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California Department of Education
Official Letter
California Department of Education
Official Letter

June 18, 2021

Dear County Superintendents of Schools:

2020–21 Second Principal Apportionment

In July, county treasurers will receive a warrant that reflects state aid for school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education for programs included in the 2020–21 Second Principal Apportionment (P-2). The California Department of Education (CDE) certified P-2 on June 18, 2021, pursuant to California Education Code (EC) Section 41335 in the amount of $33,122,528,940. County superintendents of schools should advise school districts and charter schools immediately of this apportionment. This apportionment includes funding for 2020–21, as well as updated funding for the 2019–20 First Annual Recertification, the 2018–19 Third Annual Recertification, and adjustments to other prior year apportionments, as necessary.

Senate Bill (SB) 98 (Chapter 24, Statutes of 2020) amended EC Section 14041.5, fully deferring the 2020–21 P-2 payment from June to July 2021. SB 98 also amended EC Section 14041.8, which provided the opportunity for school districts and charter schools to apply for an exemption from the June deferral. Select county treasurers will receive a warrant at the end of June to reflect state aid for charter schools approved for a P-2 deferral exemption. Additional details, including the impact of deferred payments, are available on the Principal Apportionment Payment Schedule web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/papayschedule.asp. Monthly payment and deferral amounts for P-2 are available at the county and local educational agency (LEA) level on the Funding Excel Files web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/iassf20p2.asp.

Due to increases in state tax revenues, the Education Protection Account (EPA) revenue has significantly increased in the Fourth Quarter apportionment. EPA is an offset to Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) state aid, which means for many LEAs the significant increase in EPA resulted in an LCFF state aid overpayment as of 2020–21 P-2. The State Controller’s Office will offset the 2021–22 Advance payment(s) for counties that are overpaid as of the P-2 apportionment.

A summary of the calculations that the CDE used in the P-2 Apportionment is available as an attachment to this letter. Funding exhibits and apportionment Excel files that provide detailed funding amounts related to the P-2 Apportionment are available on the CDE 2020–21 Principal Apportionment web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/pa2021.asp. Additional Excel files for Special Education are available on the Special Education web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/se/.

The CDE provides funding information electronically via the CDE’s Principal Apportionment Section (PASE) listserv. The listserv provides important information to LEAs and other interested parties, such as notifications regarding LCFF updates, software releases, key deadlines, reminders of due dates for submission of data, and any other pertinent topics related to the Principal Apportionment. If you do not already belong to the PASE listserv and would like to subscribe, send a “blank” message to: join-pase-contacts@mlist.cde.ca.gov.

If you need assistance or have any further questions, Principal Apportionment staff may be reached by email at PASE@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Wendi McCaskill, Associate Director

School Fiscal Services Division

WM:ic

Attachment

Last Reviewed: Wednesday, June 4, 2025

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