Educational Staff Associates.

Individuals with educational staff associate (ESA) certificates provide education and health services to students.  There are nine ESA roles including school counselor, school nurse, school psychologist, and school social worker.  Any individual employed by a public school as an ESA must hold a valid ESA certificate for the role, with the exception of school nurses employed at school districts with fewer than 2,000 students. 

School districts may also contract with non-district employees for nursing, counseling, psychology, and social work services.  Individuals contracted for these services are not required to hold valid ESA certificates unless they are supporting students with disabilities with services listed on an individualized education program.

Prototypical School Funding Model Allocations.

The prototypical school funding model allocates general apportionment funding to school districts based on assumed levels of staff and other resources necessary to support "prototypical" elementary, middle, and high schools.  These prototypical schools are assumed to have the following full-time student enrollments:  400 students for elementary school; 432 students for middle school; and 600 students for high school.  In addition to other allocations, for each prototypical school, the model includes minimum allocations for the following types of staff, as described in the table below.

Discretionary Spending of Allocations. 

The funding provided to school districts through the prototypical school funding model is for allocation purposes only and districts, subject to some limits, have discretion over how the money is spent.  For example, funding for average kindergarten through grade 3 (K-3) class sizes may be provided only to the extent of and proportionate to the school district's demonstrated actual class size in grades K-3, up to the funded class sizes.

Additional Allocations for School Staff.

In addition to the staffing units provided through the prototypical school funding model, certain additional staffing units are specified in statute.  The additional staffing units must be allocated to school districts to the extent that the additional units are specifically appropriated and designated for those staff in the omnibus operating appropriations act.  For example, the additional staffing units delineated in the table below are specified in statute.

Prototypical School Funding Model Allocations. 

The minimum allocations in the prototypical school funding model are increased for specified staff types, over three years, as described in the table below.

Exceptions to Discretionary Spending of Allocations. 

Funding, up to the combined minimum allocations, for nurses, social workers, psychologists, counselors, classified staff providing student and staff safety, and parent involvement coordinators through the prototypical school funding model may be allocated only to the extent of and proportionate to a school district's demonstrated actual ratios of full-time equivalent physical, social, and emotional support staff (PSES staff) to full-time equivalent students.  "Physical, social, and emotional support staff" include nurses, social workers, psychologists, counselors, classified staff providing student and staff safety, parent involvement coordinators, and other school district employees and contractors who provide physical, social, and emotional support to students as defined by the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI).

The SPI must adopt rules to implement the funding provisions and the rules must require school districts to prioritize funding allocated for PSES staff who hold a valid educational staff associate (ESA) certificate appropriate for the staff's role.

Implementation Reports. 

By February 1, 2023, 2025, 2027, and 2029, the SPI must submit to the Legislature a report that:

1. compares the staffing units provided for nurses, social workers, psychologists, counselors, classified staff providing student and staff safety, and parent involvement coordinators through the prototypical school funding model to the actual school district staffing levels for PSES staff, disaggregated by school district; and
2. analyzes trends with respect to:  employed PSES staff and contract PSES staff; and the percentage of PSES staff with a valid ESA certificate.  The trends must be disaggregated by assignment duty code, as well as analyzed year over year and by school district size and geography.

For the analysis, the SPI must use personnel data reported on or around October 1 of the report year and the prior year, and any other relevant data.  For the report due February 1, 2023, the SPI must complete the analysis only to the extent that relevant data are available.