Education finance: Classified School Employee Summer Assistance Program.

Valencia, working with Senator Cervantes as principal coauthor, proposes to add joint powers authorities formed solely of school districts and county offices of education to the Local Educational Agency pool for the Classified School Employee Summer Assistance Program, while keeping the program’s basic design and funding framework intact. The measure continues to provide a dollar-for-dollar state match for each dollar withheld by participating classified employees, limited by the same timing and payout structure and contingent on annual appropriations.

Under the bill, a joint powers authority that meets the act’s requirements would be eligible to participate as an LEA. The program’s core mechanics remain: participating employees may have up to 10 percent of their monthly pay withheld during the school year, with the option to receive the accumulated funds in one or two summer payments. Eligibility continues to require at least one year of employment with the LEA, and the calculation of “regular assignment” excludes summer recess. The bill maintains a salary cap for eligibility, excluding summer recess pay when determining regular annual pay, and it preserves COVID-era exclusions used for 2020–23 to determine months of service. Local educational agencies (including JPAs) must notify employees by January 1 about participation for the next school year and employees must elect participation by March 1, with the possibility to adjust or withdraw around the start of instruction.

Funding and administration continue to hinge on annual budget appropriations, with a dollar-for-dollar state match that can be prorated if funds are insufficient. The department must provide estimated match funds to LEAs, and LEAs must notify employees of the anticipated match; funds withheld are deposited into a separate account by the LEA, and requests for state payments are due by July 31. If requests exceed appropriations, the department prorates the payments to participating LEAs. The bill also preserves the retirement treatment that state match funds are not considered retirement compensation and provides for carryover of unexpended balances to support match funding in prior years. An operative provision linked to AB 147/SB 147 governs a sequencing mechanism: amendments from those measures would become operative only if AB 378 is enacted last and certain timing conditions are met, otherwise those amendments would operate under their own schedule.

The proposal maintains a governance and implementation framework centered on departmental forms, with LEAs responsible for withholding, separate-account management, and timely reporting to trigger apportionments. It broadens the program’s scope to JPAs, potentially affecting multiple districts and COEs under a single administrative entity, while leaving the core eligibility rules, payout timing, and administrative responsibilities otherwise consistent with the current program. The overall fiscal and operational footprint remains tied to annual appropriation levels, with funding variability and sequencing decisions that could influence year-to-year participation and match amounts for JPAs and their member districts.