BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair


          AB 644 (Blumenfield) - On-line Instruction: Average Daily 
          Attendance.
          
          Amended: August 6, 2012         Policy Vote: Education 8-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: August 6, 2012                                
          Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez                       
          
          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. 

          
          Bill Summary: AB 644 authorizes a school district or county 
          office of education (COE) to claim attendance for pupils in 
          grades 9-12 participating in online synchronous courses, as 
          specified, toward average daily attendance (ADA) for the purpose 
          of calculating revenue limit funding. This bill requires the 
          Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to establish rules 
          and regulations for implementing the bill's provisions.

          Fiscal Impact: 
              Rules and regulations: $90,000-$120,000 (General Fund) in 
              one-time costs to develop implementation regulations and 
              guidelines. 
              SPI/CDE support: Approximately $25,000 (General Fund) in 
              annual costs to provide local assistance. 
              ADA: Potentially substantial increase in ADA and related 
              funding, depending upon how online attendance is calculated 
              in ADA per the new regulations.

          Background: Existing law establishes the minimum school day for 
          a high school student to be 240 instructional minutes in a 
          classroom, in independent study programs, or in a combination of 
          the two settings.  Students taking a combination must meet 
          attendance standards for both the classroom and independent 
          study courses in order for a district to claim a pupil's 
          attendance for funding purposes. (EC § 46141)
          
          Existing law further requires that pupils in grades 9 through 12 
          attend school for at least 64,800 minutes per year in no less 
          than 180 days (or 175 days under budget flexibility language 
          through 2014-15). (EC § 46201) 
          








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          Existing law also requires the majority of the state's revenue 
          limit funding allocated to local educational agencies (LEAs) to 
          be based on ADA. ADA is the average amount of time a pupil 
          attends class under the immediate supervision of a certificated 
          employee. (Education Code § 46300 et. seq.)  

          Within existing ADA requirements, LEAs are able to provide 
          online courses to pupils in the following ways: a) pupils 
          receive online instruction in a classroom setting under the 
          immediate supervision of a certificated employee; b) pupils are 
          enrolled in a part-time or full-time independent study program; 
          c) pupils meet the minimum instructional requirement in 
          traditional classroom instruction and take additional online 
          courses; and, d) pupils are enrolled in a charter school, which 
          has less traditional accounting and attendance requirements for 
          its pupils; and typically must meet statutory requirements, 
          where applicable, or regulatory guidelines adopted by the State 
          Board of Education.
          
          Proposed Law: This bill defines "synchronous online instruction" 
          as a class or course in which the pupil and the certificated 
          employee who is providing instruction are online at the same 
          time and use real-time, Internet-based collaborative software 
          that combines audio, video, file sharing, and other forms of 
          interaction. It authorizes, commencing with the 2013-14 fiscal 
          year, a school district or COE to claim attendance for pupils in 
          grades 9 to 12, toward ADA for the purpose of calculating 
          revenue limit funding for online synchronous courses. This bill 
          provides that ADA can be computed for synchronous online 
          instruction provided that all of the following occur:

             1)   The certificated employee providing instruction confirms 
               pupil attendance through visual recognition or periodic 
               voice responses during the class period. 

             2)   The class has a regularly scheduled starting and ending 
               time, and the pupil is scheduled to attend the entire class 
               period.  

             3)   An individual with exceptional needs, as specified, may 
               participate in synchronous online instruction only if his 
               or her individualized education program, as specified, 
               provides for that participation.









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             4)   A school district or COE offering synchronous online 
               instruction shall not deny enrollment to a pupil based 
               solely on the pupil's lack of access to the computer 
               hardware or software necessary to participate in the 
               course. If a pupil does not have access to the necessary 
               equipment, the school district or COE shall provide such 
               access.

             5)   The ratio of teachers to pupils shall not exceed the 
               equivalent ratio for all other educational programs by the 
               school district or COE, as specified, unless a higher or 
               lower ratio is negotiated in a collective bargaining 
               agreement.

          This bill requires the SPI to establish rules and regulations 
          for purposes of implementing this measure that, at a minimum, 
          address: a) How school districts and COEs include pupil 
          attendance in online courses in the calculation of ADA; and b) 
          How to ensure a pupil meets the minimum instructional time 
          requirements pursuant to various code sections governing 
          district schools, continuation schools, opportunity schools, 
          etc.

          This bill further requires the SPI to provide guidance to LEAs 
          on how to offer synchronous, online education, and to require 
          attendance accounted for under this bill's provisions to be 
          subject to audit requirements. The provisions of this bill 
          sunset on July 1, 2018.

          Related Legislation: AB 853 (Blumenfield) 2011, was similar to 
          this measure, but also contained provisions related to funding 
          of asynchronous instruction. That bill was gut and amended in 
          this Committee, and withdrawn to the Senate Rules Committee. It 
          was subsequently gut and amended again to deal with an unrelated 
          issue.

          AB 2027 (Blumenfield) 2010, was similar to AB 853, as it 
          initially arrived in this Committee. That bill was held under 
          submission in this Committee.

          Staff Comments: This bill allows LEAs to count synchronous 
          online course attendance toward ADA, and requires the SPI to 
          develop extensive rules and regulations for LEAs to implement a 
          qualifying program. The CDE estimates that developing the 








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          regulations governing how schools will count online courses 
          toward ADA, and how minimum instructional time requirements are 
          to be met, will require up to 1 PY Educational Programs 
          Consultant for one year. Staffing costs will be up to $105,000. 
          The CDE will also require approximately $15,000 in legal staff 
          time to assist in developing the required regulations.

          Operating synchronous online programs, and counting the 
          students' attendance toward ADA, would be optional for LEAs. To 
          the extent that they choose to do so, LEAs will have additional 
          local costs for technology and materials. The CDE will have to 
          provide support for LEAs in navigating the new rules and 
          regulations, and estimates requiring .25 PY Education Programs 
          Consultant ongoing to provide guidance. The cost will be 
          approximately $25,000 per year.

          The impact this bill has on ADA and revenue limit funding will 
          depend on the number of schools that opt to use the new 
          authority, and the number of high school pupils who opt to take 
          qualifying online courses. The intent of the bill is make these 
          courses more attractive to offer, since schools will be able to 
          count on receiving ADA funding for them. If online courses are 
          taken by students who would otherwise be enrolled in traditional 
          schools, there will likely be no change in ADA-related revenue 
          limit funding for those students. The rules the SPI develops for 
          implementing these provisions, however, will ultimately 
          determine the impact to ADA changes and revenue limit funding.