BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 802
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          Date of Hearing:   May 27, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                   AB 802 (Blumenfield) - As Amended:  May 9, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              Education 
          Vote:10-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill, commencing with the 2013-14 fiscal year (FY), 
          authorizes a school district, county office of education (COE), 
          or charter school to claim attendance toward average daily 
          attendance (ADA) for the purposes of calculating revenue limit 
          funding for an online class, as specified.


          1)Requires all of the following conditions to apply in order for 
            a school district, COE, or charter school to claim ADA for 
            online classes: (a) the pupil is enrolled in any of grades 
            9-12; (b) the pupil is enrolled in classes that include 
            courses in a classroom-based setting, courses that are offered 
            through an online program, or both; (c) the pupil meets 
            minimum instructional time requirements, as specified; and (d) 
            each online course is high-quality. 



          2)Defines "high-quality online course" as meeting all 
            requirements related to the following: ratio of full-time 
            equivalent certificated teachers teaching the course; 
            experience of the teacher (including credential requirements); 
            subject-matter content of the course; student teacher ratio; 
            the pupil elects to participate in the course; no charge to 
            take the course; course examinations are administered by a 
            proctor; and records regarding the amount of time the pupil is 
            online are maintained by the district, COE, or charter school. 











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          3)Defines "asynchronous online course" as a course where the 
            teacher and pupil are online at different times and are not 
            able to interact simultaneously. 



          4)Defines "synchronous online course" as a course where the 
            teacher and pupil are online at the same time and able to 
            interact. 


           FISCAL EFFECT  


          1)Beginning in the 2013-14 FY, potential on-going GF/98 revenue 
            limit costs, likely between $3.2 million and $6.4 million, for 
            increased claims of ADA for providing online instruction to 
            pupils in grades 9-12.    



          2)One-time GF/98 cost pressure, of approximately $250,000, to 
            local education agencies (LEAs) to purchase equipment to 
            provide online courses, as specified. There are 1,264 high 
            schools in the state. 





          3)This bill authorizes LEAs to claim ADA for asynchronous online 
            learning courses once the SPI adopts regulations for this 
            purpose. To the extent the amount of time a pupil spends 
            online in this course cannot be verified, there is an 
            increased risk the state will provide GF/98 revenue limit 
            funding to LEAs for attendance that cannot be validated. 
            Consequently, there is also the potential for LEAs to have 
            increased audit costs to the extent that ADA attendance cannot 
            be verified as part of the regular audit process. 



          4)One-time GF administrative costs to the SPI, likely less than 
            $125,000, to develop regulations pursuant to this measure. 








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           SUMMARY , CONTINUED


           1)Requires a "high-quality online course" to have either: (a) 
            the teacher online at the same time as each pupil, accessible 
            to each pupil attending the synchronous online course, and 
            able to make a visual connection with each pupil for the 
            purposes of verifying attendance or providing immediate 
            supervision, or (b) the teacher is online at a different time 
            as each pupil, is accessible to each pupil attending the 
            asynchronous course, and for the purposes of verifying 
            attendance is able to do at least one of the following: 


             a)   Periodic proctored examinations.
             b)   Biometric verification. 
             c)   A line-of-sight visual connection, including, but not 
               limited to, Internet webcam. 


          2)Prohibits a pupil from being credited with more than five days 
            of online course attendance per calendar week that regular 
            classes are maintained and requires attendance accounted under 
            these provisions to be subject to statutory audited 
            requirements.  



          3)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), in 
            consultation with the Director of Finance (DOF), on or before 
            December 31, 2012, to do all of the following: (a) make 
            revisions to any attendance accounting manual necessary to 
            clarify attendance procedures for online courses, including 
            asynchronous courses and (b) make recommendations to the 
            Legislature and the governor regarding statutory changes 
            necessary to allow attendance in asynchronous online courses 
            to be included in ADA calculations. 



          4)Requires the SPI to adopt rules and regulations for the 
            purpose of implementing this measure, as specified.  This 
            measure further prohibits pupil attendance in asynchronous 








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            online courses from being included in the calculation of ADA 
            until the SPI has adopted rules and regulations.  



          5)Deems a pupil in an online course to be under the immediate 
            supervision of an employee of the school district, COE, or 
            charter schools for the purposes of calculating ADA and 
            meeting instructional minute requirements, as specified. 



