AB 182 took effect immediately upon approval of the Governor on June 30, 2022. The bill establishes 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.
The bill provides $7,936,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education (Department) for transfer to the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund. The bill requires the Superintendent to allocate these appropriated funds to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools. The bill authorizes the use of funds 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 requires 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 also allocates $6.5 billion from the General Fund to the Chancellor’s Office of the California Community Colleges for transfer to the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund. The bill requires the Chancellor’s Office to allocate these appropriated funds to community college districts based on actual reported full-time equivalent students. The bill authorizes the use of funds for purposes related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including student support, re-engagement strategies, faculty grants, and professional development opportunities, as well as technology investments, cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment, and to discharge unpaid student fees. The bill requires 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 2021–2022 academic year, and by March 1, 2026, metrics on the provision of employer-sponsored health insurance to part-time faculty in the 2024–2025 academic year. The Chancellor’s Office is then required 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.
(AB 182 add Part 19.6, commencing with Section 32525, to Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code.)