Dear County Superintendents of Schools:

First Apportionment for Special Education
Mental Health Services, Fiscal Year 2020–21

This apportionment, in the amount of $190,453,500, is made from funds provided in Provision 14 of Item 6100-161-0001 of the 2020 Budget Act (Senate Bill 74, Chapter 6, Statutes of 2020). The purpose of these funds is to provide all mental health related-services required by an individualized education program pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and as described in the California Education Code (EC) Section 56836.07 and EC Section 56363.

In the past, the mental health apportionments have been allocated three times per fiscal year and based on the average daily attendance (ADA) reported for the special education local plan areas (SELPA) for the current year. Section 70 of Senate Bill 98 (Chapter 24, Statutes of 2020) amended EC 56836.07 so that funding for the program will be based on the ADA reported for the SELPA for the 2019–20 Second Principal (P-2) Apportionment. Since the ADA for the apportionment is already known, the California Department of Education (CDE) is changing the mental health apportionment to two apportionments for Fiscal Year 2020–21, rather than three.

This first apportionment equals 50 percent of the total $380,907,000 budget appropriation, and is distributed to SELPAs based on a rate per unit of ADA multiplied by the 2019–20 P-2 ADA. The rates per ADA for this apportionment are $0.2378249948 for the Los Angeles Court Schools SELPA and $32.2808394508 for all other SELPAs. Information pertaining to this apportionment, including the schedule of apportionment, is available on the CDE web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/se/sep1appnform04.asp.

The remaining 50 percent of the appropriated funds, also based on the 2019–20 P-2 ADA, will be distributed in spring 2021.

Warrants will be mailed to each county treasurer approximately three to four weeks from the date of this letter. For standardized account code structure (SACS) coding, use Resource Code 6512, Special Education, and Revenue Object Code 8590, All Other State Revenue. County superintendents of schools are requested to inform their school districts immediately of this apportionment.

If you need assistance, or have any further questions, Principal Apportionment staff may be reached by phone at 916-324-4541 or by email at PASE@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Wendi McCaskill, Associate Director
School Fiscal Services Division

WM:tl