AB 321 establishes the Local Public Library Partnership Program, under the administration of the State Librarian, to ensure that all pupils enrolled at a school site in a school district, county office of education, or charter school (LEA) have access to a local public library by 3rd grade.
AB 321 requires the State Librarian to offer resources to assist each local public library, as defined, to find student success card dispensing strategies that work best for their communities, coordinate with each local public library to determine the most effective means to ensure each pupil is issued a student success card by third grade, and, ensure, on or before January 1, 2026, that partnerships between local public libraries and LEA have been established to enable each pupil to be issued a student success card by third grade. A Student Success Card shall provide the pupil access to collections that support school curriculum, pupil leisure reading, online research, and learning resources maintained by local public libraries and the California State Library, online tutoring and digital content from the California State Library’s K–12 Online Resources Project.
On or before January 1, 2029, and each year thereafter, AB 321 requires the State Librarian to report to the Legislature on the Local Public Library Partnership Program the number of third grade pupils who have been issued a Student Success Card, the number of 3rd grade pupils who received local public library access as a result of the Local Public Library Partnership Program, the number of new summer readers each local public library received during the summer months each year, and any measurable increases to the use of other library resources as a result of the partnerships developed pursuant to this article.
(SB 321 adds Article 5 (commencing with Section 19340) to Chapter 7 of Part 11 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code.)