BILL ANALYSIS
AB 451
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 451 (De Leon) - As Amended: April 13, 2009
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:11-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill establishes a process for local education agencies
(LEAs) that have schools in federal program improvement (PI)
under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) to receive technical
assistance to improve the academic achievement of their pupils,
as specified. Specifically, this bill:
1)Deletes the Early Warning Program, which provided fiscal
resources to LEAs at-risk of being identified for PI under
NCLB.
2)Increases existing one-time grant amounts for LEAs in
corrective action under NCLB by $50,000 for each level of
intervention. This measure also ensures that LEAs receiving
corrective action and technical assistance funding prior to
January 1, 2009 also receive the grant increases for the
2009-10 fiscal year (FY) only.
3)Authorizes a LEA that has schools in year four or five of PI
under NCLB to apply for a one-year non-renewable grant of
federal improvement funding to assist in improving these
schools.
4)Authorizes LEAs to contract with an outside entity on behalf
of schools in year four and five of PI under NCLB, including a
schoolsite intervention and assistance team (SAIT), to assist
with the assessment of the schoolsite plan.
5)Requires LEAs, as a condition of receiving funding for their
schools in year four and five of PI under NCLB, to do all of
the following: (a) provide these schools with funding to
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implement technical assistance to examine and reassess their
schoolsite plan with the focus on improving academic
achievement; (b) establish a school district liaison team to
coordinate with these schoolsites on the assessment of their
plan; and (c) ensure that pupils in these schools continue to
provide the option for pupils to transfer to another public
school and receive supplemental educational services as
required under NCLB.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)One-time federal fund costs of approximately $153 million in
the 2009-10 FY and $104 million in the 2010-11 FY to the State
Department of Education (SDE) to implement this measure. The
federal government, via Title I allocations and federal
stimulus funds, provides states with funding exclusively for
purposes outlined in this measure (see comment #3 below).
This enactment of this measure is contingent upon funding
provided for its purposes.
States can spend up to a certain percentage of their total
federal Title I grant on intervention activities related to
the accountability provisions of the law. California is able
to utilize up to 4% of its total grant for these activities.
This is on-going funding and it equates to approximately $65
million each FY, depending on the state's federal Title I
allocation. This measure proposes to utilize this funding.
SUMMARY CONTINUED
6)Requires the assessment of the schoolsite plan to include
recommendations on addressing deficiencies in academic
achievement and a description of how existing state and
federal schoolsite and district resources will be used to
implement the improvements, as specified.
7)Establishes a school district liaison team to coordinate with
schools in year four and five of PI under NCLB to improve
academic achievement at each school. This measure further
requires the school district liaison team to ensure that the
assessment of the schoolsite plan is consistent with the LEA
plan required under NCLB.
8)Requires LEAs, subject to the availability of funds, to
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receive $150,000 per school in year four and five of PI under
NCLB to implement the requirements of this measure. This bill
also requires the SDE to give first priority in allocating
funds to schools in year five of PI under NCLB.
9)Authorizes LEAs to provide funds to schools in year four and
five of PI under NCLB to implement the recommendations of the
schoolsite assessment.
COMMENTS
1)Background . In 2001, the federal government passed NCLB,
which requires the state to adhere to a federal accountability
system because California will receive approximately $2.7
billion in K-12 federal NCLB funds in the 2009-10 FY. Of this
amount, $1.64 billion are Title I funds, which serve the
state's poorest students.
The federal accountability system is governed by a status
model, as measured by Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), academic
targets as measured by state assessments. Under this model,
LEAs and schoolsites are identified as PI based on failing to
meet AYP targets. PI LEAs and schoolsites that do not meet AYP
for two consecutive years are subject to one or more
corrective actions.
