Today's Law As Amended


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SB-767 Educational technology: Digital Education Equity Program: regional consortia: State Digital Equity Plan.(2021-2022)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.

 Article 15 (commencing with Section 51870) is added to Chapter 5 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read:

Article  15. Educational Technology
51870.
 For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Educational technology” means technology-based materials, equipment, systems, and networks used for an educational purpose.
(b) “Local educational agency” means a county office of education, school district, or charter school.
51871.
 (a) The Digital Education Equity Program (DEEP) is hereby established, and shall be administered by the department to provide a regionalized network of technical assistance to schools and local educational agencies on the implementation of educational technology as set forth in policies of the state board. The DEEP shall be composed of 11 regional consortia of county offices of education that will work collaboratively with school districts, charter schools, and the existing 58 county offices of education to meet locally defined educational needs that may be effectively addressed with the use of technology, including, but not necessarily limited to, all of the following areas:
(1) Professional development for teachers, school administrators, and technical support staff.
(2) Promoting strategies and best practices for increasing the use of technology in classroom instruction.
(3) Digital resource selection and use for pupil instruction.
(4) Digital network infrastructure and needed bandwidth for schools and homes.
(5) Technical assistance to local educational agencies in developing a support system to operate and maintain an education technology infrastructure, including improving pupil recordkeeping and tracking related to pupil instruction.
(6) Planning and coordination with, and support for, the local funding and implementation of federal, state, and local programs.
(7) Accessing and using a variety of funding sources for instructional technology.
(8) Technical assistance and information to support access, planning, and the use of high-speed telecommunications networks.
(9) Technology planning and implementation assistance to rural and technologically underserved local educational agencies and technologically underserved pupil groups.
(10) Helping to ensure that instruction using technology is aligned to the state’s academic content standards and incorporates related pupil learning assessment.
(11) Assisting local educational agencies in developing a local education technology equity plan and plan summary as a component of the local control and accountability plan.
(12) Collaboration with the department in the development and implementation of the comprehensive State Digital Equity Plan.
(b) Upon approval of the State Digital Equity Plan on or before January 31, 2024, the department, in consultation with the executive director of the state board, shall authorize grants to fund a county office of education in each of the 11 existing regional consortia of county offices of education, to act as the lead agencies to administer the services, as needed, to local educational agencies located within that region. The term of a grant awarded pursuant to this section shall not exceed three years. Grant funding may be awarded and received for subsequent three-year terms, as provided in this section. Budget allocations for each region may be adjusted based on the annual Budget Act. The lead agency for each region shall be chosen based on the extent to which it provides a plan that clearly documents or describes all of the following:
(1) Knowledge of technology to improve teaching and learning.
(2) Technology planning and technical assistance.
(3) Proven success in providing professional development in technology and curriculum integration.
(4) An ability to work collaboratively with local educational agencies and businesses in the region.
(5) The ability to deliver services specified in this article to all local educational agencies in its region.
(6) The support of local educational agencies for the regional lead agency application in the region.
(7) Specific strategies for documenting and addressing the needs of local educational agencies and technologically underserved pupil groups.
(8) A plan for evaluating the implementation of, access to, use of, and local impact of, the services provided by the region.
(9) A commitment to help ensure that instruction using technology is aligned to the state’s academic content standards and incorporates related student learning assessments.
(10) The capacity to assist local educational agencies in developing a local education technology equity plan.
(c) To receive funding for the second and subsequent years of a grant awarded pursuant to subdivision (b), the lead agency shall submit an annual report to the department for approval that describes the services provided, the persons served, and the funds expended for those services in the prior year. Local educational agencies within a DEEP region shall have an opportunity to comment on the report.
51872.
 (a) On or before March 1, 2024, the Superintendent shall develop both of the following:
(1) Guidelines and criteria for local education technology equity plans. The guidelines shall be consistent with, and not duplicative of, the Model School Library Standards for California Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve, adopted by the state board.
(2) A template of a summary of the local education technology equity plan as a component of a local control and accountability plan pursuant to the requirements of Article 4.5 (commencing with Section 52059.5) of Chapter 6.1 that is no longer than one page in length.
(b) On or before July 1, 2024, the state board shall adopt the guidelines and criteria to include in the local education technology equity plan and the plan summary template for the local control and accountability plan. Local educational agencies shall include the plan summary as a component of the local control and accountability plan in a timeframe consistent with existing local control and accountability plan adoption cycles, as determined by the state board.
(c) On or before December 1, 2024, local educational agencies shall adopt a local education technology equity plan. A copy of the plan shall be posted on the internet website of each local educational agency.
(d) (1) The guidelines and criteria referenced in subdivision (a) shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, units designed to educate pupils and their teachers about all of the following:
(A) Strategies designed to equip pupils with the skills necessary to use technology when it is incorporated into instruction.
(B) The appropriate and ethical use of technology tools in the classroom.
(C) Internet safety.
(D) Strategies for increasing parent engagement and digital literacy for families.
