Authorizing Legislation

AB 181 SEC. 126, Stats 2022
Reading and Literacy Supplementary Authorization

(a) (1) The sum of fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) is hereby appropriated to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing for the Reading and Literacy Supplementary Authorization Incentive Grant Program to support the preparation of credentialed teachers to earn a supplementary authorization in reading and literacy. This funding shall be available for encumbrance until June 20, 2027.

(2) The commission shall approve applications submitted by local educational agencies that meet the criteria established by the commission pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (4). To the extent that funds are available, the commission shall allocate funds to participating local educational agencies for each approved application.

(3) A participating teacher is eligible to receive an award of up to two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) from the Reading and Literacy Supplementary Authorization Incentive Grant Program.

(4) The commission shall do all of the following:

  1. Establish grant criteria for local educational agencies.
  2. Issue a request for proposals to all local educational agencies to solicit applications for funding.
  3. Accept grant applications from participating local educational agencies until funds are fully expended.
  4. Review applications and verify that each proposed participant teacher holds a valid credential.
  5. Allocate grants to participating local educational agencies for the purpose of paying the teacher costs of coursework, books, fees, and tuition, as applicable.
  6. Give priority to grant applications for teachers that provide instruction at an eligible schoolsite.

(5) In selecting grant recipients, the commission shall require each applicant to, at a minimum, do all of the following:

  1. Identify the teachers employed by the local educational agency who have been selected to participate in the incentive grant program.
  2. Identify the number of coursework credits required for each selected teacher to earn a supplementary authorization in reading and literacy.
  3. Provide an estimated cost for the required coursework, books, fees, tuition, and release time, as applicable.
  4. Provide a 100-percent match of grant funding in the form of one or both of the following:
  1. One dollar ($1) for every one dollar ($1) of grant funding received that is to be used in a manner consistent with allowable grant costs described in paragraph (3).
  2. An in-kind match of release time or substitute teacher costs for the participating teacher.

(6) The awards allocated pursuant to this section shall not be subject to local educational agency indirect costs.

(7) On or before April 1 of each year until the fiscal year following final disbursement of the grant funds, the commission shall report to the fiscal committees of the Legislature, the Legislative Analyst’s Office, and the Department of Finance on the program, including, but not limited to, the number of participating local educational agencies, the number of grants issued, and the number of reading and literacy supplementary authorizations issued. The report shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

(b) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Commission” means the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

(2) “Local educational agency” means a school district, county office of education, county superintendent of schools, state-operated education program, including a state special school, an education program providing instruction in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, that is offered by a state agency, including the Department of Youth and Community Restoration and the State Department of Developmental Services, or a regional occupational center or program operated by a joint powers authority or county office of education.

(3) “Eligible schoolsite” means a schoolsite operated by a local educational agency with an unduplicated pupil percentage for pupils enrolled in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, based on 2021–22 census day pupil data, that is in the highest 10 percent in the state of all schoolsites with either kindergarten or any other of the grades 1 to 6, inclusive. The unduplicated pupil percentage shall be calculated by the sum of the number of unduplicated pupils that are eligible for free and reduced-price meals, classified as English language learners, or that are foster youth, divided by each schoolsite’s total enrollment. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall develop a list of eligible schoolsites, and provide that list to the commission no later than September 1, 2022, for purposes of administering the program.

(4) “Schoolsite” means any school of a local educational agency serving pupils in a classroom setting.

(c) For purposes of making the computations required by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, the appropriation made pursuant to 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 2021–22 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 2021–22 fiscal year.

Updated June 28, 2023