COVID-19: California anticipates $6.6 billion for face-to-face back-to-school budget. They will receive under the budget package.
Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
Governor Gavin Newsom, Senate President Pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon on Monday announced agreement on a $6.6 billion budget package to accelerate the safe return to face-to-face classes across California and empower schools to immediately expand academic and mental health, health and social-emotional support, including during the summer.
"Now, our collective responsibility is to build on that momentum and local leadership and, equally critically, to do whatever it takes to meet the academic and mental health needs of our students, including during the summer," Newsom said.
The state's fifth-largest public school district was among the first to close for in-person instruction last year. However, last week, based on a deep partnership between school staff and leaders, the district announced plans to reopen grades K-6 in mid-March and grades 7-12 in early April.
Elk Grove Unified and public schools statewide will receive $6.6 billion under the proposed budget package.
In that regard, $2 billion would fund safety measures to support in-person instruction, such as personal protective equipment, ventilation upgrades, and COVID-19 testing.
While $4.6 billion would fund expanded learning opportunities, such as summer schools, tutoring and mental health services.
Officials noted that all public schools would be required to offer in-person instruction for grades K-2 to all students and for all high-needs students in all grades by the end of the month, losing 1 percent of eligible funds every day thereafter if they fail to do so.
In addition, schools at the "Red Level" or below would be required to offer in-person instruction to all students in all elementary grades and at least one middle or high school grade, or run the same risk of suffering the aforementioned sanction.
As students return to face-to-face instruction, all public schools will also be empowered to meet the needs of the whole child.
Expanded Learning Opportunity Grants allocate $4.6 billion to local educational agencies under the equity-based Local Control Funding Formula, with an additional $1,000 per homeless student.
These funds would be for supplemental instruction and support for social and emotional well-being.
Schools could use the funds to provide more instructional time, such as summer school, and accelerate progress in closing learning gaps through tutoring, learning recovery programs, mental health services, access to school meal programs, programs to address student trauma and social issues.
As well as for emotional learning and supports for credit deficient students and more.
The package would also codify multiple successful state programs to support the safe reopening of schools, such is the case with the prioritization of vaccines for K-12 school staff.
Thus, the package codifies the governor's commitment to reserve 10 percent of vaccines for education workers.
This commitment ensures that the statewide prioritization of school staffing, in effect since January, becomes a reality in all 58 counties.
It will also help generate data reporting, with the idea being that schools will report reopening status and COVID-19 safety measures. These legal requirements will help leverage efforts to increase transparency, including interactive geospatial maps displayed on Safe Schools Hub.
Moreover, the package also allocates $25 million to the state's Safe Schools Team, which serves to provide technical assistance, oversight and accountability to California's more than 10,000 public schools.
