Section 48857 - Technical assistance centers(a) Pursuant to funding appropriated in Item 6100-135-0890 of the Budget Act of 2024, the department shall allocate up to two million five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) to up to three county offices of education in different regions throughout the state for purposes of sustaining and enhancing the operations of technical assistance centers to foster relationships between community partners and local educational agencies in each region, including integration with local educational agency grantees and their county and regional assistance providers under the California Community Schools Partnership Program. The department shall determine the county offices of education that will be designated technical assistance centers through a competitive process that provides each county office of education with the opportunity to apply to become a technical assistance center. In making this determination, the department shall take into account geographic diversity and concentrations of homeless children and youths and unaccompanied youths.(b) A technical assistance center described in subdivision (a) shall prioritize providing regional support, resources, and expertise to homeless education liaisons to ensure that local educational agencies meet all of the requirements specified in Section 11432(g)(3) of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 11301 et seq.), which include, but are not limited to, all of the following responsibilities: (1) Creating, and facilitating the implementation of, training materials that outline the needs and challenges of, and barriers facing, homeless children and youths, unaccompanied youths, and their families.(2) Disseminating and providing technical assistance in implementing best practices, such as the scaling up of models of innovative practice, for small, midsize, and large counties to support the educational progress and academic outcomes of homeless children and youths and unaccompanied youths.(3) Assisting counties and local educational agencies in the process of ensuring accuracy in the identification of homeless children and youths and unaccompanied youths in local pupil information systems and using this data to report educational outcomes for homeless children and youths and unaccompanied youths who receive support services.(4) Fostering relationships between community partners and local educational agencies in each region, including providing professional development and coaching opportunities to homeless liaisons to build capacity locally.(5) Assisting the county offices of education homeless liaisons in providing targeted technical assistance to their local educational agencies that have been identified for technical assistance pursuant to Sections 47607.3, 52071, and 52071.5 for their homeless pupil group, which includes both of the following: (A) Developing recommendations on optimizing existing funding streams to target and support homeless children and youth based on spending gaps between homeless children and youth and other high-need pupil subgroups, which includes additional funding intended for these pupils based on planned spending of local control funding formula allocations in local control and accountability plans.(B) Assisting the county offices of education homeless liaisons in working collaboratively with their local educational agencies to utilize data reported through the California School Dashboard, on the department's internet website, and locally to assess outcomes and success of local educational agency homeless education programs, and providing guidance on implementing best practices, such as the scaling up of models of innovative practice, to improve academic and other performance outcomes for homeless children and youths.(c) Technical assistance provided by a technical assistance center pursuant to this section shall be provided consistent with the statewide system of support established pursuant to Section 52059.5.(d) Technical assistance centers shall report to the department detailing the allocation and utilization of funds, along with the impact of technical assistance center support on local educational agencies and homeless pupils.(e) Technical assistance centers shall only be operative for the duration of the availability of funds from the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief - Homeless Children and Youth Fund, established pursuant to Section 2001(b)(1) of the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2), estimated to end March 2026.Amended by Stats 2024 ch 38 (SB 153),s 53, eff. 6/29/2024.Added by Stats 2021 ch 394 (AB 27),s 5, eff. 9/29/2021.