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SB-540 Pupil instruction: improving pupil success: grant program.(2021-2022)

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Date Published: 04/07/2021 09:00 PM
SB540:v97#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  April 07, 2021
Amended  IN  Senate  March 08, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 540

Introduced by Senator Limón

February 18, 2021

An act to add Part 24.7 Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 43600) to Part 24.6 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 540, as amended, Limón. Pupil instruction: improving pupil success: grant program.
Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt evaluation rubrics to, among other things, assist a school district, county office of education, or charter school in evaluating its strengths, weaknesses, and areas that require improvement. Existing law requires, as part of the evaluation rubrics, the state board to adopt state and local indicators to measure school district and individual schoolsite performance in regard to specified state priorities. Existing law requires the State Department of Education, in collaboration with, and subject to the approval of, the executive director of the state board, to develop and maintain the California School Dashboard, a Web-based system for publicly reporting performance data on the state and local indicators.
Contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute for these purposes, this bill would require the department to administer a grant program to provide additional targeted assistance to 10 low-performing school districts with identified opportunity gaps among their pupils, including, but not limited to, opportunity gaps for pupils of color and pupils from low-income backgrounds, to help those school districts close their opportunity gap. gaps. The bill would require those school districts to be competitively selected based on 2018–19 fiscal year data on the California School Dashboard. For the 2021–22, 2022–23, and 2023–24 fiscal years, the bill would require the department to allocate $1,250,000 to each of the 10 selected school districts to be used to hire and fund one distinguished educator with experience in improving pupil performance and outcomes and to implement a customized action plan to be created by the distinguished educator, as provided.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide resources to school districts to support their efforts in closing the opportunity gap gaps among their pupils, including, but not limited to, opportunity gaps for pupils of color and pupils from low-income backgrounds.
(b) To best meet the goal described in subdivision (a), it is the intent of the Legislature to establish a program to provide school districts with distinguished educators with knowledge and expertise in closing opportunity gaps to support school districts through a continuous improvement process.
(c) It is the intent of the Legislature that these distinguished educators work directly with school districts and focus on efforts to help school districts improve pupil outcomes and ensure that teachers and administrators are provided with coaching, professional development, and training that aligns with state standards and with distance learning, hybrid, and in-person instructional models.
SEC. 2.Part 24.7 (commencing with Section 43600) is added to Division 3 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read:
24.7.Opportunity Gap Improvement Program

SEC. 2.

 Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 43600) is added to Part 24.6 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read:
CHAPTER  2. Opportunity Gap Improvement Program

43600.
 (a) Contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute for these purposes, the department shall administer a grant program to provide additional targeted assistance to 10 low-performing school districts with identified opportunity gaps for among their pupils, including, but not limited to, opportunity gaps for pupils of color and pupils from low-income backgrounds, to help those school districts close their opportunity gaps. The school districts shall be competitively selected based on 2018–19 fiscal year data on the California School Dashboard.
(b) Under the grant program for each of the 2021–22, 2022–23, and 2023–24 fiscal years, the department shall allocate a sum of one million two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($1,250,000) to each of the 10 selected school districts.
(c) A selected school district, in consultation with the department, shall use the funds it receives pursuant to subdivision (b) for both of the following purposes:
(1) Hiring and funding one distinguished educator with experience in improving pupil performance and outcomes to perform the duties described in subdivision (d).
(2) Implementing the customized action plan described in subdivision (d).
(d) The purpose of the distinguished educator position is to leverage the distinguished educator’s experience in improving pupil performance and to apply it to the school district, in consultation with the district superintendent, the governing board of the school district, school district staff, and relevant stakeholders of the school district. The duties of this position shall include, but not be limited to, analyzing and using a continuous improvement process, in partnership with the department, to develop a three-year customized action plan to improve the school district’s performance on key indicators and pupil outcomes, and educate on the benefits of continuity of administrative service. The customized action plan shall include both of these key considerations:
(1) Assisting the school district in understanding and developing instructional practices, standards-aligned materials, and pedagogies that are culturally relevant.
(2) Professional development opportunities for schoolsite administrators, certificated staff, and classified staff.