SECTIONS 58520-58524 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 58520-58524

58520. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Single
Gender Academies Pilot Program Act of 1996.

58521. (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that a primary
goal of the Single Gender Academies Pilot Program is to increase the
diversity of California's public educational offering by making
single gender academies available to those pupils of each gender who
because of their unique educational needs will benefit from single
gender education.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that single gender
academies operated pursuant to this chapter shall be tailored to the
differing needs and learning styles of boys as a group and girls as a
group. It is further the intent of the Legislature that if a
particular program or curriculum is available to one gender, it shall
also be available to those pupils in the other gender who would
benefit from the particular program or curriculum.
(c) It is further the intent of the Legislature that single gender
academies operated pursuant to this chapter offer the following:
(1) Diversity in educational opportunity.
(2) Equal opportunities at both boys' and girls' academies.
(3) Equal funding and facilities at both boys' and girls'
academies.

58522. (a) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall
administer this chapter.
(b) A school district may submit an application to the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to receive a grant for the
establishment and operation of a single gender academy pursuant to
this chapter. To be eligible to receive a grant pursuant to this
chapter, the single gender academy for which the school district has
applied for a grant shall meet the following requirements:
(1) Enrollment in the single gender academy must be on a voluntary
basis.
(2) Boys and girls enrolled in similar schools must have equal
access to the schools.
(3) In all aspects of the curricula, the educational opportunity
must be equal for boys and girls.
(4) A plan for conducting an evaluation of the results of the
single gender academies.
(c) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall award grants to
10 applicant school districts for the establishment of one single
gender academy for girls and one single gender academy for boys in
each of those selected school districts. Grant recipients shall be
selected on a competitive basis. In selecting grant recipients, the
superintendent shall consider whether the proposed single gender
academy meets the requirements set forth in subdivision (b). The
superintendent shall select grant recipients that have clearly
demonstrated the expected benefits of single gender education at the
proposed academy and how a single gender academy will meet the unique
educational needs of the pupils and communities they serve. When
choosing between grant applicants that have similar qualifications,
the superintendent shall give preference to applicant school
districts seeking to establish single gender academies for both boys
and girls that will be in close geographical proximity to ensure
equal access to single gender academies for both genders in the
school districts.

58523. The governing board of a school district receiving a grant
pursuant to this chapter shall establish a single gender academy as a
magnet school pursuant to its general power established under
Section 35160 or as an alternative education magnet school pursuant
to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 58500).

58524. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall allocate two
hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) for each single gender
academy established pursuant to this chapter to the school district
establishing the academy.