BILL ANALYSIS SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION Gloria Romero, Chair 2009-2010 Regular Session BILL NO: SB 698 AUTHOR: Negrete McLeod AMENDED: April 2, 2009 FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 29, 2009 URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: James Wilson SUBJECT : Juvenile Court School Funding SUMMARY This bill replaces average daily attendance (ADA) with average daily enrollment (ADE, as defined) as the basis for funding juvenile court schools and increases funding for juvenile court schools by exempting the funding from reductions imposed on funding rates for 2008-09 and 2009-2010. BACKGROUND Current law provides for county boards of education to operate juvenile court schools in which the minimum school day is 240 minutes, calculated on the basis of the average number of minutes of attendance during 10 consecutive days of class. Juvenile court schools are required to be open on all weekdays that are not school holidays or closed when "necessary to accommodate contingencies." County offices of education receive per pupil "revenue limit" funding from the state for pupils in average daily attendance (ADA) in juvenile court schools. These revenue limits are based on historical funding levels of the various schools when they were primarily supported with local funding. Current law calls for juvenile court school revenue limits to be annually adjusted for inflation; however, budget constraints of the past few years have caused the state to suspend payments of the cost-of-living adjustments (COLA). Instead of simply repealing the statutory COLAs, the state has created offsetting "deficit factors" so that the schools remain entitled to the adjusted levels of support when the fiscal crisis subsides. For 2008-09, the deficit statute calls for a revenue limit reduction (negating COLA increases) of 7.819% and for SB 698 Page 2 2009-2010, the factor is scheduled to be 13.360%. These deficits offset COLAs of equal value so that they do not represent actual cuts to prior year levels of funding, but rather denied increases. In 2006-07, 48 of the 58 county offices of education operated juvenile court schools, with an average daily attendance of approximately 16,200 students. Due to high turnover rates in many of these facilities, the actual cumulative annual enrollment would be substantially higher, likely more than 30,000. There were a total of 180 educational facilities in operation, including 84 juvenile halls, 11 ranches, 14 residential/group homes, 19 day centers, 36 camps, and 16 detention centers. ANALYSIS This bill: 1) Provides that the average daily attendance (ADA) of pupils enrolled in juvenile court schools shall equal "average daily enrollment" as defined to be "the sum of the daily count of wards of the court in placement at a facility with a juvenile court school" divided by the statutorily defined number of days in the reporting period (70, 135 and 175 days for 1st, 2nd and annual reporting periods). 2) Suspends the application of budgeted deficit factors to the revenue limits of juvenile court schools for 2008-09 and 2009-10, thereby increasing per pupil funding 7.839% in 2008-09 and 13.360% in 2009-2010. STAFF COMMENTS 1) Need for the bill. The sponsor of the bill argues that basing juvenile court school funding on ADA is inadequate "because of the unpredictability of attendance in juvenile court school classrooms and the requirements to staff classrooms regardless of student attendance." Although pupils are confined and would therefore be expected to have perfect attendance, in fact pupils are required to be absent for hearings and other circumstances beyond the control of school officials. On the other hand, school officials must fully staff all classrooms at all times and cannot SB 698 Page 3 realize any operational saving when pupils are not present. 2) Fiscal impact. While switching from attendance to enrollment is likely to make juvenile court school funding more predictable and steady, it is potentially costly. Average daily enrollment would not be as large as the total annual headcount of pupils who spend even one day in a juvenile court school. That number is estimated at 30,000 pupils, while juvenile court school ADA is approximately 16,200. Average daily enrollment would be somewhere between those two figures, but closer to the ADA. Increasing all juvenile court school funding by 7.839% and 13.360% is also likely to be a substantial cost, perhaps $12 million to $20 million. SUPPORT California County Superintendents Educational Services Association Lake County Office of Education Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Los Angeles County Office of Education Orange County Department of Education Riverside County Office of Education San Francisco Unified School District Santa Clara County Office of Education Sonoma County Office of Education OPPOSITION None received.