Local educational agencies: before and after school programs: middle school and high school start time.

(1) Existing law establishes the After School Education and Safety Program to serve pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 9, inclusive, at participating public elementary, middle, junior high, and charter schools, under which a program can apply for a grant for operating a before school component, an after school component, or both the before and after school components, on one or multiple schoolsites. This bill would require the State Department of Education and the State Department of Social Services to review funding for all after school programs offered in the state under their respective jurisdiction, including, but not limited to, the After School Education and Safety Program and programs supported by federal funding, and to, by regulation, provide flexibility to school districts to use up to 20% of funds provided for after school programs under their respective jurisdiction for before school programs if that flexibility is not prohibited by the After School Education and Safety Program Act of 2002, an initiative statute approved by the voters at the November 5, 2002, statewide general election as Proposition 49, or federal law. (2) Existing law requires the schoolday for middle schools and high schools, including those operated as charter schools, to begin no earlier than 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., respectively, by July 1, 2022, or the date on which a school district's or charter school's respective collective bargaining agreement that is operative on January 1, 2020, expires, whichever is later, except for rural school districts. This bill would expand the exemption to rural charter schools, and would define a "rural school district or rural charter school" for purposes of those provisions. The bill would authorize a school district or charter school subject to the start time requirement to offer a surf class or club before the start of the schoolday and would authorize the surf class or club to generate average daily attendance for purposes of computing any apportionments of state funding. The bill would prohibit a city, county, city and county, county office of education, or school district from imposing any rule, regulation, ordinance, or condition, or taking any action, that would prohibit or restrict a school district, county office of education, or charter school from complying with the school start time provisions described above. The bill would include findings that provisions described in this paragraph address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.