BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 8|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 8
Author: Brownley (D), et al
Amended: 9/3/09 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-0, 7/15/09
AYES: Romero, Huff, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Padilla,
Simitian, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Maldonado
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 10-3, 8/27/09
AYES: Kehoe, Corbett, Denham, Hancock, Leno, Oropeza,
Price, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
NOES: Cox, Runner, Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 6/2/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Education finance: working group
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Director of the
Department of Finance and the Legislative Analyst to
convene a working group to make findings and
recommendations to the Legislature and Governor regarding
the implementation of a restructured school finance system
on or before December 1, 2010. This bill also deletes an
obsolete provision of law relating to property tax
allocations to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District in
the 1990s.
CONTINUED
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Senate Floor Amendments of 9/3/09 make a small technical
change and allow for the addition of co-authors.
ANALYSIS : In March 2007, the Institute for Research on
Education Policy and Practice released "Getting Down to
Facts: School Finance and Governance in California" (Loeb,
Bryk, and Hanushek), a research project intended to provide
policymakers and the public with comprehensive information
about the status of the state's school finance and
governance systems. "Getting Down to Facts" consists of
several research reports addressing issues of school
finance, governance, charter schools, and special
populations of pupils (English language learners, special
education, etc.). In the area of school finance, the
reports argue that the current funding formula for K-12
education is not meeting student outcome goals, especially
for students in poverty. Likewise, the reports conclude
that more money in the current finance system is unlikely
to dramatically improve student achievement, unless
accompanied by significant policy reforms.
The Governor's Committee on Education Excellence,
established in April 2005, is a non-partisan, privately
funded group charged with examining K-12 education in
California and recommending steps to improve the
performance of public schools. The 15-member committee
focused on four interrelated issues: the distribution and
adequacy of education funding; the functioning and
effectiveness of governance structures; teacher recruitment
and training; and the preparation and retention of school
administrators. The committee and independent studies in
support of its work are funded through a public-private
partnership from private foundations, such as the William
and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation,
the Stuart Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation. In April 2008, the committee released its
report entitled "Students First: Renewing Hope for
California's Future". The report provides a blue-print and
specific proposals on how to reform the state's educational
system, including funding formulas.
This bill:
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1. Makes legislative findings and declarations related to
California's current education finance system; also
states legislative intent to develop a comprehensive
plan for school finance reform, simplify and improve
rationality and equity in the system, support
accountability through improved fiscal transparency and
reporting, support ongoing improvement and reform, and
hold local educational agencies harmless by
transitioning to the new system as new funds become
available.
2. Requires the Department of Finance (DOF) and Legislative
Analyst's Office (LAO) to convene a working group that
includes representatives of the Governor and
Superintendent of Public Instruction, as well as
majority and minority staff of the appropriate policy
and fiscal committees of both houses of the Legislature,
and requires the working group to consult with or invite
organizations or experts as it deems appropriate.
3. Requires the working group to consider and give weight
to the Getting Down to Facts (GDTF) research and
resulting efforts, including the report of the
Governor's Committee on Education Excellence (GCEE) or
other subsequent research, and to draw on, rather than
repeat, those efforts; also requires the working group
to report its findings and recommendations to the
Legislature and Governor on or before December 1, 2010.
4. Requires the working group to make findings and
recommendations regarding:
A. Alternative funding structures that are simple,
rational, equitable, and based on costs; that support
accountability, facilitate financial reporting,
recognize the impact of growing or declining
enrollment, reinforce academic goals, and are based
on exogenous local educational agency (LEA) and
student characteristics that clearly affect costs.
B. A means of transitioning to a new restructured
finance system as new funds become available,
including pre-transition conditions, timing of the
transition, the manner in which LEAs are held
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harmless during the transition, a component for
equalizing funding based on the cost of providing
education services, and the mechanism for and timing
of elimination of the legacy funding system.
C. The policy and fiscal implications of the new
system, including costs, trade-offs, equity
considerations, incentives and disincentives, and
governance considerations.
D. Modifications to the Standardized Account Code
Structure (SACS) necessary to support school-level
financial reporting.
5. Requires that any costs, incurred by the working group,
that can not be absorbed by the participating entities
be paid from non-state funds donated or granted for that
purpose.
6.Repeals, as of January 1, 2011, a current law requirement
that three school districts in the Santa Cruz area
receive a revenue limit adjustment that equalizes funding
among the districts participating in an inter-district
attendance agreement for middle school pupils.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
LAO reports costs of approximately $50,000 for staff time
associated with the working group. DOF suggests costs for
their participation could potentially be absorbed,
depending on the analysis required to satisfy conditions of
the bill. The modifications to the standardized account
code structure and other data systems suggested by the bill
could lead to state costs or pressures in the millions,
plus there would be potential local Proposition 98 costs or
pressures for district data collection and reporting.
Additionally, designing a new K-12 finance system would
likely result in cost pressures in the billions of dollars
to implement the working group's findings and
recommendations.
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/4/09)
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Antioch Unified School District
Bay Area Council
Books Not Bars
California ACORN (Association of Community Organizations
for Reform Now)
California Association of School Business Officials
California Federation of Teachers
California School Boards Association
California State PTA
California Teachers Association
Californians for Justice
EdVoice
Gay-Straight Alliance
Girls Incorporated of Alameda County
InnerCity Struggle
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Oakland Unified School District
Parent Leadership Action Network
PICO California
Public Advocates
San Diego Unified School District
San Francisco Unified School District
Small School Districts' Association
Valley Industry and Commerce Association
Ventura County Office of Education
Youth In Focus
Youth Together
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, this bill
"provide[s] state policymakers with a comprehensive plan to
reform the current education finance system, to leverage
and support pupil achievement by making California's
funding system simpler, more transparent, and more
effective." The author envisions this working group as the
next step in reforming the state's current system of
education finance in answer to well-accepted criticisms.
Studies, completed in 2007 under the GDTF project, point to
numerous shortcomings in our finance system. Those studies
have also implicitly provided broad suggestions for how the
system could be changed. Many of those broad suggestions
have been further debated and developed into conceptual
policy proposals by the GCEE and in subsequent research.
The working group proposed in this bill provides the
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mechanism for turning those broad, conceptual policy
proposals into more specific findings and recommendations
that could be debated and proposed for legislative action.
This bill is intended to bridge that gap between the
academic conclusions of the GDTF studies, the findings of
the GCEE, and specific legislative proposals that can be
drafted, enacted and implemented. An additional positive
aspect of this proposal is that the composition of the
working group brings representatives of all policy makers
together with other stakeholders and experts to
collaboratively craft specific recommendations that may
then receive broad-based support. The charge given to the
working group in this bill is both broad and in-depth,
since the working group is to produce recommendations for
comprehensive reform of the entire school funding system
and the transition to that new system.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield, Brownley, Buchanan,
Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway,
Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Duvall,
Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber,
Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava,
Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bill Berryhill, Block
DLW:mw 9/4/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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