AB 1391: Education finance: transitional kindergarten: funding for basic aid school districts and necessary small schools.

Existing law establishes a public school financing system that requires state funding for county superintendents of schools, school districts, and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula (LCFF), as specified. Existing law requires funding pursuant to the LCFF to include, among other things, the sum of a base grant based on grant, supplemental grant, and concentration grant, if applicable, multiplied by average daily attendance. attendance, as provided.

Existing law authorizes a school district or charter school to maintain a transitional kindergarten program. Existing law requires a school district or a charter school, as a condition of receipt of apportionment for pupils in a transitional kindergarten program, to ensure that, beginning with the 2025–26 school year, a child who will have their 4th birthday by September 1 of a school year be admitted to a transitional kindergarten program maintained by the school district or charter school. Under existing law, pursuant to the LCFF, school districts and charter schools receive, as funding for transitional kindergarten, the sum of a base grant amount, an additional adjustment to that amount, grant, a supplemental grant, a concentration grant, if applicable, and a transitional kindergarten add-on, all of which are based on add-on, multiplied by transitional kindergarten average daily attendance, as provided.

Under existing law, school districts that receive local revenues that exceed the LCFF amount do not receive an a specified apportionment of LCFF funds, as provided, and are known as “basic aid school districts” or “excess tax entities.” Existing law provides for the funding of necessary small schools and high schools, as specified. Existing law requires that funding to include, among other things, various specified per-pupil and per-teacher amounts for different tiers based on the number of pupils and teachers, as specified. Under existing law, these necessary small school calculations modify the LCFF calculations for school districts with necessary small schools, as provided. law, notwithstanding those provisions, requires charter schools and school districts, including basic aid districts, to receive a minimum level of state-aid funding, as provided.

This bill would, commencing with the 2025–26 fiscal year, and for each fiscal year thereafter, require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to allocate funding for pupils attending transitional kindergarten in basic aid school districts or in certain necessary small schools, as provided. The bill would require this allocation to include, for any average daily attendance generated by pupils attending a transitional kindergarten program in the basic aid school district, or the necessary small school, the sum of the above-described LCFF base grant, base grant adjustment, supplemental grant, and concentration grant, if applicable, and transitional kindergarten add-on amounts, as provided. The bill would, commencing with the 2025–26 fiscal year, and for each fiscal year thereafter, appropriate each fiscal year the amount of funding necessary to implement the required allocations for the applicable fiscal year from the General Fund to the Superintendent for allocation to necessary small schools under these provisions.

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.