California schools can use meal payments for approved kitchen upgrades

Local educational agencies may use state meal reimbursement for meal service upgrades. This applies to local educational agencies receiving state-funded meal reimbursement for meals. The Department of Education must approve the spending first. The upgrades must not harm the agency’s existing meal program.

The department must allocate preschool planning grants to one designated local educational agency in each county. The grant supports county or regional planning for preschool for three- and four-year-old children. A county office of education has first priority. If it does not submit a letter of intent, a school district or charter school may apply jointly with it. The lead agency must identify funds for a one-to-one match, meaning matching funds equal to the grant amount. The appropriation is for the 2026–27 fiscal year, and the funds are available to be committed through June 30, 2032.

A school district or charter school with declining enrollment must hold its required public hearing alongside its local plan hearing and discuss specified responses. This applies to school districts and charter schools with declining enrollment or projected declining enrollment in the next five years. This is a condition of receiving the Student Support and Professional Development Discretionary Block Grant. The plans must address declining enrollment’s effects on the local education agency.

The department must provide a renewal grant to certain previous grant recipients after they complete the requirements for that grant type. This applies to local education agencies that previously received a grant to start or expand a middle or early college program, or to establish a College and Career Access Pathways dual enrollment partnership. The grant program depends on an appropriation by the Legislature. The agency must complete the requirements for that specific grant type and must not be in an active grant period for it.