Local educational agencies: emergency planning grants.

Existing law requires school districts and county offices of education to be responsible for the overall development of a comprehensive school safety plan for each of its schools operating kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Existing law requires the schoolsite council of a school to write and develop the comprehensive school safety plan relevant to the needs and resources of that particular school, in consultation with a representative from a law enforcement agency, a fire department, and other first responder entities. Existing law requires a petition to establish a charter school to include, among other things, a reasonably comprehensive description of the procedures that the charter school will follow to ensure the health and safety of pupils and staff, including requiring the development and annual update of a school safety plan that includes certain safety topics and procedures. This bill would establish the Emergency Planning Grant Program, under the administration of the State Department of Education, and would require the department, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, to award $1,000,000 in competitive grants to local educational agencies, as defined, to support emergency planning activities, including coordination with local emergency management systems and assessment of climate threats to the geographic area of the local educational agency. The bill would require the department, among other things, to prioritize grant awards for local educational agencies that face the greatest risk of, or have less capacity to prepare and respond to, climate threats without state assistance and to award grants by January 1, 2024. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on January 1, 2027.