          6)Sunsets these provisions on July 1, 2017.   


          COMMENTS  


           1)Purpose  . In March 2010, the United States Department of 
            Education released Transforming American Education: Learning 
            Powered by Technology, a draft of the nation's educational 
            technology plan. The plan states ""Just as technology is at 
            the core of virtually every aspect of our daily lives and 
            work, we must leverage it to provide engaging and powerful 
            learning experiences, content, and resources and assessments 
            that measure student achievement in more complete, authentic, 
            and meaningful ways. Technology-based learning and assessment 
            systems will be pivotal in improving student learning and 
            generating data that can be used to continuously improve the 
            education system at all levels." 


            According the author, "The state's classrooms remain stuck in 
            the 20th Century and have failed to embrace a changed world 
            full of innovation and technology - despite California being 
            the cradle of the technological revolution. If California 
            aspires to compete with other states and nations as an 
            economic engine, it must make dramatic changes in its 
            classrooms to usher in a meaningful 21st Century education and 
            it must make them soon. One clear example is the virtual 
            classroom. Technology and the Internet provide educators with 
            new tools and students with better options to break down 
            barriers created by geography, poverty, language and other 
            conditions."  









                                                                  AB 802
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            This bill allows a school district, county office of education 
            (COE), or charter school to claim attendance toward ADA for 
            the purposes of calculating revenue limit funding for an 
            online class


           2)Existing law  requires the majority of the state's revenue 
            limit funding (general purpose) allocated to LEAs (i.e., 
            districts, COEs, etc.) be based on ADA. ADA is the average 
            amount of time a pupil attends class under the immediate 
            supervision of a certificated employee. As a result, the more 
            the pupil attends class the more ADA the LEA receives, which 
            leads to increased revenue limit funding. 


            Within the current ADA requirements, LEAs are able to provide 
            online courses to pupils in the following ways: 


             a)   Pupils are receiving 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 (IS) program (i.e., the pupil may be 
               taking regular classroom courses and one or two IS program 
               courses online). If a pupil is enrolled full-time in an IS 
               program, he or she is required to produce a work product, 
               which is assessed by a certificated employee of the 
               district. 


             c)   Pupils who have met the minimum instructional 
               requirement and are taking an online course. Under this 
               scenario, the pupil is generating full ADA for meeting the 
               minimum instructional requirement and the pupil is taking 
               the online course in addition to meeting minimum 
               requirements.


             d)   Pupils are enrolled in a charter school, which has less 
               strict accounting and attendance requirements for its 
               pupils. 









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           3)Fiscal concerns with asynchronous online learning  . The 
            fundamental principal for allocation of funding under 
            California's school finance system is the value of 
            instructional time. The state measures this principal through 
            the ADA attendance system, including the ability of the pupil 
            to be under the direct supervision (via a line of sight) of a 
            certificated employee. 


            This bill requires pupils who enroll in an asynchronous online 
            class to meet minimum instructional day and minute 
            requirements in order to generate ADA, which is the basis for 
            calculating revenue limit funding.  It also prohibits LEAs 
            from claiming ADA for asynchronous online classes until the 
            SPI has adopted rules and regulations governing this issue.   


            There are fiscal questions related to claiming ADA for an 
            asynchronous online course. For example, how does the state, 
            for accounting and audit purposes, ensure that the pupil meets 
            the minimum instructional time and day requirements? This 
            includes basic issues as how attendance is taken in these 
            courses. 


            Also, what type of mechanisms will be provided to verify is 
            the pupil is participating in the asynchronous online course? 
            Currently, the bill requires only one of three verifications 
            to be used, as specified.  The committee may wish to consider 
            these issues.  



           4)Should there be an evaluation or report  ?  Pursuant to this 
            measure, the authorization to claim ADA for an online class 
            sunsets in July 2017.  This bill, however, does not contain a 
            requirement to report minimal information on the number of 
            LEAs that offered online classes; the types of classes offered 
            (synchronous or asynchronous); and the amount of ADA claimed.  
             This information would be helpful as the Legislature 
            considers extend authorization of these provisions.  

           








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          5)Previous legislation  .  AB 2027 (Blumenfield), similar to this 
            bill, was held on the Senate Appropriations Committee's 
            suspense file in August 2010.  



           Analysis Prepared by  :    Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916) 
          319-2081