NCLB requires PI schoolsites that are Title I (i.e., primarily
serve poor pupils) to adhere to a series of
requirements/sanctions that become more severe as the
schoolsite advances in PI status. For example, PI year one
requires parents to be notified that they can transfer their
pupil to another schoolsite within the district that is not
PI. PI year two requires schoolsites to offer supplemental
education services to pupils. If a schoolsite advances to PI
year four, it must continue to offer parental choice and
supplemental education services while at the same time prepare
a plan for corrective action/alternative governance. Federal
law provides several corrective actions options, including
placing a trustee at the school; converting it to a charter
school; replacing staff; state takeover; and implementing a
new curriculum. The corrective action decision for a PI
school lies solely with the LEA.
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NCLB also requires the state and LEA to provide technical
assistance to schoolsites during the PI process. According to
the SDE, there are 2,253 schools in PI under NCLB in 2008-09.
Of this number, 1,182 are in PI year four and five. This bill
establishes the technical assistance process for schoolsites
in year four and five of PI under NCLB, which includes
providing funding for this purpose.
2)AB 519 (Budget Committee), Statutes of 2008 , established a
process for implementing the federal NCLB PI corrective action
for LEAs. Federal law requires states to choose a sanction
for an LEA in corrective action (i.e., has failed to meet AYP
after two consecutive years). These sanctions may include
reconstituting the district, replacing district personnel,
placing a trustee in the district, and requiring the district
to implement a new curriculum. In addition to the sanction,
federal law requires states to provide LEAs with technical
assistance in implementing the sanction.
State law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) to recommend a sanction to the State Board of Education
(SBE) for approval. According to SDE, there are 246 LEAs in
PI under NCLB in 2008-09. To date, the SBE has sanctioned 147
LEAs. Each LEA received the same sanction: to implement a new
curriculum. In addition, AB 519 authorizes the SPI to
recommend, with SBE approval, that the LEA contract with a
district assistance and intervention team (DAIT) or other
technical assistance provider to aid in implementing the
sanction.
LEAs may receive between $150,000 and $50,000 per PI school
within their district to contract with a DAIT or other
technical assistance provider. This funding is condition upon
the availability of federal funds.
This bill increases the existing grant amounts for LEAs by
$50,000 each, which makes the range of available funding
between $200,000 and $100,000 per PI school. This measure
also provides this funding increase for the 147 LEAs already
sanctioned by the SBE.
3)Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding .
In February 2009, the federal government passed the ARRA,
which allocated approximately $100 billion nationwide for
education programs with the purpose of stimulating the
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economy. Of this amount, California is expected to receive
approximately $8 billion.
According to SDE, California is expected to receive
approximately $1.1 billion in one-time funds for Title I
pupils (i.e., poor and needs students), based on the existing
federal formula. Of this funding, approximately $46 million
is reserved for school improvement activities required under
NCLB. This bill proposes to utilize this funding to support
school improvement activities for LEAs and schoolsites in PI
under NCLB.
In April 2009, the Department of Finance (DOF) issued a
Section 28.00 letter to allocate $562.5 million in federal
ARRA Title I funds. Section 28.00 is a provision in the
annual budget act that authorizes the Director of DOF to
augment the expenditure of unanticipated federal funds. Of
this funding, approximately $23 million is available for
school improvement activities. This funding represents
one-half of the expected funding available for these purposes.
The federal government is expected to provide the remaining
Title I allocation in the fall of 2009.
ARRA also allocated $383.3 million for the existing School
Improvement Grants (SIG) program. The federal government
established the SIG program, a competitive grant available to
states in 2008, to provide technical assistance for Title I
schools in PI under NCLB. Federal law establishes grant
amounts between $50,000 and $500,000 per Title I PI school.
ARRA SIG program funding is expected to be available in the
fall of 2009. This bill proposes to utilize this funding to
provide technical assistance to LEAs in year three of PI and
schools in year four and five of PI under NCLB.
4)Related legislation.
a) AB 683 (Chesbro), pending in this committee, authorizes
an LEA in corrective action that received a sanction, but
does not have any PI schools, to receive federal funding to
implement the sanction, as specified.
b) AB 519 (Mendoza), pending in this committee, requires
that members of SAITs and DAITs to possess a high degree of
knowledge, skills, and expertise in order to meet the needs
of the students they serve.
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Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081