(a) Contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute, the department, in consultation with the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, shall, beginning on or before January 1, 2023, administer a competitive grant program to do all of the following:

(1) Enable more local educational agencies to establish either middle college or early college high schools or programs that provide pupils with access to obtain college credits while enrolled in high school.

(2) Provide incentives for local educational agencies to establish dual enrollment course opportunities that are consistent with the requirements of Section 76004.

(3) Enable local educational agencies with existing middle college or early college high schools or programs or College and Career Access Pathways partnerships established pursuant to Section 76004 to couple robust pupil advising and success supports with dual enrollment opportunities and establish outreach campaigns to promote dual enrollment for new or existing middle college or early college high schools or programs or College and Career Access Pathways partnerships established pursuant to Section 76004. For local educational agencies with College and Career Access Pathways partnerships, outreach shall be focused toward families and pupils who may not be college bound or who are underrepresented in higher education.

(b) (1) Of the funds appropriated in support of this grant program, the Superintendent shall provide approved applicants with either or both of the following, as applicable:

(A) A one-time grant of up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) to support the costs to plan for, and start up, a middle college or early college high school or program that is located on the campus of a local educational agency, a partnering community college, or other location determined by the local partnership, and that is consistent with the specifications of Chapter 14 (commencing with Section 11300) of Part 7 of Division 1 of Title 1.

(B) A one-time grant of up to one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to establish a College and Career Access Pathways dual enrollment partnership agreement that is consistent with the requirements of Section 76004 and to enable pupils at the participating high school to access dual enrollment opportunities pursuant to the College and Career Access Pathways partnership agreement.

(2) Nothing shall preclude a local educational agency from using any unexpended funds received for the purposes of subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) from using those funds to collaborate with their partner community college to access pupil advising and success support services offered by the partner community college district.

(3) A local educational agency may request grants from either or both of the opportunities specified in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1).

(c) The funds appropriated in the annual Budget Act or other statute for purposes of this section shall be distributed, approximately, in the following manner:

(1) Up to 50 percent shall be available for the purposes of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).

(2) Up to 50 percent shall be available for the purposes of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).

(d) (1) A local educational agency seeking a grant under this section shall submit an application to the Superintendent at a time, in a manner, and with any appropriate information, as the Superintendent may reasonably require, including, but not limited to, evidence of an existing or planned partnership with an institution of higher education for the creation of the dual enrollment program.

(2) The Superintendent shall give priority to available grant funds to support applications from local educational agencies that display any of the following characteristics:

(A) Fifty percent or more of the enrolled pupils at the local educational agency are unduplicated pupils, as defined in Section 42238.02.

(B) The local educational agency has a higher than state average dropout rate.

(C) The local educational agency has a higher than state average rate of suspension and a higher than state average rate of expulsion.

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

(E) The local educational agency has a lower than state average rate of pupils completing all of the A-G courses required to be eligible for admission to the University of California or the California State University.

(3) To ensure funds are disbursed in a timely manner, the Superintendent shall begin disbursing funds for approved applicants on or before December 1, 2023.

(e) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature that courses offered to high school pupils in dual enrollment programs pursuant to this section are part of structured, well-sequenced pathways and count toward postsecondary certificate or degree requirements, and are counted toward high school graduation requirements in equivalent subject areas.

(2) It is the intent of the Legislature that courses offered to high school pupils pursuant to a College and Career Access Pathways partnership agreement established by Section 76004 are part of structured, well-sequenced pathways and consist of transfer-level courses, unless one of the following occurs:

(A) The pupil elects to participate in a degree or certificate pathway that is not met with transfer-level courses.

(B) The pupil, in mathematics, English, or both, in grade 10 or 11, would warrant access to innovative remediation coursework, as determined by the partnering school district, county office of education, or charter school. The pupil may be placed into an innovative remediation course during their first year of participating in the College and Career Access Pathways partnership agreement as an intervention taken to ensure the pupil is on track to satisfactorily complete state and any local graduation requirements, as determined by the school district, county office of education, or charter school, and is prepared for transfer-level coursework at a community college upon graduation.

(f) On or before June 30, 2024, and on or before June 30, 2027, the department shall prepare a summary of how the funds in this section were disbursed and used to further the goals listed in subdivision (a), and shall submit the summary to the Department of Finance, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Senate Committee on Education, the Assembly Committee on Higher Education, and the Assembly Committee on Education. The summary shall include all of the following information:

(1) The number of grants awarded, disaggregated by local educational agency.

(2) A qualitative description of how the funding was used by local educational agencies to accomplish the goals listed in subdivision (a).

(3) The total number of high school pupils by schoolsite enrolled in dual enrollment programs disaggregated by participation in middle college high schools or programs, early college high schools or programs, College and Career Access Pathways, and other dual enrollment programs.

(4) The total number of community college courses by course category taken by pupils participating in middle college high schools or programs, early college high schools or programs, College and Career Access Pathways, and other dual enrollment programs.

(5) The total number of successful course completions by course category disaggregated by participation in middle college high schools or programs, early college high schools or programs, College and Career Access Pathways, and other dual enrollment programs.

(6)  Course and program outcomes for pupils who were enrolled in dual enrollment programs, disaggregated by grade level, gender, socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, and other disproportionately impacted groups.

(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that, upon the implementation of the California Cradle-to-Career Data System established in Section 10860, future data and outcome reporting on dual enrollment programs shall be linked through, and conducted in accordance with, the privacy requirements of the California Cradle-to-Career Data System.

(h) For purposes of this article, “local educational agency” means a school district, charter school, or county office of education.

(Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 194, Sec. 8. (SB 141) Effective September 13, 2023.)