California Education Code Section 8238.4

Of funds appropriated in Schedule (1) of Item 6110-196-0001 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2006 (Ch. 48, Stats. 2006) for child development and preschool programs, fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) is available for expenditure by the Superintendent as follows: (a) (1) Forty-five million dollars ($45,000,000) to reimburse participating programs on a per-child basis at the same rate that is used for the state preschool program, as determined in the annual Budget Act or other statute. (2) The funds described in paragraph (1) shall be assigned to programs located in the attendance area of elementary schools in deciles 1 to 3, inclusive, based on the 2005 base Academic Performance Index pursuant to Section 52056. Within elementary schools in deciles 1 to 3, inclusive, based on the 2005 base Academic Performance Index, preference shall be provided to underserved areas as described in subdivision (d) of Section 8279.3. If the funds described in paragraph (1) are offered under a new competitive bidding process after January 1, 2008, due to the termination, suspension, or relinquishment of an original contract award and in order to maintain an existing class, the department shall assign first priority to successful applicants that will maintain that class within the attendance area of the elementary school as originally granted. (3) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, programs receiving funding in this section shall serve children who would attend kindergarten in the subsequent academic year. No child shall receive services from a program under this section for more than one year. (4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a program receiving funding pursuant to this section may provide services to children in families above the income eligibility threshold, as described in Sections 8263 and 8263.1, if the number of contracted slots exceed the number of eligible children. No more than 20 percent of contracted slots, calculated throughout the participating program` s entire contract, may be filled by children in families above the income eligibility threshold. (5) The department shall report to the Department of Finance and the Legislature in the annual report specified in Section 8236.1 and in the same format used for the annual report, the number of children who are being served by the California state preschool program. The report shall also include the number of children served above the income eligibility threshold and the age of all children served. (b) (1) Five million dollars ($5,000,000) to be distributed to each participating class at a rate of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) per class per school year. Funds received pursuant to this subdivision may be used for all of the following purposes: (A) Compensation and support costs for program coordinators as described in Section 8238.2. (B) Staff development pursuant to Section 8238.3. (C) Family literacy services. (D) Instructional materials, including consumables. (2) In the event that the total amount described in paragraph (1) is insufficient to fund all of the participating class at the per classroom rate described in that paragraph, the class rate shall be prorated accordingly. (3) Eligibility to receive funding pursuant to this subdivision is restricted to participating programs that were eligible to receive funding pursuant to this section in the 2007-08 fiscal year. (c) The appropriation of funds for purposes of this section beyond the amounts described in this section shall be pursuant to the annual Budget Act or other statute. (d) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section to the contrary, programs receiving funding pursuant to this section may participate in all California state preschool programs administered by the Superintendent pursuant to Section 8235.