BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                           798 (DeSaulnier)
          
          Hearing Date:  05/28/2009           Amended: 04/29/2009
          Consultant:  Dan Troy           Policy Vote: ED 9-0
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY:   SB 798 would increase the daily rates and  
          maximum grant amounts for federally funded 21st Century  
          Community Learning Center programs and would reduce the  
          percentage of funding that may be awarded to programs serving  
          high school pupils. 
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2009-10      2010-11       2011-12     Fund
           21st Century                      Directs future funding     
          Federal
                                            
          ASES                                            Pressure to  
          absorb more            General*
                                            slots

          *Counts toward meeting the Proposition 98 minimum funding  
          guarantee
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS:  SUSPENSE FILE.  AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.

          21st Century Community Learning Centers are federally funded  
          programs that provide academic enrichment and support to  
          disadvantaged pupils either before or after school.  The 2009-10  
          Budget Act includes $129.4 million for this program.  Under  
          current law, 50 percent of grants are awarded to grantees  
          serving elementary or middle school pupils and 50 percent are  
          awarded to grantees serving high school pupils.  Per pupil rates  
          for serving elementary and middle school pupils is $7.50 per day  
          for after school programs and $5 per day for before school  
          programs (there is no daily rate for high school pupils).  Total  
          grant awards for the after school component are capped at  
          $112,500 for elementary school programs and $150,000 for middle  
          school programs.  Grants for the before school component are  










          capped at $37,500 for elementary school programs and $49,000 for  
          middle school programs.  Grants for high school programs are  
          capped at $250,000.

          This bill would modify the principle funding rates and caps for  
          21st Century Learning Centers by raising both the daily rates  
          and total grant awards, as shown below: 

           -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |              Current Law              |           SB 798           |
           -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
           -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |          |Before School |After School |Before       |After School  |
          |          |              |             |School       |              |
           -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------|
          |           |Daily      |Total      |Daily      |Total      |Daily      |Total      |Daily      |Total      |
          |-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------|
          |Elementary |$5         |$37,500    |$7.5       |$112,500   |$7         |$52,500    |$10        |$150,000   |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Middle     |$5         |$49,000    |$7.5       |$150,000   |$7         |$68,600    |$10        |$200,000   |
          |-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------|
          |High       |NA         |$250,000   |NA         |$250,000   |NA         |$250,000   |NA         |$250,000   |
          |School     |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 































          Page 2
          SB 798 (DeSaulnier)

          This bill would also increase funding rates for intersession  
          programs from $7.50 to pupil to either $20 or $10 per pupil  
          depending on the number of hours provided.  Before school 3-hour  
          programs would receive $7 per pupil.   

          The other major component of this bill is to shift funding away  
          from high schools.  Currently, 50 percent of grants are awarded  
          to programs that serve high school pupils.  This bill would  
          lower that percentage to 35 percent.  The bill would also make  
          other miscellaneous changes to the program.

          The bill states that changes to the program daily per pupil  
          rates and total grant award caps would take effect only when  
          sufficient federal funds are available to ensure that the  
          cumulative number of pupils that can be served at the new rates  
          is equal to or greater than the number of pupils that can be  
          served under the rates applied in the 2008-09 fiscal year.   
          Given the large increases in the rates (ranging from a 33  
          percent increase to 267 percent depending on the category), it  
          is likely that this bill would require an increase in federal  
          funding of approximately 40 percent to take effect.  This bill  
          would use this future increase in federal funding to increase  
          rates rather than provide services to more students.  Indeed, in  
          the event there is a gradual increase in students served after  
          the 2008-09 year due to relatively modest annual increases in  
          federal funding, this bill may actually result in a reduction of  
          service from the most recent year(s) prior to the year in which  
          this bill takes effect. 

          This bill would direct increases in federal funding toward large  
          rate increases rather than more funding more before and after  
          school slots.  Given that there are currently far more  
          applicants for grants that can currently be served, this bill  
          may have the unintended effect of putting pressure on the  
          General Fund program (the After School Education and Safety  
          program).  

          Author's amendments would make the bill operative on July 1,  
          2010, and provide that the rate increases would not go into  
          effect until an increase in federal funding would be sufficient  
          to fund slots from the previous year at the higher rate.