Article 1. General Provisions of California Education Code >> Division 4. >> Title 2. >> Part 29. >> Chapter 1. >> Article 1.

It is the intent of the Legislature to provide quality educational opportunities for all children in the public schools. The Legislature recognizes that a wide variety of factors such as low family income, pupil transiency rates, and large numbers of homes where a primary language other than English is spoken have a direct impact on a child's success in school and personal development, and require that different levels of financial assistance be provided districts in order to assure a quality level of education for all pupils.

From the funds appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes of this chapter, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, shall administer this chapter and make apportionments to school districts to meet the total approved expense of the school districts incurred in establishing education programs for pupils who qualify economically and educationally in preschool, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 through 12, inclusive. Funds provided pursuant to this chapter in any fiscal year but not expended by school district in that fiscal year may be expended in subsequent fiscal years. Nothing in this chapter shall in any way preclude the use of federal funds for educationally disadvantaged youths. Districts which receive funds pursuant to this chapter shall not reduce existing district resources which have been utilized for programs to meet the needs of educationally disadvantaged students.

Under rules and regulations established by the State Board of Education, participating school district governing boards shall evaluate the effectiveness of participating schools and shall terminate entitlements to schools which are unsuccessful over a four-year period in substantially meeting their objectives of the approved school site plan, as defined in Section 54004.1. It is the intent of the Legislature that to the extent feasible the State Board of Education develop rules and regulations that will assure consistency between subdivision (f) of Section 52034 and this section.

For fiscal year 1979-80 and each year thereafter, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall apportion funds available for programs in accord with procedures specified in this chapter and rules and regulations established by the State Board of Education. Funds shall be allocated to each district within its entitlement based upon the following:
  (a) A district allocation plan developed pursuant to Sections 54004.3, 54004.5, and 54004.7 which shall be submitted to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and approved by the State Board of Education.
  (b) A school plan, including any modification for each school receiving funds allocated pursuant to Sections 54004.5 and 54004.7, which has been approved by the governing board of the school district and is retained at the school site and at the school district office. This plan shall be available to the Superintendent of Public Instruction upon demand and shall be made available to the public on a reasonable basis pursuant to the provisions of the California Public Records Act, Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code. The plan shall include, but not be limited to:
  (1) An explicit statement of what the school seeks to accomplish.
  (2) A description of the program and activities designed to achieve these purposes.
  (3) A planned program of annual evaluation, including a statement of criteria to be used to measure the effectiveness of the program.
  (c) Schools which provide programs pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 52165 shall include such programs in the school plan.

It is the intent of the Legislature to provide all districts receiving impact aid with sufficient flexibility to design and administer an intra-district allocation system for impact aid which reflects the distribution and the needs of the needy population and assures the provision of services to students traditionally served by the educationally disadvantaged youth programs and bilingual education programs.

Under the rules and regulations established by the State Board of Education, school districts receiving entitlements for the 1979-80 year and thereafter under this chapter shall develop and submit to the Department of Education for approval an intra-district allocation plan for distribution of impact aid to schools with high concentrations of pupils in need. Such intra-district allocation plans shall include, but not be limited to:
  (a) A method for determining the eligibility of schools to receive impact aid based on the following factors which shall be given equal weight in the allocation of funds:
  (1) The number or percentage of limited- and non-English-speaking youth at individual school sites.
  (2) The number or percentage of students from low-income families at individual school sites as identified using data sources such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Federal Free Lunch, assessed value of single family residences, and census data.
  (3) The number or percentage of students with low academic achievement at individual school sites. In the development of its allocation plan, an eligible district may employ, other factors unique to the district which further identify numbers or concentrations of pupils in need of impact aid at individual school sites.
  (b) A method for determining the minimum and maximum levels of service expressed as an average amount per pupil, for schools scheduled to receive impact aid.

The intradistrict allocation plan shall assure adequate support to any school to provide programs appropriate to the educational needs of limited- and non-English-speaking pupils as required by Section 52165 except that programs funded under Article 3 (commencing with Section 52160) of Chapter 7 of Part 28 in fiscal year 1978-79 in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, shall continue to receive appropriate funding if the governing board determines that the program is of sufficient quality to warrant the funding.

The State Board of Education shall adopt regulations setting forth the standards and criteria to be used in the administration, monitoring, evaluation, and dissemination of programs submitted for consideration.

In approving projects pursuant to this chapter, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the concurrence of the Director of Finance, may, upon the request of the applicant district, designate a portion of the district's entitlement which may be expended for noninstructional costs, including, but not limited to, costs for vandalism, security, and insurance. In no event, shall the total amount of funds designated for such purposes for all districts in the state exceed two million dollars ($2,000,000).

Expenditures pursuant to this chapter shall be considered to be categorical program expenditures within the meaning of Section 52165 and therefore subject to the requirements of the Chacon-Moscone Bilingual-Bicultura l Education Act of 1976 (Article 3 (commencing with Section 52160) of Chapter 7 of Part 28 of Division 4 of this title).