COVID-19 emergency response: Learning Recovery Emergency Fund: appropriation.

(1) The California Emergency Services Act authorizes the Governor to declare a state of emergency during conditions of disaster or extreme peril to persons or property, including epidemics. Pursuant to this authority, on March 4, 2020, the Governor declared a state of emergency relating to the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Existing law appropriates funds from the Federal Trust Fund, the Coronavirus Relief Fund, and the General Fund to the Superintendent of Public Instruction for allocation in the 2020–21 fiscal year to eligible local educational agencies, as defined, in accordance with prescribed methodologies to be used for activities that directly support pupil academic achievement and mitigate learning loss related to COVID-19 school closures, as provided. Existing law appropriates money from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges for allocation to community colleges to support efforts to increase student retention rates and enrollment by primarily engaging former community college students who may have withdrawn from a community college due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, current community college students who may be hesitant to remain in a community college due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and prospective students who may be hesitant to enroll in a community college due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This bill would create the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund in the State Treasury for the purpose of receiving appropriations for school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and community college districts related to the state of emergency declared by the Governor on March 4, 2020, relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill would appropriate $7,936,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for transfer to the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund. The bill would require the Superintendent to allocate these appropriated funds to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, as provided. The bill would authorize allocated funds to be used for learning recovery initiatives through the 2027–28 school year that, at a minimum, support academic learning recovery, and staff and pupil social and emotional well-being. The bill would require local educational agencies receiving these allocations to report interim expenditures to the department by December 1, 2024, and December 1, 2027, as well as a final report no later than December 1, 2029. This bill would also appropriate $650,000,000 from the General Fund to the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges for transfer to the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund. The bill would require the Chancellor's Office to allocate these appropriated funds to community college districts on the basis of actual reported full-time equivalent students, as provided. The bill would authorize funds to be expended for purposes related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including student supports, reengagement strategies, faculty grants, and professional development opportunities, as well as technology investments, cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment, and to discharge unpaid student fees, as provided. The bill would require community college districts, as a condition of receiving funds, to report, by March 1, 2023, to the Chancellor's Office metrics on the provision of employer-sponsored health insurance for part-time faculty in the 2021–22 academic year, and by March 1, 2026, metrics on the provision of employer-sponsored health insurance to part-time faculty in the 2024–25 academic year, as provided. The bill would require the Chancellor's Office to submit a report on the use of funds by March 1, 2024, to the Legislature, the Legislative Analyst's Office, and the Department of Finance on the expenditure of the appropriated funds, as provided. (2) The California Constitution generally prohibits the total annual appropriations subject to limitation of the state and each local government from exceeding the appropriations limit of the entity of government for the prior fiscal year, adjusted for the change in the cost of living and the change in population, and prescribes procedures for making adjustments to the appropriations limit. The California Constitution makes certain specified appropriations exempt from this total annual limit if certain requirements are satisfied, including appropriations approved by a 23 vote of the Legislature relating to an emergency declared by the Governor. This bill would provide that the appropriations made by the bill are appropriations relating to the state of emergency declared by the Governor on March 4, 2020, relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, and pursuant to the above-described constitutional provision are not subject to the annual appropriations limit set by the California Constitution when passed by a 23 vote of the Legislature. (3) Funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.