(a) The partnership shall establish a statewide school safety cadre for the purpose of facilitating interagency coordination and collaboration among school districts, county offices of education, agencies serving youth, allied agencies, community-based organizations, and law enforcement agencies to improve school attendance, encourage good citizenship, and to reduce school violence, school crime, including hate crimes, vandalism, drug and alcohol abuse, gang membership and gang violence, truancy rates, bullying, including acts that are committed personally or by means of an electronic act, teen relationship violence, and discrimination and harassment, including, but not limited to, sexual harassment. (b) The partnership may appoint up to 100 professionals from educational agencies, community-based organizations, allied agencies, and law enforcement to the statewide cadre. (c) The partnership shall provide training to the statewide cadre representatives to enable them to initiate and maintain school community safety programs among school districts, county offices of education, agencies serving youth, allied agencies, community-based organizations, and law enforcement agencies in each region.

(a) A local educational agency that receives a grant shall use the grant funds for planning, implementation, and evaluation of activities in support of evidence-based, nonpunitive programs and practices to keep the state’s most vulnerable pupils in school. These activities shall complement or enhance the actions and services identified to meet the local educational agency’s goals as identified in its local control and accountability plan pursuant to Section 47606.5, 52060, or 52066, as applicable. These activities may include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

• (1) Establishing a community school, as defined in Section 33435.
• (2) Implementing activities or programs to improve attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism, including, but not limited to, early warning systems or early intervention programs.
• (3) Implementing restorative practices, restorative justice models, or other programs to improve retention rates, reduce suspensions and other school removals, and reduce the referral of pupils to law enforcement agencies.
• (4) Implementing activities that advance social-emotional learning, positive behavior interventions and supports, culturally responsive practices, and trauma-informed strategies.
• (5) Establishing partnerships with community-based organizations or other relevant entities to support the implementation of evidence-based, nonpunitive approaches to further the goals of the program.
• (6) Adding or increasing staff within a local educational agency whose primary purpose is to address ongoing chronic attendance problems, including, but not necessarily limited to, conducting outreach to families and children currently, or at risk of becoming, chronically truant.

(b) In selecting grant recipients pursuant to this article, the department shall give priority to a local educational agency that meets any of the following criteria:

• (1) *(A) Has a high rate of chronic absenteeism, out-of-school suspension, or school dropout for the general pupil population or for a numerically significant pupil subgroup, as identified in a local control and accountability plan pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 52052.
  • (B) For purposes of this paragraph, “high rate” means a rate that exceeds the state average.
• (2) Is located in a community with a high crime rate.
• (3) Has a significant representation of foster youth among its pupil enrollment.

(c) A local educational agency that receives a grant shall provide a local contribution of matching expenditures equal to at least 20 percent of the total grant award. This local contribution can be from cash expenditures or in-kind contributions. A local educational agency is encouraged to exceed the 20-percent match requirement to enable the local educational agency to sustain the activities or programs established under this article beyond the three-year grant period.

(d) A local educational agency that receives a grant shall use the grant funds to increase or improve services that the local educational agency currently provides for purposes specified in this article.

(a) A local educational agency that receives a grant shall use the grant funds for planning, implementation, and evaluation of activities in support of evidence-based, nonpunitive programs and practices to keep the state’s most vulnerable pupils in school. These activities shall complement or enhance the actions and services identified to meet the local educational agency’s goals as identified in its local control and accountability plan pursuant to Section 47606.5, 52060, or 52066, as applicable. These activities may include, but are not limited to, all of the following: (5) Establishing partnerships with community-based organizations or other relevant entities to support the implementation of evidence-based, nonpunitive approaches to further the goals of the program.

For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply: (a) “Community school” means a public school that participates in a community-based effort to coordinate and integrate educational, developmental, family, health, and other comprehensive services through community-based organizations and public and private partnerships with one or more community partners for the delivery of community services that may be provided at a schoolsite to pupils, families, and community members. (b) “Local educational agency” means a school district, county office of education, or charter school.

The superintendent shall award grants to a local educational agency or consortium to pay the costs of planning and operating, on behalf of one or more qualifying schools within the local educational agency or consortium, programs that provide support services to pupils and their families at or near the school, as follows: (h) A local educational agency or consortium may contract with other entities, including county agencies and private nonprofit organizations or private partners, to provide services to pupils and their families.

(a) The Mental Health Student Services Act is hereby established as a mental health partnership competitive grant program for the purpose of establishing mental health partnerships between a county’s mental health or behavioral health departments and school districts, charter schools, and the county office of education within the county. (b) The Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission shall award grants to county mental health or behavioral health departments to fund partnerships between educational and county mental health entities.

