AB 797

This bill allows the Department of Children and Families, as a pilot project, to

award grants to organizations, including school boards, with existing four-year-old

kindergarten programs for the purpose of expanding those programs. The bill

requires DCF to consider grant proposals from organizations in no more than three

counties and to give a preference to organizations operating programs in

economically disadvantaged school districts. The bill also limits the grants to those

programs in which each instructor holds a license from the Department of Public

Instruction.

Under the bill, DCF may pay for the four-year-old kindergarten grants by

using either federal moneys received under the Temporary Assistance for Needy

Families block grant program or from general purpose revenue appropriated for the

purpose of the grant program. The bill requires DCF to submit each proposed grant

to the Joint Committee on Finance for a 14-day passive review. In addition, if the

amount DCF seeks to issue in grants exceeds the moneys available in the GPR

appropriation account, the bill allows DCF to request that JCF transfer money to

that appropriation account from another DCF appropriation account.