifying entity or its cooperating agencies with a local match equal to one dollar ($1) for each dollar ($1) of extension grant funding received. The match shall be contributed in cash or as services or resources of comparable value, as determined by the department.
(
l
)
Of the amount identified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), the Superintendent shall contract, subject to the approval of the state board, on a competitive basis with at least five local educational agencies to serve as regional technical assistance centers to provide technical assistance to grant recipients seeking to establish or expand community schools. Preference shall be given to
local educational agencies that commit to partner with institutions of higher education or nonprofit community-based organizations. Technical assistance shall, to the extent practicable, be provided in consultation and collaboration with the statewide system of support established pursuant to Section 52059.5, and be made available to share best practices and assist both prospective applicants and grant recipients with tasks, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(1)
Conducting a comprehensive school and community needs and asset assessment.
(2)
Improving authentic family and community engagement in the languages spoken in the community.
(3)
Creating community partnerships.
(4)
Developing sustainable funding sources.
(5)
Coordinating services across child-serving agencies and schools.
(6)
Accessing and combining funding for services from multiple revenue sources.
(m)
Grant recipients and regional technical assistance centers shall commit to providing program and expenditure data to the department, as specified by the Superintendent, and participating in overall program evaluation.
(n)
(1)
The impact of the grant program in achieving the goals described in this section, including an evaluation of the effectiveness of the opportunities provided, shall be included as part of an annual formative evaluation of the program.
(2)
The Superintendent shall use a competitive grant process to
contract with an entity to develop and administer annual formative evaluations. The evaluations shall include all of the following:
(A)
Outcome data, as specified by the department and the state board, including measures of pupil well-being and engagement, including, but not limited to, pupil attendance and school climate.
(B)
An analysis of the nature and kind of services provided and changes made within the schools, areas of progress, and challenges to be addressed to meet the goals of the California Community Schools Partnership Program, including, but not limited to, effective integration of instructional and pupil support services, and support for authentic pupil, educator, and family engagement.
(C)
Evidence of best practices and successful strategies for integrating multiple funding sources to meet a local
educational agency’s school improvement goals identified in their local control and accountability plan.
(3)
(A)
The Superintendent shall provide a formative evaluation to the Governor and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature by December 31, 2023, and annually thereafter, ending with a final comprehensive report on or before December 31, 2031.
(B)
The annual formative evaluations shall be made publicly available on the department’s internet website.
(C)
The annual formative evaluations shall be separate from the comprehensive report that is required to be submitted on December 31, 2025, to the Governor and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, pursuant to Section 117 of Chapter 110 of the Statutes of 2020.
(D)
The final comprehensive report shall be provided to the Governor and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on the impact of the grant program in achieving the goals described in this section, including an evaluation of the effectiveness of the opportunities provided.
(o)
In addition to the amount specified in subdivision (b), the sum of one billion one hundred thirty-two million five hundred fifty-four thousand dollars ($1,132,554,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund in the 2022–23 fiscal year to the Superintendent for allocation beginning in the 2023–24 fiscal year for implementation grants and grant extensions consistent with the purposes and requirements of subdivision (b).
(p)
(1)
For purposes of making the computations required by Section 8 of Article
XVI of the California Constitution, the appropriation made by subdivision (b) 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.
(2)
For purposes of making the computations required by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, the appropriation made by subdivision (o) shall be deemed to be “General Fund revenues appropriated for school districts,” as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 41202, for the 2022–23 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 2022–23 fiscal year.

Legislative History

Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 8, Sec. 8. (AB 121) Effective June 27, 2025.