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AB-2498 Pupil instruction: Freedom School Summer Demonstration Pilot Program. (2021-2022)

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Date Published: 04/18/2022 02:00 PM
AB2498:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 18, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2498

Introduced by Assembly Member Mia Bonta

February 17, 2022

An act to add Chapter 3.9 (commencing with Section 8670) to Part 6 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2498, as amended, Mia Bonta. Pupil instruction: Freedom School Summer Demonstration Pilot Program.
Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 1 to 6, inclusive, to include instruction in specified areas of study, including social sciences, health, and English, as provided. Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer courses in specified areas of study, including social sciences and English, as provided.
This bill, which would become operative only upon appropriation by the Legislature for its purposes, would establish the Freedom School Summer Demonstration Pilot Program under the administration of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in consultation with the State Board of Education, to develop summer literacy and learning loss mitigation programs for public school pupils, as provided. The bill would establish the Freedom School Summer Demonstration Fund as the initial depository of all moneys appropriated, donated, or otherwise received for the program and would require the superintendent, Superintendent, in collaboration with the state board, to distribute moneys in the fund to local educational agencies selected to participate in the program, as specified.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Despite the landmark United States Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) 347 U.S. 483 striking down segregated school systems, in the mid-1960s the State of Mississippi still maintained separate and unequal white and “colored” school systems. On average, the State of Mississippi spent eighty-one dollars sixty-six cents ($81.66) $81.66 to educate a white pupil compared to only twenty-one dollars seventy-seven cents ($21.77) $21.77 for a black pupil.
(b) The State of Mississippi was one of only two states in the nation that did not have a mandatory education law and many children in rural areas were sent to work in the fields and received little education at all. Even the curriculum was different for white and black pupils.
(c) In the summer of 1963, the county board of education in Prince Edward County, Virginia had the County of Prince Edward in Virginia closed public schools rather than integrate them after having been sued in a case following Brown v. Board of Education, and so Freedom Schools emerged in their stead.
(d) In September 1963, about 3,000 pupils participated in a “Stay Out for Freedom” protest in Boston, opting instead to attend community-organized Freedom Schools.
(e) On October 22, 1963, known as Freedom Day, more than 200,000 pupils boycotted the Chicago public schools to protest segregation and poor school conditions, with some attending Freedom Schools instead.
(f) On February 3, 1964, in a similar freedom day protest, over 450,000 pupils participated in a boycott of the New York City public schools in what was the largest civil rights demonstration of the 1960s, and up to 100,000 pupils attended alternative Freedom Schools.

SEC. 2.

 Chapter 3.9 (commencing with Section 8670) is added to Part 6 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, to read:
CHAPTER  3.9. Freedom School Summer Demonstration Pilot Program

8670.
 As used in this chapter, the following definitions apply, unless the context requires otherwise:
(a) “Program” means the Freedom School Summer Demonstration Pilot Program established under this chapter.
(b) “Local educational agency” means a school district, county office of education, or charter school.
(c) “Organization” means a local educational agency, a county agency, a nonprofit or community-based organization, a consortium of more than one local educational agency, county agency, or nonprofit or community-based organization, or a consortium of a combination of those agencies and organizations, agency or a community-based organization with extensive experience in the administration of summer school programs, literacy programs, culturally relevant programs, and learning loss mitigation programs.
(d) “Program participant” means a local educational agency selected to participate in the program pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 8671.
(e) “Public school” means a school maintained by a local educational agency.

