BILL NUMBER: AB 553	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Furutani

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2009

   An act to add Section 52321.5 to the Education Code, relating to
education finance.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 553, as introduced, Furutani. Educational finance: regional
occupational centers or programs.
   Existing law authorizes the establishment of regional occupational
centers or programs to provide career technical education and
technical training to students. Existing law provides a system for
the funding of regional occupational centers or programs that
includes provision for the apportionment of state funds to these
centers or programs.
   This bill would express legislative findings and declarations
relating to the variance, among regional occupational centers or
programs throughout the state, in the amount of state funding per
unit of average daily attendance that is apportioned to those centers
or programs. The bill, commencing with the 2011-12 fiscal year,
would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to calculate a
rate per unit of average daily attendance that would be apportioned
to each regional occupational center or program and to determine the
statewide median of total state funding received per unit of average
daily attendance by each regional occupational center or program.
   The bill would also require the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, commencing with the 2011-12 fiscal year, to inform, in
writing, the governing board of each regional occupational center or
program that he or she determines is funded at a rate per unit of
average daily attendance that is below the statewide median
determined under the bill that it is exempt from requirements imposed
on regional centers or programs by a specified statute unless and
until the Superintendent determines that the regional center or
program is funded at a rate per unit of average daily attendance that
is higher than or equal to the statewide median determined under the
bill.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares both of the
following:
   (a) The enactment of Chapter 572 of the Statutes of 2006 (A.B.
2448 of the 2005-06 Regular Session) established numerous
requirements and mandates on school districts. These requirements and
mandates included, but were not limited to, all of the following:
   (1) Prohibiting regional occupational centers and programs
(ROC/Ps) from claiming more than 10 percent of state-funded average
daily attendance (ADA) for services provided to adult students by
July 1, 2011.
   (2) Requiring the governing board of each ROC/P to ensure that at
least 90 percent of all state-funded programs target high-demand,
high-skill occupations by July 1, 2010.
   (3) Requiring school districts, ROC/Ps, and community college
districts that have not completed specified course development to
enter into a corrective action plan.
   (4) Rendering inoperative, as of June 30, 2010, the authorization
for ROC/Ps to provide, on an individual referral basis, academic and
personal development instruction for adult students enrolled in
career technical courses when it is determined that this instruction
is essential to ensure the employability of the student.
   (5) Requiring an ROC/P, commencing with the 2007-08 fiscal year,
to use all of its growth ADA to serve pupils in grades 9 to 12,
inclusive.
   (b) The apportionment rates of ROC/Ps vary significantly among
districts, providing the pupils in some districts with access to
well-funded, state-of-the-art programs, while leaving pupils in other
districts with only limited access to underfunded course offerings.
  SEC. 2.  Section 52321.5 is added to the Education Code, to read:
   52321.5.  (a)  For each fiscal year, commencing with the 2011-12
fiscal year, the Superintendent shall do both of the following:
   (1) Calculate a rate per unit of average daily attendance that
shall be apportioned to each regional occupational center or program.

   (2) Determine the statewide median of total state funding,
including, but not necessarily limited to, the apportionment
referenced in paragraph (1), received per unit of average daily
attendance by each regional occupational center or program.
   (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, commencing with
the 2011-12 fiscal year, the Superintendent shall inform, in writing,
the governing board of each regional occupational center or program
that he or she determines is funded at a rate per unit of average
daily attendance that is below the statewide median determined under
paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) that it is exempt from requirements
imposed on regional centers or programs by Sections 52302, 52302.2,
52302.3, 52302.5, 52302.8, 52314, 52314.5, 52315, 52321, and
52335.12, as those sections were added or amended by Chapter 572 of
the Statutes of 2006, unless and until the Superintendent determines
that the regional center or program is funded at a rate per unit of
average daily attendance that is higher than or equal to the
statewide median determined under paragraph (2) of subdivision (a).
The notice required by this subdivision shall specify the
requirements from which the regional center or program is being
exempted.