(a) The governing board provided for in subdivision (b) shall establish a unit to be known as the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. The team shall consist of persons having extensive experience in school district budgeting, accounting, data processing, telecommunications, risk management, food services, pupil transportation, purchasing and warehousing, facilities maintenance and operation, and personnel administration, organization, and staffing. The Superintendent may appoint one employee of the department to serve on the unit. The unit shall be operated under the immediate direction of an appropriate county office of education selected jointly, in response to an application process, by the Superintendent and the president of the state board or his or her designee.

(b) The unit established under subdivision (a) shall be selected and governed by a 25-member governing board consisting of one representative chosen by the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association from each of the 11 county service regions designated by the association, 11 superintendents of school districts chosen by the Association of California School Administrators from each of the 11 county service regions, one representative from the department chosen by the Superintendent, the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges or his or her designee, and one member of a community college district governing board chosen by the chancellor. The governing board of the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team shall select a county superintendent of schools to chair the unit.

(c) (1) The Superintendent may request the unit to provide the assistance described in subdivision (b) of Section 1624, Section 1630, subdivision (b) of Section 42127.3, subdivision (c) of Section 42127.6, and Section 42127.9, and with the computation described in subdivision (a) of Section 42238.2, and to review the fiscal and administrative condition of any county office of education, school district, or charter school.

(2) A county superintendent of schools may request the unit to review the fiscal or administrative condition of a school district or charter school under his or her jurisdiction.

(3) The Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges may request the unit to provide the assistance described in Section 84041.

(d) In addition to the functions described in subdivision (c), the unit shall do all of the following:

(1) Provide fiscal management assistance, at the request of any school district, charter school, or county office of education, or, pursuant to subdivision (g) of Section 84041, at the request of any community college district. Each school district, charter school, or county office of education receiving that assistance shall be required to pay the onsite personnel costs and travel costs incurred by the unit for that purpose, pursuant to rates determined by the governing board established under subdivision (b). The governing board annually shall distribute rate information to each school district, charter school, and county office of education.

(2) Facilitate training for members of the governing board of the school district, district and county superintendents, chief financial officers within the district, and schoolsite personnel whose primary responsibility is to address fiscal issues. Training services shall emphasize efforts to improve fiscal accountability and expand the fiscal competency of local agencies. The unit shall use state professional associations, private organizations, and public agencies to provide guidance, support, and the delivery of any training services.

(3) Facilitate fiscal management training through the 11 county service regions to county office of education staff to ensure that they develop the technical skills necessary to perform their fiduciary duties. The governing board established pursuant to subdivision (b) shall determine the extent of the training that is necessary to comply with this paragraph.

(4) Produce a training calendar, to be disseminated semiannually to each county service region, that publicizes all of the fiscal training services that are being offered at the local, regional, and state levels.

(e) The governing board shall reserve not less than 25 percent, nor more than 50 percent, of its revenues each year for expenditure for the costs of contracts and professional services as management assistance to school districts or county superintendents of schools in which the board determines that a fiscal emergency exists.

(f) The governing board established under subdivision (b) may levy an annual assessment against each county office of education that elects to participate under this section in an amount not to exceed twenty cents ($0.20) per unit of total average daily attendance for all school districts within the county. The revenues collected pursuant to that assessment shall be applied to the expenses of the unit.

(g) The governing board established under subdivision (b) may pay to the department, from any available funds, a reasonable amount to reimburse the department for actual administrative expenses incurred in the review of the budgets and fiscal conditions of school districts, charter schools, and county superintendents of schools.

(h) When employed as a fiscal adviser by the department pursuant to Section 1630, employees of the unit established pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be considered employees of the department for purposes of errors and omissions liability insurance.

(i) (1) The unit shall request and review applications to establish regional teams of education finance experts throughout the state.

(2) To the extent that funding is provided for purposes of this subdivision in the annual Budget Act or through another appropriation, regional teams selected by the Superintendent, in consultation with the unit, shall provide training and technical expertise to school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education facing fiscal difficulties.

(3) The regional teams shall follow the standards and guidelines of and remain under the general supervision of the governing board established under subdivision (b).

(4) It is the intent of the Legislature that, to the extent possible, the regional teams be distributed geographically throughout the various regions of the state in order to provide timely, cost-effective expertise to school districts, charter schools, county offices of education, and community college districts throughout the state.

(Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 19, Sec. 48. (SB 78) Effective June 24, 2015.)