Before and after school programs: California Universal Afterschool Program Workgroup.

The After School Education and Safety Program Act of 2002, an initiative statute approved by the voters as Proposition 49 at the November 5, 2002, statewide general election, establishes the After School Education and Safety (ASES) Program under which participating public schools receive grants to operate before and after school programs serving pupils in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 9, inclusive. Existing federal law establishes the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program to provide pupils with academic enrichment and other activities during nonschool hours or periods when school is not in session, as provided. Existing law establishes the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program to provide funds to school districts and certain charter schools to offer, outside of any instructional time, expanded learning opportunities, as defined, to pupils enrolled in classroom-based instructional programs in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, under specified funding methodologies and program conditions. This bill would establish the California Universal Afterschool Program Workgroup within the State Department of Education composed of certain members, including members appointed by the department, to evaluate policy and regulatory impediments to ensuring the quality of and increased access to after school programs and any access impediments faced by pupils and their families, develop legislative and regulatory recommendations and specific proposals to reduce those impediments, and develop a roadmap for providing universal access to after school programs to all schoolage children, as provided. The bill would appropriate an unspecified amount from the General Fund to the department to support the workgroup's activities, and would require the workgroup to, among other things, provide a final report to the Legislature and the department on or before October 1, 2024. The bill would require the workgroup to be maintained through December 31, 2024, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2025.