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) AB 644 (Blumenfield) Page 1 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. AB 644 (Blumenfield) Page 2 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 AB 644 (Blumenfield) Page 3 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.