8671.
 (a) The Freedom School Summer Demonstration Pilot Program is hereby established under the administration of the superintendent, Superintendent, in consultation with the state board, to develop summer literacy and learning loss mitigation programs for public school pupils by providing local educational agencies with assistance in running summer school programs that celebrate pupils and the cultural richness of the diversity of the United States, increase the reading, writing, and comprehension abilities of pupils, and prevent learning loss during summer recesses.
(b) On or before March 1, 2023, the superintendent, Superintendent, in consultation with the state board, shall select up to three four organizations to each serve as one technical assistance team. team. A minimum of one community-based organization shall be selected as a technical assistance team. Each technical assistance team is to provide hands-on, intensive support for a three-year period to a program participant to create capacity for the participant to offer a full day summer literacy and learning loss mitigation program. In selecting an organization to serve as a technical assistance team, consideration shall be given to an organization with demonstrated expertise, including, but not limited to, expertise in any of the following areas:
(1) The operation of an existing summer school program, but specifically a culturally relevant literacy and learning loss mitigation program.
(2) Working in a low-income community and at a public school serving pupils in a low-income community.
(3) Experience working with the department, local educational agencies, education-focused nonprofit and community-based organizations, and other education-based service providers.
(c) On or before May 1, 2023, the department shall select up to 10 local educational agencies to serve as program participants for a period of three years each. In selecting a local educational agency to serve as a program participant, consideration shall be given to all of the following factors:
(1) The local educational agency’s demonstrated need for a culturally relevant summer school program that will enhance literacy and mitigate learning loss for its pupils.
(2) Commitment of the local educational agency’s leadership to develop a culturally relevant summer school program, including, but not limited to, an existing Children's Defense Fund Freedom School site, for all pupils.
(3) The local educational agency’s number of unduplicated pupils.
(4) Ensuring the program participants collectively reflect the geographic diversity of the state.
(5) Ensuring a mix of urban, suburban, and rural program participants.
(d) (1) The Freedom School Summer Demonstration Fund is hereby established as the initial depository of all moneys appropriated, donated, or otherwise received for the program. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the superintendent, Superintendent, in collaboration with the state board, shall distribute moneys in the fund to program participants in accordance with this chapter. The superintendent, Superintendent, in collaboration with the state board, shall administer the fund.
(2) A program participant shall receive up to ____ thousand dollars ($____) each school year for each of the three school years it participates in the program. These funds shall be used for contracting with a technical assistance team selected by the department pursuant to subdivision (b), and may also be used, but is not limited to being used, for any of the following purposes:
(A) Hiring staff, including the hiring of support staff, responsible for maintaining a full day summer school program developed pursuant to this chapter.
(B) Providing the local program’s administrators and staff with professional development and participation in professional learning network opportunities related to learning loss mitigation and summer school instruction.
(C) Conducting local program outreach to pupils and families.
(e) A technical assistance team selected pursuant to subdivision (b) shall, under the direction of the department, work with a program participant to do both of the following:
(1) Conduct an analysis of all of the following related to the program participant:
(A) Its need for a summer school program and services for its pupils.
(B) Its current capacity to meet the need determined pursuant to subparagraph (A).
(C) Its current participation in summer school and learning loss mitigation programs.
(D) Barriers to participation in summer school and learning loss mitigation programs.
(E) Existing partnerships with county agencies or nonprofit or community-based organizations to provide summer school and learning loss mitigation programs.
(2) On or before January 1 after the end of the third year of the operation of the local program, complete and submit to the department a report with data on the results of the local program, including the number of pupils served, their reading and writing abilities before and after their participation in the program, and other appropriate educational data and information.
(f) Local educational agencies selected to serve as a pilot participant pursuant to subdivision (c) shall implement the first year of their summer school program by July 31, 2024.

(f)On or before January 1, 2027, or six

(g) Six months after the end of third year of the operation of the last local program funded pursuant to this chapter, whichever comes first, chapter, the department, in collaboration with the state board, program participants, and the technical assistance teams established pursuant to subdivision (b), shall submit to the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature a report on the local programs developed pursuant to this chapter. The report shall include, but is not limited to, all of the following:
(1) Best practices developed by program participants.
(2) The number of pupils participating in local programs, including breakdowns by subgroups of pupils as determined by the superintendent. Superintendent.
(3) Recommendations for expanding the program statewide and an estimate of the cost of fully funding an ongoing technical assistance and support program for purposes of this chapter on a statewide basis.

8672.
 This chapter shall only become operative upon an appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute for its purposes.