Article
10. California Student Author Project
54800.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The trend of low-income youth struggling to become proficient in reading and writing is a narrative that is passed down from era to era.
(b) According to The Literacy Project, there are currently 45 million Americans who are functionally illiterate and unable to read above a 5th grade level. In California, 25 percent of the state’s 6 million pupils are unable to perform basic reading skills.
(c) According to the organization DoSomething.org, nearly 85 percent of the juveniles who face trial in the juvenile court
system are functionally illiterate, proving that there is a close relationship between illiteracy and crime.
(d) Over half of California pupils failed to meet English standards based on Spring 2017 standardized test results, a performance that remained essentially flat compared to the previous year.
(e) About 49 percent of pupils statewide met or exceeded English standards on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress in 2017, which is administered to public school pupils at certain grade levels each year. The same proportion of California pupils met English standards in 2016.
(f) For decades, generational illiteracy has hindered the careers, futures, and hopes of many pupils and their
families.
(g) With the exception of organizations that focus on book drives or after school reading programs, there are few, if any, literacy pupil author book publishing programs existing today.
54801.
There is hereby established the California Student Author Project. The project is designed to accomplish all of the following for public school pupils from extremely low income low-income communities:(a) Improve pupils’ English language skills.
(b) Improve academic performance among pupils.
(c) Build healthy relationships between pupils and the community.
(d) Empower pupils with critical life skills.
(e) Promote positive life choices for pupils.
(f) Increase literacy, reading, and writing among pupils and the community.
(g) Reduce pupil truancy.
(h) Reduce pupil suspensions and expulsions.
54802.
(a) A grant recipient pursuant to Section 54804 shall implement the educational program described in this section in the 2019–20 and 2020–21 school years.(b) (1) A grant recipient shall provide the educational program described in this section to public school pupils in grades 6 to 12, inclusive, from housing developments with a median income level of 30 percent of area median income.
a housing development described pursuant to paragraph (2).
(2) The educational program described in this section shall be provided in a housing development operated under a city or county public housing program that is subsidized by the federal government and provides affordable housing.
(c) A grant recipient shall establish a pupil author book publishing program to provide the participating public school pupils an opportunity to write, edit, and promote a short story. A grant recipient shall operate weekly pupil author workshops that shall include, but are not limited to, the following educational phases:
(1) Writing and editing, including instruction in the skills necessary for creative writing.
(2) Publishing an anthology.
(3) Marketing, media, and community relations, including instruction in book brand development and entrepreneurship.
(4) A group presentation.
(5) A community-based book signing event.
(d) Pupils participating in the pupil author book publishing program shall be expected to do all of the following:
(1) Engage in critical thinking.
(2) Practice
effective problem solving.
(3) Devise a useful outline for their book.
(4) Develop promotional and advertising tools.
(5) Write a press release geared towards promotion of the book and the book signing event within the community.
(6) Gain knowledge and understanding of how to create an exciting literary character, and how to show, rather than tell, their story in a logical order.
54803.
(a) Not later than January 1, 2022, the California State Library shall report to the Legislature on the outcomes of the California Student Author Project. The report shall include, but is not limited to, all of the following information:(1) The extent to which the project accomplished the outcomes described in Section 54801.
(2) Demographic data about the public school pupils participating in the project, disaggregated by race, gender, foster youth, and English learners.
(3) The extent of parent engagement as a result of the project.
(b) (1) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under subdivision (a) is inoperative on January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
(2) The report prepared pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
54804.
(a) The sum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the California State Library in the 2018–19 fiscal year for purposes of providing grant awards pursuant to this article.(b) (1) The California State Library shall provide grant awards for purposes of this article to nonprofit organizations that have demonstrated experience in providing similar educational programs to pupils in extremely low income low-income communities.
(2) The California State Library shall select grant recipients with the goal of providing access to the services provided by the California Student Author Project to a total of 1,000 public school pupils over the course of the 2019–20 and 2020–21 school years.
(c) A nonprofit organization that receives a grant award shall use the funds awarded only for the purposes described in this article.
(d)For purposes of making the computations required by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, the amount appropriated in subdivision (a) shall be deemed to be “General Fund revenues appropriated for school districts,” as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 41202 of the Education Code, for the 2018–19 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 of the Education Code, for the 2018–19 fiscal year.