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AB-731 Pupil literacy: home book delivery: grant program.(2023-2024)

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Date Published: 04/04/2023 09:00 PM
AB731:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 04, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 731

Introduced by Assembly Member Pacheco

February 13, 2023

An act to add Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 54030) to Part 29 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, relating to pupil literacy.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 731, as amended, Pacheco. Pupil literacy: home book delivery: grant program.
Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state and authorizes local educational agencies throughout the state to operate schools and provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Existing law establishes in the state government a State Department of Education and the department is responsible for various ongoing activities involving the public schools.
This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose, establish the Home Book Delivery and School Connection Grant Program for the purpose of increasing access to books that are culturally relevant and reflect the diversity of the state, and build connections between school and home to support pupils in achieving grade-level reading by 3rd grade. The bill would require the department to award formula grants to up to 75 local educational agencies that opt in to the program. The bill would require the department to fund selected local educational agencies with pupils in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and grades 1 to 3, inclusive, that have the highest percentage of 3rd-grade pupils scoring at the lowest performance level on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress in English language arts who opt in to the grant pilot program. The bill would require authorize the department to select a county office of education or a consortium of county offices of education, as specified, to administer assist in the administration of the grant program. The
This bill would require the pilot program to deliver, on a regular schedule, a minimum of 12 books per year to homes of participating families, as provided. The bill would require the selected entity or entities, to identify authorize the department to contract with one or more entities to contract with entities, as provided, in order to help administer the grant program and would require the selected entity or entities to target those school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools that have high proportions of pupils that are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, classified as English learners, or classified as foster youth, or are reading substantially below grade level to participate in the program. implement the delivery services necessary to implement the pilot program.
The bill would authorize local educational agencies to opt-in opt in their eligible schools for participation in the program and upon being chosen to participate, would require the local educational agencies to notify parents and families about the option to access and select books for home delivery and would require those local educational agencies to provide an annual report on an unspecified date to the selected entity or entities that are chosen to administer the program, 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.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Only one-half of the state’s third grade pupils are reading at grade level. The challenge of achieving grade-level literacy for pupils was exacerbated by the pandemic.
(b) The state has taken important steps and provided significant investments in early literacy in the past several years. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, the state settled the Ella T. v. State of California lawsuit lawsuit, which was a challenge to the state’s efforts to ensure all students were reading at grade level by third grade. One element of the settlement required the state to provide fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) in funding to improve reading in the 75 lowest performing elementary schools in the state.
(c) The state has additionally made large allocations of funds to improve instruction in reading, including investments for local educational agencies to hire literacy coaches and reading specialists.
(d) The Superintendent of Public Instruction has led efforts throughout the pandemic to secure donations of reading materials for young children and has developed a state plan for literacy and reading by the third grade.
(e) The state has not invested in supplemental free reading materials in more than 25 years and school libraries, especially in elementary schools, have few free reading materials that are of interest to today’s early learners, or are age or culturally appropriate for pupils.
(f) As a result, many of our youngest pupils have limited access to books in their school or at home.
(g) Research is clear that having books in the home can be a critical step to learning and learning to love reading and that home libraries benefit young English learners.
(h) In 2022, the Legislature approved funding for home book delivery for very young children, from birth to five years of age, to support the Statewide Imagination Library program in the state.
(i) This proposed grant program fills a gap in the state’s current literacy efforts by establishing a school-to-home book delivery program to provide diverse, quality, and culturally relevant reading materials to pupils in transitional kindergarten through third grade. The program is targeted at pupils in schools with high proportions of pupils that are unduplicated pupils for purposes of the local control funding formula, including pupils that are eligible for free and reduced-price meals, classified as English learners, or classified as foster youth.
(j) While the state has invested in a home book delivery program for very young children, the state lacks a program coordinated with schools to ensure our youngest pupils have books to take home that are culturally relevant and reflect the diversity of our state.
(k) Other states have established successful home book delivery programs for very young children as well as pupils in transitional kindergarten and kindergarten through third grade. Some states use federal funds and some build upon philanthropic support.

SEC. 2.

 Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 54030) is added to Part 29 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read:
CHAPTER  2. Home Book Delivery and School Connection Grant Program

54030.
 This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Home Book Delivery and School Connection Grant Program.

54031.
 (a) The Home Book Delivery and School Connection Grant Program is hereby established established, as a pilot program to be administered by the State Department of Education, for purposes of increasing access to books that are culturally relevant and reflect the diversity of the state, and build connections between school and home to support pupils in achieving grade-level reading by third grade.

(b)(1)The State Department of Education shall select a county office of education or a consortium of county offices of education with expertise in early literacy, reading instruction, family engagement focused on early literacy, or professional development in literacy, to administer the program described in paragraph (2). Applicants may submit an application in partnership with one or more institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, or both.

(2)The department shall ensure that the entity or entities selected pursuant to paragraph (1) are able to do all of the following:

(b) (1) The department shall award formula grants to up to 75 local educational agencies that opt in to the grant program. The department shall fund the local educational agencies with pupils in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and grades 1 to 3, inclusive, that have the highest percentage of third-grade pupils scoring at the lowest performance level on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress in English language arts. In identifying local educational agencies eligible for this program, the department shall do both of the following:
(A) Target local educational agencies with high proportions of pupils that are eligible for free and reduced-price meals, classified as English learners, or classified as foster youth for purposes of the local control funding formula, or are reading substantially below grade level.
(B) Give priority to schools with pupils in transitional kindergarten or kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive, or both, that were identified as being a part of the state’s 75 lowest performing elementary schools in the Ella T. v. State of California lawsuit.

(C)Identify one or more entities to contract with in order to help administer the grant program.

(D)Ensure the delivery of books to the homes of participating pupils.

(2) The department may select a county office of education to assist in administration of the grant program, including by notifying eligible local educational agencies or developing a timeline for the home book delivery to begin in the 2023–24 school year.
(c) (1) The department shall deliver, on a regular schedule, a minimum of 12 books per year to the homes of pupils in participating local educational agencies.
(2) Families shall select books from a catalog provided by the department.
(3) Books shall be available in English, Spanish, braille, and at least one other pupil home language and shall be culturally relevant to California’s diverse student population.
(4) Participating families shall also receive materials to support literacy goals for home learning or to extend high-quality learning into the home.
(5) The pilot program may also provide materials for participating local educational agencies to hold family literacy events to support home and school connections in literacy.
(6) The department may contract with an entity or entities with expertise in state-administered home book delivery and in providing books in multiple languages that are culturally diverse, authentic, and relevant to California’s diverse population to implement the delivery services necessary to implement this pilot program. Any selected entity shall also have experience in incorporating research-based family engagement as a key component of early literacy.

(c)

(d) Local educational agencies may opt-in opt in their eligible schools for participation in the program. Those local educational agencies selected to participate in the program shall ensure they do all of the following:
(1) Provide notification and information to families regarding the ability to access and select books for home delivery.
(2) Provide information and materials for parents to enhance family engagement in reading.
(3) By ____ of each year, provide an annual report that includes information such as participation rates to the entity or entities selected pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).

(d)

(e) For purposes of this chapter, a “local educational agency” means a school district, county office of education, or charter school.

54032.
 The implementation of this chapter is contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute for purposes of this chapter.