BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 169
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Date of Hearing: March 16, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 169 (Torres) - As Introduced: January 20, 2011
SUBJECT : Education finance
SUMMARY : Requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to
include school districts, county offices of education (COE), and
other agencies deemed eligible pursuant to state and federal law
in any application for federal aid to education, in any
allocation of federal funds made pursuant to law, and in any
rules and regulations adopted governing the allocation of those
funds.
EXISTING LAW
1)Provides base funding by requiring the Superintendent of
Public Instruction to make prescribed calculations for the
apportionment of state aid to local educational agencies.
2)Establishes and funds categorical programs that focus
resources and/or compliance requirements on specific classes
of students or schools, or on specific uses of funds,
identified by the Legislature as priorities.
3)Authorizes the allocation and apportionment of federal funds
to recipients for use as specified in federal and state law.
4)Requires the SBE to make timely application for federal
education funds and to direct the allocation of federal funds
to local education agencies.
FISCAL EFFECT : In a substantially similar bill carried by this
author in the prior session, the Assembly Appropriations
Committee found that the bill created no additional state
General Fund/Proposition 98 administrative costs.
COMMENTS : This bill proposes to require the SBE to include COE
and other agencies, where eligible, in any application for
federal aid to education, in any allocation of federal funds
currently made to school districts, and in any rules and
regulations adopted governing the allocation of those funds.
The California Department of Education reports that there are no
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instances where federal education funds are currently made
available to school districts, but not to COE or other agencies,
unless there is federal or state statute requiring that
differentiation; this is true despite there being no current
statutory requirement on the inclusion of COE or other
educational agencies. This bill would thus codify current
practice and continue to ensure that all eligible educational
entities are included in federal funding opportunities available
to the state.
According to the author, "County offices of education play a
vital role in providing educational programs and services for
students, parents, school districts and the community. Often
the students served by county offices of education are at-risk
students. AB 169 will ensure that county offices are not
inadvertently left out when federal funds are allocated."
Current law set in the code sections amended by this bill,
regarding the SBE making applications for federal funds or
allocating those funds, include references to "school
districts", "local education agencies," and "local school
districts and other agencies entitled to receive federal funds
for the support of schools." These different references do not
appear to be related to any substantive difference in the
treatment of those agencies in terms of the application for or
allocation of federal funds; in fact, these terms are used in an
ambiguous and interchangeable manner throughout these sections
of code. Since these code sections exist the context of the
Legislature's authorization of the state's full participation in
Federal Programs and Interstate Agreements, since the federal
government generally focuses education funding on schools and
students rather than on school districts, county, or regional
education agencies (note that the federal government has to take
a one-size-fits-all approach to local education governance in
order to deal with varied organizational models across the
states), and since these sections of the code have remained
unclear since being enacted in AB 3100 (Greene), Chapter 1010,
Statutes of 1976 (which implemented a complete revision of the
education code), it can be concluded that the proposal made in
this bill (to have the students and schools under the
administration of COE and other agencies included in
applications and eligible for the receipt of federal funds,
unless specifically excluded) is consistent with the intent of
the Legislature stated in the Education Code sections amended by
this bill. Given this conclusion, this bill also serves a
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technical purpose in that it reconciles existing ambiguous and
seemingly interchangeable references to "school districts" and
"local education agencies" in existing law, and thus clarifies
that school districts, county offices of education, and all
other educational agencies deemed eligible are required to be
considered by the SBE when any application or allocation of
federal funds is being made.
Committee amendments: In order to conform with the intent of the
Legislature that all eligible educational entities be included
in any application for federal aid to education, in any
allocation of federal funds made pursuant to law, and in any
rules and regulations adopted governing the allocation of those
funds, Committee staff recommends that the bill be amended to
clarify that "school districts," as used in this article
"include school districts, county offices of education, and
other educational agencies or entities deemed eligible pursuant
to state and federal law."
Previous legislation: AB 339 (Torres), vetoed in 2010, was
substantially similar to this bill. AB 3100 (Greene), Chapter
1010, Statutes of 1976, implemented a complete revision of the
education code, including the statute related to which
educational entities would be included by the SBE in any
applications for or allocations of federal education funds.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California County Superintendents Educational Services
Association
Los Angeles County Office of Education
Monterey County Office of Education
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Gerald Shelton / ED. / (916) 319-2087
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