(a) The Legislature finds and declares that, as the number of planning and operational grants awarded pursuant to this chapter increases, additional local planning and coordinating efforts will be necessary among school districts, county offices of education, county governments, community organizations, and nonprofit organizations for all of the following reasons:

(1) To avoid the duplication of efforts among agencies that administer the grants.

(2) To develop linkages between several school districts, individual county agencies, statewide organizations, or nonprofit organizations.

(3) To disseminate training and technical assistance materials developed by the department and other involved organizations.

(4) To plan for, and ensure, the continued ability of local educational agencies or consortia to provide support services with an operational grant, including planning and supporting the funding of those services beyond the three-year grant period through such means as Medi-Cal.

(5) To plan for, and ensure, the expansion of support services provided with an operational grant through creative refinancing options and the provision of comprehensive, integrated school-linked services to sites that do not receive planning or operational grants.

(b) From funds appropriated in the annual Budget Act for the Healthy Start Support Services for Children Act, the department may award county or regional planning and coordinating grants to no more than 11 local educational agencies or consortia each year, to be used for the purposes enumerated in subdivision (a). Each grant shall be for an amount not to exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000). The total amount of grants awarded annually pursuant to this section shall not exceed five hundred fifty thousand dollars ($550,000). The duration of each grant shall be mutually agreed upon by the grantee and the department.

(c) In awarding grants for the purposes of this section, the department shall give priority to local educational agencies or consortia that possess one or more of the following:

(1) An established capacity for leadership in the community and an ability to engage in local problem solving and to creatively approach the restructuring of service delivery methods.

(2) A demonstrated ability to work with and among service delivery agencies and systems, including county mental health, health, probation, and social service systems.

(3) The capacity to support county and regional planning and coordination efforts to be more responsive to the needs of children and their families in providing support services.

(4) Knowledge of the most effective strategies for refinancing grants and for integrating services between and among agencies.

(d) A local educational agency or consortia shall collaborate with local service delivery agencies and existing collaborative councils in implementing a grant received pursuant to this section.

(Added by Stats. 1994, Ch. 1239, Sec. 4. Effective January 1, 1995.)