• (1) County, city, or multicounty mental health or behavioral health departments, or a consortium of those entities, including multicounty partnerships, may, in partnership with one or more school districts and at least one of the following educational entities located within the county, apply for a grant to fund activities of the partnership:
  • (A) The county office of education.
  • (B) A charter school.
• (2) An educational entity may be designated as the lead agency at the request of the county, city, or multicounty department, or consortium, and authorized to submit the application. The county, city, or multicounty department, or consortium, shall be the grantee and receive any grant funds awarded pursuant to this section even if an educational entity is designated as the lead agency and submits the application pursuant to this paragraph. (c) The commission shall establish criteria for the grant program, including the allocation of grant funds pursuant to this section, and shall require that applicants comply with, at a minimum, all of the following requirements:
• (1) That all school districts, charter schools, and the county office of education have been invited to participate in the partnership, to the extent possible.
• (2) That applicants include with their application a plan developed and approved in collaboration with participating educational entity partners and that include a letter of intent, a memorandum of understanding, or other evidence of support or approval by the governing boards of all partners.
• (3) That plans address all of the following goals:
  • (A) Preventing mental illnesses from becoming severe and disabling.
  • (B) Improving timely access to services for underserved populations.
  • (C) Providing outreach to families, employers, primary care health care providers, and others to recognize the early signs of potentially severe and disabling mental illnesses.
  • (D) Reducing the stigma associated with the diagnosis of a mental illness or seeking mental health services.
  • (E) Reducing discrimination against people with mental illness.
  • (F) Preventing negative outcomes in the targeted population, including, but not limited to:
    • (i) Suicide and attempted suicide.
    • (ii) Incarceration.
    • (iii) School failure or dropout.
    • (iv) Unemployment.
    • (v) Prolonged suffering.
    • (vi) Homelessness.
    • (vii) Removal of children from their homes.
    • (viii) Involuntary mental health detentions.
• (4) That the plan includes a description of the following:
  • (A) The need for mental health services for children and youth, including campus-based mental health services, as well as potential gaps in local service connections.
  • (B) The proposed use of funds, which shall include, at a minimum, that funds will be used to provide personnel or peer support.
  • (C) How the funds will be used to facilitate linkage and access to ongoing and sustained services, including, but not limited to, objectives and anticipated outcomes.
  • (D) The partnership’s ability to do all of the following:
    • (i) Obtain federal Medicaid or other reimbursement, including Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment funds, when applicable, or to leverage other funds, when feasible.
    • (ii) Collect information on the health insurance carrier for each child or youth, with the permission of the child or youth’s parent, to allow the partnership to seek reimbursement for mental health services provided to children and youth, where applicable.
    • (iii) Engage a health care service plan or a health insurer in the mental health partnership, when applicable, and to the extent mutually agreed to by the partnership and the plan or insurer.
    • (iv) Administer an effective service program and the degree to which mental health providers and educational entities will support and collaborate to accomplish the goals of the effort.
    • (v) Connect children and youth to a source of ongoing mental health services, including, but not limited to, through Medi-Cal, specialty mental health plans, county mental health programs, or private health coverage.
    • (vi) Continue to provide services and activities under this program after grant funding has been expended. (d) Grants awarded pursuant to this section shall be used to provide support services that include, at a minimum, all of the following:
• (1) Services provided on school campuses, to the extent practicable.
• (2) Suicide prevention services.
• (3) Drop-out prevention services.
• (4) Outreach to high-risk youth and young adults, including, but not limited to, foster youth, youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer, and youth who have been expelled or suspended from school.
• (5) Placement assistance and development of a service plan that can be sustained over time for students in need of ongoing services. (e) Funding may also be used to provide other prevention, early intervention, and direct services, including, but not limited to, hiring qualified mental health personnel, professional development for school staff on trauma-informed and evidence-based mental health practices, and other strategies that respond to the mental health needs of children and youth, as determined by the commission. (f) The commission shall determine the amount of grants and shall take into consideration the level of need and the number of schoolage youth in participating educational entities when determining grant amounts. (g) The commission may establish incentives to provide matching funds by awarding additional grant funds to partnerships that do so. (h) Partnerships currently receiving grants from the Investment in Mental Health Wellness Act of 2013 (Part 3.8 (commencing with Section 5848.5)) are eligible to receive a grant under this section for the expansion of services funded by that grant or for the inclusion of additional educational entity partners within the mental health partnership. (i) Grants awarded pursuant to this section may be used to supplement, but not supplant, existing financial and resource commitments of the county, city, or multi-county mental health or behavioral health departments, or a consortium of those entities, or educational entities that receive a grant. (j)
• (1) The commission shall develop metrics and a system to measure and publicly report on the performance outcomes of services provided using the grants.
• (2)
  • (A) The commission shall provide a status report to the fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature on the progress of implementation of this section no later than March 1, 2022. The report shall address, at a minimum, all of the following:
    • (i) Successful strategies.
    • (ii) Identified needs for additional services.
    • (iii) Lessons learned.
    • (iv) Numbers of, and demographic information for, the schoolage children and youth served.
    • (v) Available data on outcomes, including, but not limited to, linkages to ongoing services and success in meeting the goals identified in paragraph (3) of subdivision (c).
  • (B) A report to be submitted pursuant to this paragraph shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code. (k) This section does not require the use of funds included in the minimum funding obligation under Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution for the partnerships established by this section. (l) The commission may enter into exclusive or nonexclusive contracts, or amend existing contracts, on a bid or negotiated basis in order to implement this section. Contracts entered into or amended pursuant to this subdivision are exempt from Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 14825) of Part 5.5 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, Section 19130 of the Government Code, and Part 2 (commencing with Section 10100) of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code, and shall be exempt from the review or approval of any division of the Department of General Services. (m) This section shall be implemented only to the extent moneys are appropriated in the annual Budget Act or another statute for purposes of this section.