BILL NUMBER: AB 1009 CHAPTERED 08/31/01 CHAPTER 216 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 31, 2001 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR AUGUST 30, 2001 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 20, 2001 PASSED THE SENATE JULY 21, 2001 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 27, 2001 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 11, 2001 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 30, 2001 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Wyland (Coauthor: Senator McPherson) FEBRUARY 23, 2001 An act to amend Section 54691 of the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1009, Wyland. Partnership academies. Existing law provides for the establishment of partnership academies by participating school districts and establishes criteria qualifying "at-risk" students for enrollment in the academies. Under existing law, students not meeting the at-risk criteria may participate in an academy program and be considered qualified if they meet other criteria, but these students may not exceed 1/3 of the participating students. This bill would instead authorize a school district operating a partnership academy to enroll students that do not meet the at-risk criteria but meet other criteria and would limit the enrollment of these non-at-risk students to 1/2 of students enrolled in the academy. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 54691 of the Education Code is amended to read: 54691. Commencing with the 1993-94 fiscal year, from the funds appropriated for that purpose, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall issue grants to school districts maintaining high schools that meet the specifications of Section 54692, for purposes of planning, establishing, and maintaining academies, as follows: (a) The superintendent may issue a maximum of 155 grants per year for purposes of planning partnership academies. The Superintendent of Public Instruction, when issuing the grants to school districts, shall ensure that the grants are equitably distributed among high-wealth and low-wealth school districts in urban, rural, and suburban areas. Each planning grant shall be in the amount of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000). (b) For the 1993-94 fiscal year, and each fiscal year thereafter, the superintendent may issue grants for the implementation and maintenance of existing academies or academies planned pursuant to subdivision (a). Implementation and maintenance grants shall be calculated in accordance with the following schedule: (1) Districts operating academies may receive one thousand four hundred dollars ($1,400) per year for each qualified student enrolled in an academy during the first year of that academy's operation, provided that no more than forty-two thousand dollars ($42,000) may be granted to any one academy for the initial year. (2) Districts operating academies may receive one thousand two hundred dollars ($1,200) for each qualified student enrolled in an academy during the second year of that academy's operation, provided that no more than seventy-two thousand dollars ($72,000) may be granted to any one academy for the second year. (3) Districts operating academies may receive nine hundred dollars ($900) for each qualified student enrolled in an academy during the third and following years of that academy's operation, provided that no more than eighty-one thousand dollars ($81,000) may be granted to any one academy for each fiscal year. (c) For purposes of this article, a qualified student is a student meeting the at-risk criteria specified in Section 54690 and who is enrolled in an academy for the 10th, 11th, or 12th grade, obtains 90 percent of the credits each academic year in courses that are required for graduation, and does any of the following: (1) Successfully completes a school year during the 10th grade with an attendance record of no less than 80 percent. (2) Successfully completes a school year during the 11th grade with an attendance record of no less than 80 percent. (3) Successfully graduates after the 12th grade. A student enrolled in an academy who successfully completes only one semester with regard to enrollment, attendance, and credits within the school year is considered qualified for that semester and the district may receive one-half of the funds specified under subdivision (b) for that student. (d) (1) A school district operating an academy that is unable to enroll enough at-risk students, as defined in Section 54690, to constitute one-half of the participating students may enroll non-at-risk students that meet any of the following criteria: (A) Scoring in the 40th percentile or below in mathematics or English language arts on the standardized test administered pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 60640) of Chapter 5 of Part 33. (B) Maintaining a grade point average of 2.2 or below, or the equivalent of a C-. (C) Meeting any three of the four criteria set forth in subdivision (d) of Section 54690. (D) Fulfilling any of the actions described in paragraphs (1), (2), or (3) of subdivision (c). (2) Non-at-risk students enrolled pursuant to paragraph (1) may not exceed one-half of the students enrolled in an academy. (e) At the end of each school year, school districts that have been approved to operate academies pursuant to this article shall certify the following information to the Superintendent of Public Instruction: (1) The operation of each academy in accordance with this article, including Sections 54692 and 54694. (2) The number of qualified students enrolled during the just completed school year, by grade level, for each academy operated by the district. (3) The amount of matching funds and the dollar value of in-kind support made available to each academy in accordance with subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 54692. (f) The superintendent shall adjust each school district's grant in accordance with the certification made to him or her pursuant to subdivision (d) or in accordance with any discrepancies to the certification that may be revealed by audit. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the superintendent may advance up to 50 percent of the funds as he or she deems appropriate to districts that are approved to operate, or plan to operate partnership academies. (g) Funds granted to school districts pursuant to this article may be expended without regard to fiscal year. However, the funds must be expended for the maintenance and operation of academies.