(E) Increasing digital leadership capacity for local educational agency and school administrators.
(2) The local education technology equity plan developed pursuant to this section shall include all of the following:
(A) A documented needs analysis that leads the local educational agency to providing teachers with training and support on effectively incorporating technology into instruction, addresses pupil and teacher connectivity, digital citizenship for pupils and staff, data privacy implications, cybersecurity and online safety, and information documenting the total cost of ownership or replacement of appropriate technological devices.
(B) Documentation of the need for establishing equity of digital access by families to enable pupils to complete school work at home through online distance learning, including strategies for reducing inequities among pupil groups.
(C) Documentation of a stakeholder outreach and input process throughout the development of the local education technology equity plan.
51873.
 (a) The department shall establish an Office of Educational Technology and Digital Equity with sufficient staff to administer this article. Funding for the Office of Educational Technology and Digital Equity shall be provided through the annual Budget Act for a minimum of three full-time equivalent staff to plan, coordinate, and support, as needed, the provisions of this article. The duties of the department under this article shall include, but are not necessarily limited to, all of the following:
(1) (A) Preparing a comprehensive State Digital Equity Plan that reflects the overall needs and priorities related to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the access and use of technology to support teaching and learning in California schools. The plan shall be prepared with input from local educational agencies and other stakeholders, and shall be submitted to, and approved by, the state board.
(B) The focus of the State Digital Equity Plan shall be on how best to meet locally defined educational needs that can be effectively addressed with the use of technology. In order to prepare the plan, the department shall collect data on the technology needs of local educational agencies, including, but not necessarily limited to, their digital infrastructure needs.
(C) The plan shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, findings and recommendations related to all of the following topics:
(i) Professional development for teachers, school administrators, and technical support staff.
(ii) Promoting strategies and best practices for increasing the use of technology in classroom instruction.
(iii) Digital resource selection and usage for pupil instruction.
(iv) Digital network infrastructure and needed bandwidth for schools and homes.
(v) Technical assistance to local educational agencies in developing a support system to operate and maintain an education technology infrastructure, including improving pupil recordkeeping and tracking related to pupil instruction.
(vi) Planning and coordination with, and support for, the local funding and implementation of federal, state, and local programs.
(vii) Accessing and using a variety of funding sources for instructional technology.
(viii) Technical assistance and information to support access, planning, and the use of high-speed telecommunications networks.
(ix) Technology planning and implementation assistance to rural and technologically underserved local educational agencies and technologically underserved pupil groups.
(x) Assistance in the use of online instruction to supplement classroom instruction.
(xi) Helping to ensure that instruction using technology is aligned to the state’s academic content standards and incorporates related pupil learning assessment.
(xii) Coordinate with education stakeholders at local educational agencies to identify support needs for the DEEP and to develop a needed support structure in all of the following areas:
(I) Professional development for teachers, school administrators, and support staff.
(II) Connectivity solutions.
(III) Dedicated device funding.
(D) On or before January 31, 2023, the Superintendent shall submit the plan to the state board for adoption, and the state board shall adopt the plan on or before March 31, 2023.
(2) Providing for the statewide coordination, planning, and evaluation of education technology programs and resources.
(3) Providing sufficient staff to provide ongoing support, direction, and coordination of the regional and statewide educational technology services described in this article.
(4) Advancing the use of technology in the curriculum and in the administration of elementary and secondary schools.
(5) Providing ongoing planning, funding, and policy information to the directors for planning and distribution to local educational agencies served by the region.
(6) Coordinating educational technology planning, policies, and information with other divisions of the department to include, but not necessarily be limited to, curriculum, assessment, technical support, budget, and professional development.
(b) Funding shall be provided through the annual Budget Act to the Superintendent to provide centralized statewide educational technology services that address locally defined needs and are more efficiently and effectively provided on a statewide basis. The department may contract with a county office of education to provide specific educational technology services that may include, but are not necessarily limited to, any or all of the following:
(1) Review of electronic learning resources, including, but not necessarily limited to, software, online resources, and video, for alignment with the content standards adopted by the state board and for the results of reviews to be accessible online, as needed by all public educators in the state.
(2) Professional development focused on digital school leadership for educational administrators in the areas of data-driven analytics, equity, and accessibility, integrating technology into standards-based curriculum, technology planning, professional development needs of staff, digital citizenship and privacy, and financial planning for technology.
(3) Access for schools to training, support, and other resources for technical professionals in the state.
(c) The Superintendent shall annually submit a written report to the state board and the Legislature on the services provided, persons served, and funds expended for purposes of this article, and the extent to which the objectives of the State Digital Equity Plan prepared pursuant to this section were attained in the immediately preceding year. A report to be submitted to the Legislature pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
51874.
 This article shall be operative only in fiscal years when sufficient funding for its implementation is appropriated to the State Department of Education in the Budget Act or in another statute.
SEC. 2.
 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.