Built From The Inside
What Is ELOP?
The Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELOP) is one of the most significant investments in student wellbeing in California history — and most local businesses have never heard of it.
How It Started
In 2021 California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 130 establishing the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program as part of the historic California Comeback Plan. It was designed to address learning loss from the pandemic while creating long term infrastructure for quality expanded learning programs statewide.
For the first time California mandated that districts receiving funding provide expanded learning opportunities to all interested students in Transitional Kindergarten through 6th grade — a guarantee that had never existed before.’
The Funding
ELOP is funded through Proposition 98 — California's constitutional guarantee of a minimum level of funding for K-14 education. This means ELOP funding is:
Constitutionally protected
Not subject to annual political budget battles
Guaranteed to grow as California's economy grows
Among the most stable funding streams in public education
California currently allocates over $5 billion annually toward expanded learning — making it one of the largest state investments in out of school time programs in American history.
What Districts Are Required To Do
Every qualifying California school district must use ELOP funds to:
Provide before and after school programs
Offer summer and intersession learning opportunities
Partner with community organizations to deliver enrichment
Serve all interested students in TK through 6th grade
Meet quality standards established by the California Department of Education
The Opportunity For Businesses
This is where The Expanded Learning Group comes in.
Districts have billions of dollars allocated — and a mandate to spend it on quality community partnerships. Most districts struggle to find vendors who:
Understand ELOP compliance requirements
Can deliver programs that meet quality standards
Have the infrastructure to serve students reliably
Offer something genuinely unique and inspiring
Your business could be exactly what a Sacramento district is looking for.
We handle everything — from building your program to facilitating the district relationship to managing the ongoing contract.
Ready To Learn If Your Business Qualifies?
[Contact Us] → info@expandedlearninggroup.com
Who are we?
The Expanded Learning Group is a Sacramento-based consulting and facilitation firm dedicated to transforming expanded learning programs across California. We were founded by an active expanded learning director who understands both sides of this equation. We know what districts need, what students deserve, and what it takes to build programs that actually work. We're not consultants guessing from the outside. We're practitioners building from within.
What We Do
We bridge the gap between innovative local businesses and school districts actively seeking quality expanded learning partners. Through California's ELOP funding, we help community organizations become district-ready vendors — and then connect them to the contracts that make it all possible.
Our work solves three problems that every expanded learning director knows intimately:
— The disconnect between districts and quality vendors who actually understand ELOP requirements
— The lack of respect expanded learning programs receive from district administration
— The shortage of unique, community-connected opportunities that truly inspire students
How We Work
We come in as trusted partners — not salespeople. We assess, we design, we facilitate, and we manage. Every vendor we place is vetted, compliant, and genuinely extraordinary. Every district we serve gets programs worth talking about.
Why It Matters
Expanded learning is not babysitting. It is not a placeholder until parents arrive. It is one of the most powerful opportunities a student has to discover who they are — through real world experiences, real community connections, and real adults who care.
The Expanded Learning Group exists to make sure every student in California has access to programs that reflect that truth.
Based in Sacramento, California Serving districts and communities across California.
Alexios Vakis presenting to Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty and Jessica Holmes, Chief Education Budget Advisor to the Governor of California, on the future of Expanded Learning in California and the challenges facing district leaders on the ground.