Dear County Superintendents:

SECOND APPORTIONMENT FOR THE UNIVERSAL PREKINDERGARTEN PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION GRANT
FISCAL YEAR 2021–22

This apportionment, in the amount of $2,051,989 is released to local educational agencies (LEAs) from funds appropriated by Section 4 of Assembly Bill (AB) 130 (Chapter 44, Statutes of 2021) as amended by Section 1 of AB 167 (Chapter 252, Statutes of 2021) and codified at California Education Code (EC) Section 8281.5, to support planning around access to classroom-based PreKindergarten programs. This apportionment is part of the Universal PreKindergarten (UPK) Planning and Implementation (P&I) Grant Program which provides a total of $200 million, comprised of the UPK P&I Grants for school districts and charter schools and the UPK P&I—Countywide Planning and Capacity Building Grant for county offices of education (COEs). For the purposes of the UPK P&I Grant, LEAs include school districts and charter schools. This apportionment will include the remaining funds allocated for school districts and charter schools. Separate apportionments will allocate the funds for the Countywide Planning and Capacity Building Grant for COEs.

Funds for the UPK P&I Grant are allocated based on a formula specified in EC 8281.5(c)(1)(A) and (C). LEAs receive a minimum base grant of $25,000, $50,000 or $100,000, determined by whether the LEA’s certified kindergarten enrollment in 2020–21 was comprised of 1 to 23 pupils, 24 to 99 pupils, or 100 pupils or more, respectively. Of the remaining funds for the UPK P&I Grant, after the base grant components are calculated, 60 percent is allocated to LEAs as enrollment grants based on each LEA’s proportional share of the 2019–20 statewide kindergarten program enrollment (excluding Transitional Kindergarten [TK] enrollment). The remaining 40 percent of funding is to be allocated to LEAs as supplemental grants based on the LEA’s certified kindergarten enrollment in 2019 –20 (excluding TK enrollment) multiplied by the LEA’s unduplicated pupil percentage, as calculated pursuant to EC 42238.02(b) or EC 2574(b), certified as of the second principal apportionment. Both the enrollment and supplemental grant funding components are distributed percent-to-total from funds available for this purpose per EC 8281.5(c)(1)(C).

Total allocation amounts for LEAs, including a breakdown of base, enrollment, and supplemental components, can be found at CDE UPK P&I Funding Results web page https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r2/upkpi2122result.asp. Please note that UPK P&I Grant funds for COEs identified in these results will be released in a separate apportionment.

Conditions of Apportionment

These funds may be used for costs associated with creating or expanding California State Preschool Programs (CSPP) or TK programs, or to establish or strengthen partnerships with other providers of PreKindergarten (Pre-K) education within the LEA, including Head Start programs, to ensure that high-quality Pre-K options are available for four-year-old children. Allowable costs include, but are not necessarily limited to, planning costs, hiring and recruitment costs, staff training and professional development, classroom materials, and supplies.

EC 8281.5(c)(3)(B) requires each LEA receiving these funds to develop a plan articulating how all children in the attendance area of the LEA will have access to full-day learning programs the year before kindergarten that meet the needs of parents, including through partnerships with the LEA’s expanded learning offerings, the After School Education and Safety Program, CSPPs, Head Start programs, and other community-based early learning and care programs. LEAs must submit this plan for consideration by their governing board or body at a public meeting on or before June 30, 2022. The California Department of Education (CDE) has developed an optional template for LEAs to use in their UPK planning. The template includes recommended questions for LEA consideration and required planning questions to support LEAs in developing plans for how the LEA will plan and implement UPK in a way that meets community and family needs. The template can be found at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/em/documents/finalupktemp.docx.

In addition, EC 8281.5(c)(3)(A) requires each LEA receiving this apportionment to provide program data to the CDE at the CDE’s request, including, but not limited to, recipient information, and to participate in overall program evaluation. Some of this data that LEAs will be required to submit is outlined on the planning template. Additional requests for data, including expenditure data, will be outlined in the future. The amount paid in this apportionment reflects the remaining funds entitled for each school district and charter school for planning and implementation, and funds must be utilized by the LEA in a manner consistent with this letter and with statute.

Accounting and Payment Information

A warrant will be mailed approximately three weeks from the date of this letter. For standardized account code structure coding, use Resource Code 6053, UPK P&I Grant Program, FY 2021–22, and Revenue Object Code 8590, All Other State Revenue.

County Superintendents were notified of this apportionment by email sent to their CDEfisc email addresses. The CDE requested that the email be forwarded to school districts and charter schools in the county. The links to this letter and the accompanying apportionment schedule are posted on the CDE UPK P&I Funding Results web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r2/upkpi2122result.asp.

For questions regarding programmatic requirement, use of funds, and expenditure reporting, please contact the UPK P&I grant team at UPKPlanningGrant@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Sarah Neville-Morgan, Deputy Superintendent

Opportunities for All Branch

SNM:sa