BILL ANALYSIS
SB 847
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 847 (Steinberg)
As Amended August 20, 2010
2/3 vote. Urgency
SENATE VOTE : Vote not relevant
SUMMARY : Creates an urgency statute that appropriates
$1,201,534,585 from the Federal Trust Fund to the California
Department of Education (CDE) for purposes of implementing the
federal Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act of 2010 (the
Jobs Act or Public Law 111-226), requires that $1,200,034,585 of
those funds be allocated to local educational agencies (LEAs) in
accordance with federal law, and makes $1.5 million available to
the CDE during the period from August 10, 2010 through December
30, 2012.
EXISTING LAW requires expenditure authority to be granted, through
an appropriation in the Budget Act, a continuous statutory
appropriation or through an appropriation in special legislation,
before a state agency or department is able to expend or allocate
funds to other entities, such as LEAs.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill appropriates $1,201,534,585 in federal
funds available to the state under the recently enacted Education
Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act.
COMMENTS : On August 10, President Obama signed HR 1586 into law,
enacting the Jobs Act which includes $16.1 billion in expanded
Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) funding for the
states and $10 billion in education funding provided to the states
to support an estimated 160,000 education jobs nationwide. The
Jobs Act requires that the education funds provided to the states
be spent by LEAs to prevent teacher layoffs in the 2010-11 school
year, that the funding be allocated to LEAs based on a state's
funding formula specified in the state's State Fiscal
Stabilization Fund (SFSF) application or each districts' relative
share of federal Title I funds, that states show that they have
met maintainence of effort provisions, and that this funding not
be used to supplant state education funding or provide a funding
reserve.
The $10 billion in education funding will be allocated to the
states proportional to state population; California will receive
an allocation of over $1.2 billion. The U.S. Department of
Education (USDOE) estimates that this funding will save
SB 847
Page 2
approximately 16,500 teacher jobs in California; an estimated
22,000 teachers received pink slips in spring of this year.
According to United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan,
"With the support of the jobs bill, these educators will be
helping our children learn instead of looking for work. This is
the right thing to do for our children, for our teachers, and for
our economy."
In order to ensure that states receive funding as quickly as
possible, USDOE is streamlining the application process so that
states can submit applications shortly. USDOE will award funding
to states within two weeks of their submission of an approvable
application. The purpose of this bill is to appropriate these
expected federal funds and to provide the CDE with the expenditure
authority necessary for it to allocate those funds, when received
by the state, to LEAs at the earliest time possible.
Analysis Prepared by : Gerald Shelton / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0006534