BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 204 (Liu)
Hearing Date: 05/16/2011 Amended: 04/26/2011
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Education 7-0
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 204 would change the state-level governance
structure for K-12 education by reducing the responsibilities
and powers of the State Board of Education (SBE) to an advisory
role to the Governor, Legislature, and Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI), and expands the role of the SPI in
administering the Department of Education (CDE) and setting
education policy.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13
2013-14 Fund
Transition costs Unknown,
potentially hundreds of thousands General
Consolidation of duties Potential long-term savings based on
consolidation
of existing
SBE duties within the CDE General
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Current law provides for an eleven member SBE appointed by the
Governor for four-year terms, with each appointee subject to
confirmation by a two-thirds vote of the Senate. In addition,
current law provides that the SBE determines all questions of
policy within its powers. The California Constitution requires
the Legislature to provide for the
appointment or election of the SBE. The SBE has significant
authority over education regulations. Its duties also include
federal waivers, territory transfer appeals, charter school
oversight and assignment of numbers, Special Education Local
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Plan Area organization issues, various functions of the State
Education Agency under federal law, and various functions
related to curriculum.
The California Constitution specifies that an SPI shall be
elected by the people at each gubernatorial election. The
Constitution provides no further specification of the duties of
the SPI (Article IX, Section 2). The SPI is one of seven
statewide elective offices specified in the constitution.
Current law prescribes the responsibilities of the SPI
throughout the Education Code including, among other things,
superintend the schools of this state. (Education Code § 33112
et. seq.)
This bill repeals the authority of the SBE "to determine all
questions of policy within its powers" and instead makes the SBE
an advisory board to the Governor, Legislature and SPI. The SPI
and CDE would take over the functions of the SBE to set policy,
adopt curriculum frameworks, and appoint Associate SPIs, as well
as its duties in various statutes to review or approve policies
and reports. While consolidating activities of the SBE within
the CDE would likely lead to long term administrative savings,
there would likely be significant upfront costs related to
transition.
The SBE currently has its own staff and budget. A large portion
of that budget supports eight authorized staff positions housed
in the CDE building. The cost of those positions (including
benefits) is nearly $900,000. If the staff's workload is
transferred to other existing CDE employees, there would be
significant state savings. This bill, however, does not require
the consolidation or reduction of staff, so there are no
guaranteed savings. Additionally, SBE duties transferring to the
CDE would still need to be completed, and it is unclear how much
of the workload could be absorbed by current CDE staff.
This bill does not change the number of SBE meetings, the budget
for those meetings and travel, or staffing for those meetings;
it only changes the board's authority and some of its duties.
This bill could be implemented in a manner that achieves
considerable long term savings, but all savings depend on how
the bill is interpreted and implemented by the CDE and the SBE.
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