Today's Law As Amended


Bill PDF |Add To My Favorites | print page

AB-2555 Cradle-to-career initiatives: plan.(2013-2014)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) All children throughout California, regardless of their families’ socioeconomic, English learner, or special education status, or the neighborhoods in which they reside, deserve access to a high-quality education, health services, and social services that will prepare them to succeed in college and in their careers, and that will allow them to become productive citizens contributing to the wealth of our cities, state, and nation.
(b) Many children living in California’s most distressed communities lack access to opportunities that will ensure adequate academic, social, and physical and mental health preparation to achieve success and help end family and neighborhood poverty.
(c) Innovative and comprehensive approaches to break the cycle of poverty are necessary for creating opportunities for children to succeed and ultimately help turn around poor neighborhoods.
(d) Long-term investments in underserved children’s academic, social, and health development and the strengthening of a system of family and community support shared by various stakeholders are also needed to sustain the future of our communities.
(e) The Harlem Children’s Zone in New York City has demonstrated the lasting benefit of developing a network of support services to revitalize an entire community by focusing on the educational, social, and physical and mental health of children.
(f) The federal Promise Neighborhoods Initiative, inspired by the Harlem Children’s Zone, seeks to develop a cradle-to-career pipeline of support services in specific neighborhoods that will transform communities.
(g) Of 78 California communities that applied for a federal Promise Neighborhoods Initiative grant, eight communities were selected to receive planning or implementation grants.
(h) Many of the communities that were not selected to receive a federal Promise Neighborhoods Initiative grant continue to work on developing community plans because cross-community planning provides lasting benefits in aligning and maximizing community resources.
(i) Many full-service community schools are currently operating in California, and hundreds of California schools have implemented components of community schools, such as 226 school-based health centers, robust afterschool programs, and other community partnerships that support children and families.
(j) Integrated support services programs represent a proven pupil-centric approach focused on promoting academic success by coordinating support services. These programs serve 1,500,000 pupils nationwide and a recent Child Trends report found that in the Los Angeles Unified School District, these programs showed 99 percent retention of potential dropouts, propelled 96 percent of eligible high school seniors to graduation, and successfully helped 97 percent of pupils continue to the next grade.
(k) Establishing a network of services to serve families breaks down many unnecessary barriers in the effective delivery of programs and services.
(l) The alignment of local, state, and federal resources can maximize existing funds and better serve specific communities.

SEC. 2.

 Section 33134 is added to the Education Code, to read:

33134.
 (a) The Superintendent, in collaboration with the State Department of Social Services, the Employment Development Department, the California Health and Human Services Agency, the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, the Department of Transportation, the California Children and Families Commission, the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, the Chancellor of the California State University, the President of the University of California, the California Workforce Investment Board, the Department of Parks and Recreation, teacher organizations, chambers of commerce, industry representatives, research centers, parent organizations, school administrators, community-based organizations, labor organizations, and other interested parties deemed appropriate by the Superintendent, shall develop a five-year plan for expanding cradle-to-career initiatives throughout the state.
(b) The five-year plan shall include all of the following:
(1) A description of the components of effective cradle-to-career initiatives.
(2) Identification of successful models of cradle-to-career initiatives, including measurements of their impacts.
(3) Strategies for effective implementation of cradle-to-career initiatives, including how the initiatives can be coordinated with local control and accountability plans.
(4) Methods for developing and sustaining cradle-to-career initiatives, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Leveraging existing funding and services.
(B) Providing incentives for collaboration.
(C) Identifying new funding opportunities.
(D) Providing technical support.
(E) Developing greater connectivity between state entities.
(F) Evaluating success.
(5) Recommendations for supporting regional coalitions in planning and developing cradle-to-career initiatives.
(6) Recommendations for ensuring that the state’s most distressed neighborhoods and communities are prioritized in the expansion of cradle-to-career initiatives.
(7) A five-year timeline for implementing the recommendations.
(c) (1) For purposes of this section, cradle-to-career initiatives include, but are not limited to, collaborative school and community programs and services that align local, state, federal, and private resources and that focus on the following objectives:
(A) Ensuring that children are healthy.
(B) Increasing the learning opportunities and academic achievement of all pupils.
(C) Strengthening family structures.
(D) Establishing safe neighborhoods.
(E) Expanding college and career opportunities.
(2) Cradle-to-career initiatives in the state also include, but are not limited to, full-service community centers, promise neighborhoods, wraparound programs, school-based health centers, and healthy community efforts.
(d) (1) The Superintendent shall, upon appropriation by the Legislature for purposes of this section, use state funds, or federal funds, or both, to implement this section.
(2) The Superintendent may apply for and accept grants, and receive donations and other financial support from public or private sources for purposes of this section.
(e) On or before December 1, 2016, the Superintendent shall, pursuant to Section 9795 of the Government Code, submit the plan developed pursuant to subdivision (a) to the Legislature.