BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 307
AUTHOR: Alquist
AMENDED: May 26, 2009
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: June 17, 2009
URGENCY: Yes CONSULTANT:Beth Graybill
NOTE: This bill has been amended to replace its contents and
this is the first time the bill is being heard in its current
form.
SUBJECT : Regional Occupational Centers and Programs: Joint
Powers Authorities.
SUMMARY:
This bill, an urgency measure, restores the ability of a
regional occupational center or program established and
maintained by a joint powers agency to receive funding
directly from the county office of education in which it is
located instead of each of the school districts that comprise
the joint powers agency.
BACKGROUND
Current law authorizes school districts, county offices of
education, and joint powers agencies to establish and
maintain a regional occupational center or program (ROC/P) to
allow students from multiple schools or districts to attend
career technical training programs regardless of the
geographic location of their residence within a county or
region. California's 74 ROC/Ps serve approximately 500,000
students.
Commencing in the 2009-10 fiscal year, current law (SB 1197,
Alquist, Chapter 519, 2008) requires that an ROC/P
established and maintained by school districts or joint
powers agencies (JPA) pursuant to a joint powers agreement is
required to receive annual operating funds directly from the
county office of education in which it is located. SB 1197
specified that the amount of funding for these programs is to
be equal to the revenue limit received by each of the
participating school districts for pupils in attendance at
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the ROC/P.
SB 4 (Ducheny, 3rd Extraordinary Session, 2009), a trailer
bill for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 Budget Act, reduced funding
for ROC/Ps and various other categorical programs and
authorized school districts, for the 2008-09 to the 2012-13
fiscal year, to use the funding received for those programs
for any educational purpose.
SBX3 4 required the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) to apportion funds for ROC/Ps based on the same
relative proportion local education agencies received in
2008-09, in effect making the funding formula specified in SB
1197 inoperative.
ANALYSIS
This bill , an urgency bill, requires commencing in the
2009-10 fiscal year in any fiscal year when Section 52321 is
not operative, regional occupational centers or programs
(ROC/Ps) established and maintained by school districts as
joint powers agencies (JPAs) to receive operating funds
directly from the county office of education (COE) in which
it is located in a manner that is consistent with the
apportionments for those school districts that comprise the
JPAs that are provided to the COE pursuant to the annual
Budget Act.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) ROC/P . Regional occupational centers and programs
may be operated by a county office of education (COE), a
school district, or a joint powers agency (JPA)
comprised of two or more school districts.
a) County-operated ROC/Ps are governed by the county
board of education. There are 42 county-operated
ROC/Ps.
b) Single-district ROC/Ps are governed by the
district's governing board. Current law authorizes
single-district ROC/Ps only in large school
districts with average daily attendance (ADA) of
50,000 or more that are located in counties with an
ADA of 750,000 and over or in districts with at
least 100,000 ADA in counties with an ADA of
140,000 to 749,999. There are six single-district
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ROC/Ps.
c) JPA-operated ROC/Ps are governed by a board made up
of elected representatives from the member district
school boards. There are 26 JPA-operated ROC/Ps.
1) JPA-operated ROC/P funding . Historically, funding
for JPA-operated ROC/Ps has been based on the revenue
limit of each participating school district for each
unit of ADA reported by the program. Funding received
by the COE is distributed to each participating district
that in turn, passes it on to the JPA. The intent of SB
1197 was to create a more efficient funding mechanism
for JPA-operated ROC/Ps by requiring funding to go
directly from the local county office of education to
the JPA. SB 1197 passed this Committee unanimously and
received no "no" votes in either the Senate or Assembly.
2) SB 1197 Cleanup . In creating a lump-sum funding
mechanism for ROC/Ps, SB3X 4 complicated the
implementation of SB 1197 and created confusion for JPAs
that operate these regional programs. Notwithstanding
the flexibility established by SB3X 4, this measure
restores the streamlining required by SB 1197 and allows
JPAs to receive funding for ROC/Ps directly from the COE
without first passing through the school district.
SUPPORT
Association of California School Administrators
California Association of Regional Occupational Centers and
Programs
California Association of Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning
Contractors' National-Association
California Automotive Business Coalition
California Federation of Teachers
California Industrial and Technology Education Association
East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program and
Technical Center
Metropolitan Education District
Mission Valley ROP
Southern California Regional Occupational Center
OPPOSITION
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None received on this version of the bill.