California Code
CHAPTER 6 - California Community Schools Partnership Act
Section 8901.

8901. For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:

(a) “Adjacent location” means an alternative location for services for pupils pursuant to this section that is within a one-half mile of the qualifying entity’s schoolsite.

(b) “Community school” means a public school serving preschool, transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, with strong and intentional community partnerships ensuring pupil learning and whole child and family development, and specifically includes the following:

(1) Integrated supports services, including the coordination of trauma-informed health, mental health, and social services that ensure coordination and support with county and local educational agency resources and nongovernmental organizations, and early screening and intervention for learning and other needs.

(2) Family, pupil, schoolsite staff, and community engagement, which may include home visits, home-school collaboration, culturally responsive community partnerships to strengthen family well-being and stability, and school climate surveys.

(3) Collaborative leadership and practices for educators and administrators, including professional development to transform school culture and climate, that centers on pupil learning and supports mental and behavioral health, trauma-informed care, social-emotional learning, restorative justice, and other key areas relating to pupil learning and whole child and family development.

(4) Extended learning time and opportunities, including before and after school care and summer programs.

(c) “Consortium” means either of the following:

(1) Two or more local educational agencies.

(2) One or more local educational agencies, one of whom shall serve as the fiscal agent, and one or more cooperating agencies providing services pursuant to this section at a schoolsite or adjacent location.

(d) “Cooperating agency” means a federal, state, or local agency or public or private nonprofit entity that agrees to offer support services at a schoolsite, an adjacent location, or virtually through a program implemented under this chapter. Cooperating agencies include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

(1) A county behavioral health agency that will operate the program in partnership with at least one local educational agency that is a qualifying entity.

(2) A federal Head Start or Early Head Start program or other government-funded early childhood program or agency that will operate the program in partnership with at least one local educational agency that is a qualifying entity.

(3) A childcare program or agency within a public institution of higher education that will operate the program in partnership with at least one local educational agency that is a qualifying entity.

(e) “Lead agency” means the department.

(f) “Local educational agency” means a school district, charter school, or county office of education.

(g) “Network” means a group of schools that function as a learning community and are supported by a local educational agency that coordinates services and resources for their pupils, families, and staff. Participation in a network is at the discretion of a school’s local educational agency governing board.

(h) “Partner” means a private business, nonprofit, public or nonprofit institutions of higher education, or foundation that provides financial assistance or otherwise assists a program operating under this chapter.

(i) “Qualifying entity” means an entity that is any of the following:

(1) A local educational agency or a consortium that meets any of the following criteria, as applied to the entire pupil population of pupils enrolled in the local educational agency or consortium:

(A) Fifty percent or more of the enrolled pupils at the local educational agency or the consortium are unduplicated pupils.

(B) The local educational agency or the consortium has higher than state average dropout rates.

(C) The local educational agency or the consortium has higher than state average rates of suspension and expulsion.

(D) The local educational agency or the consortium has higher than state average rates of child homelessness, foster youth, or justice-involved youth.

(2) A local educational agency or consortium, on behalf of one or more schools within the local educational agency or consortium that satisfy any of the criteria in subparagraphs (A) to (D), inclusive, of paragraph (1).

(j) “Support services” includes case-managed health, mental health, social, and academic support services benefiting children and their families, and may include, but is not limited to, all of the following:

(1) Health care, including all of the following:

(A) Immunizations.

(B) Vision and hearing testing and services.

(C) Dental services.

(D) Physical examinations and diagnostic and referral services.

(E) Prenatal care.

(2) Mental health services, including all of the following:

(A) Primary prevention.

(B) Crisis intervention.

(C) Assessments and referrals.

(3) Trauma-informed mental health care, including substance abuse prevention, early intervention, and treatment services, including all of the following:

(A) Training for teachers, early educators, and school personnel in the detection of mental health problems, the impact of trauma and toxic stress, trauma-informed care and education, building resiliency, and helping pupils and families heal.

(B) Outreach, risk assessment, and education for pupils and families.

(C) Youth-focused substance use disorder prevention and treatment programs that are culturally and gender competent, trauma informed, and evidence based.

(4) Family support and parenting education, including child abuse prevention and parenting programs, such as home visits or, when in-person home visits are not possible, virtually conducted home visits.

(5) Academic support services, including tutoring, mentoring, employment, and community service internships, and in-service training for teachers and administrators.

(6) Counseling, including family counseling, peer-to-peer counseling, and suicide prevention.

(7) Services and counseling for children who experience violence, toxic stress, or adverse childhood experiences in their communities.

(8) Nutrition services to reduce food insecurity.

(9) Youth development services, including tutoring, mentoring, career development, and job placement.

(10) Case management services.

(11) Provision of onsite or virtual Medi-Cal eligibility workers, as allowed via telehealth pursuant to Section 1320b-5 of Title 42 of the United States Code.

(k) “Technical assistance” means a structure to deliver training and technical assistance to grantees using regional collaboratives and state, regional, and local technical assistance providers that have expertise in pupil and family engagement, school-community collaboration of service delivery and financing, the coordination and integration of support services, and multiindicator data collection and evaluation.

(l) “Unduplicated pupil” has the same meaning as defined in Section 42238.02.

(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 52, Sec. 8. (AB 181) Effective June 30, 2022.)