California FY23 Education Budget: 6 Grants You Need to Know About

California Governor Gavin Newson signed a historic $128.8 billion K–12 education budget into law on June 30, 2022—passing just in time for the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. Not only does it include major funding increases for existing education programs in the state with this legislation, but it also has several new one-time grant opportunities to address college and career readiness, instructional materials, literacy and more. Let’s break down some of these new and existing funds and see what they mean for California schools.

Increases to existing formula funding streams through the Education Omnibus Trailer Bill (Assembly Bill 181)

• The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) will increase by $9 billion going directly to schools: $772 million in funding for districts and charters, an additional $2.8 billion for declining enrollment protections, $997 million to support transitional kindergarten (TK) expansion and TK staff adult-to-student ratios, and a $4.32 billion base increase. This funding formula represents the largest source of state money for a district’s general spending.
   
• The Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Program received $3 billion in funding, in addition to the $1 billion in funding rolled over from last year. This is a significant increase from the $1.7 billion budgeted for its first year of implementation; however, with this legislation, districts are no longer required to offer the program to all students. ELO now directs districts with 75-percent or more unduplicated students (high-needs students who may fit multiple classifications but are only counted once) to offer three hours of after-school programming for a nine-hour day and six weeks of summer enrichment programs for all transitional kindergarten through 6th grade students. Districts with a less than 75 percent unduplicated student population must only make the program available to those qualifying students.

New one-time funding through the Education Omnibus Trailer Bill (AB 181)

Arts, Music, and Instructional Materials Discretionary Block Grant (formula)

• $3.56 billion is available for expenditure through 2025–26, distributed based on a district’s total average daily attendance (ADA).
   
• These funds are very flexible, and they can be used for professional development, improving school climate, costs related to COVID-19, and any other general operational costs.
   

Golden State Pathways Program (competitive)

• $500 million is available in planning and implementation grants of up to five years.
   
• The program’s goal is to ensure that students “advance seamlessly from high school to college and career.” Pathways must include work-based learning; opportunities to earn 12 credits through dual enrollment, Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) classes, or UC A-G course requirements, with priority on pathways of education, computer science, health care and STEM pathways that also focus on climate resilience.
   
• Priority districts will be those with lower-than-average rates of A-G course completion and higher-than-average homelessness and foster youth, school suspension and expulsion, and dropout rates.
   

Reading Specialists/Literacy Coaches (formula)

• $250 million is available for expenditure through 2026– Eligible schools must have 97-percent or more of grade K–3 unduplicated students. Minimum grant will be $450,000 per school.
   
• Grants will train and pay for literacy coaches for schools.
   
• $25 million will go to selected county offices of education to develop and provide training for educators to become literacy coaches and reading and literacy specialists.

New Learning Recovery Block Grant through the COVID-19 Emergency Response: Learning Recovery Emergency Fund (AB 182)

• The new $7.9 billion Learning Recovery Emergency Fund distributes approximately $2,000 per unduplicated student to all districts for spend through the 2027–28 school year.
   
• Funds are very flexible and can be used for broad learning support, including tutoring, literacy intervention, mental health and social and emotional well-being, and even stabilizing staff-to-student ratios.

These are just a few highlights of California’s updated education funding priorities. To learn more about California’s new budget, check out this explainer video that we partnered with Education Advocates on!

The federal funding landscape can be tricky to navigate. That’s why we created this quick guide to help you make the most of the federal funds your district has access to. Use this guide to understand common use cases of funds, how they can be allocated, and how Edmentum solutions align.