(a) The chancellor shall award grants to be expended over a six-year period, to applicants that meet, at a minimum, all of the following conditions:

(1) Applicants are parties to an approved College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) partnership pursuant to Section 76004 of the Education Code that will govern the delivery of the academic program to students and allocation of funding between the local educational agency and the community college district.

(2) Applicants shall demonstrate that the curriculum in grades 9 to 14, inclusive, shall lead to an associate in science degree in a high-tech field or an associate degree for transfer in a STEM field.

(3) Applicants have a signed memorandum of understanding between the CCAP partnership and one or more private businesses in technology, manufacturing, or health care that obligates the businesses to all of the following:

(A) Committing to place every student who successfully completes the program first in line for a job.

(B) Identifying a mentor for every participating student.

(C) Creating an up-to-date skills map for the industry or sector that identifies essential job requirements.

(D) Collaborating with the CCAP partnership to identify the postsecondary two-year degree that will ensure participating students meet industry expectations and to validate the proposed scope and sequence.

(E) Providing workplace visits, speakers, internships, and apprenticeships for participating students.

(F) Collaborating with the CCAP partnership staff to align technical skills and workplace competencies with curriculum, course offerings, and other resources.

(G) Providing dedicated staff to work on the initiative, including an industry liaison who has the authority to coordinate with the CCAP partnership on the business partners’ behalf.

(4) Students will attend classes from grades 9 to 14, inclusive, on a single campus.

(b) The chancellor shall prioritize applicants that will serve students who:

(1) Have been identified as academically or economically at risk for not successfully completing high school or not enrolling in, or succeeding in, college.

(2) Belong to populations that have historically not had access to, or success in, higher education, such as students with disabilities or English language learners.

(c) The chancellor shall award grants in a geographically diverse manner, to the extent possible, and shall not award more than one grant per county.

(d) The chancellor shall require applicants to submit enrollment, performance, and employment data.

(e) The chancellor shall develop and provide guidance to the program, including, but not limited to, appropriate uses of program funds and the manner in which the program will report data to meet the requirements of subdivision (h).

(f) The chancellor shall develop a request for proposal (RFP) process to determine grant awardees. The RFP process shall comply with the requirements of this section.

(g) For the purposes of this section, an applicant is comprised of a regional consortium that includes one or more of each of the following:

(1) A school district or charter school.

(2) A community college district.

(h) No later than January 10, 2025, the chancellor shall submit a report to the Director of Finance and the appropriate budget and policy committees of the Legislature. The report shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following:

(1) The degree to which grant recipients achieved the objectives in subdivision (a).

(2) The number and percentage of students enrolled in the program who earned a two-year associates degree within four, five, and six years.

(3) The number and percentage of students enrolled in the program who earned an industry-recognized certificate or credential within four, five, and six years.

(4) The number and percentage of students enrolled in the program who gained full-time employment in their area of study or training upon completion of the program.

(5) A range of the starting salaries of program graduates that gained full-time employment.

(6) The number and percentage of students enrolled in the program that enrolled in a four-year degree program upon completion of the program.

(7) It is the intent of the Legislature that the report disaggregate results by student subgroup as identified by Section 52052.

(i) For purposes of making the computations required by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, the appropriations made by subdivision (a) shall be deemed to be “General Fund revenues appropriated for community college districts,” as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 41202, for the 2017–18 fiscal year, and included within the “total allocations to school districts and community college districts from General Fund proceeds of taxes appropriated pursuant to Article XIII B,” as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 41202, for the 2017–18 fiscal year.

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 497, Sec. 93. (AB 991) Effective January 1, 2020.)