BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 361
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 361 (Tom Berryhill)
As Amended May 31, 2011
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :40-0
EDUCATION 10-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Brownley, Norby, Ammiano, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Buchanan, Butler, Carter, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Eng, Beth Gaines, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Morrell, Williams | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| | | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Extends, for five years, the sunset on provisions
that prohibit the Center for Advanced Research and Technology
(CART) from receiving funding as a charter school, and that
establish the formula for calculating the authorized
apportionment of revenue limit funding for pupils concurrently
enrolled in regular secondary school classes and classes
operating pursuant to a joint powers agreement (JPA) put in
place prior to January 1, 2008.
EXISTING LAW :
1) Establishes the minimum day for a pupil enrolled in
regular day classes to be 240 minutes in grades 4 through
12; also establishes the minimum day for a pupil
concurrently enrolled in regular secondary school classes
and classes operated pursuant to a JPA that became
effective prior to January 1, 2008, to be 180 minutes and
requires that a pupil must attend the full 180 minutes of
class to generate a "day of attendance" for purposes of
funding.
2) Provides that the 180 minute school day described above
will generate only three-quarters (75%) of a day of
attendance for the purpose of calculating average daily
attendance (ADA) but that the ADA generated by the pupil's
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attendance may be claimed as part of a school district's
ADA.
3) Requires, starting in 2008-09, the Superintendent of
Public Instruction (SPI) to compute funding for each pupil,
enrolled in classes pursuant to a JPA that became effective
prior to January 1, 2008, by multiplying the pupil's annual
clock hours of attendance, up to a maximum of three clock
hours per school day, by an hourly rate that is computed to
represent an hourly equivalent of the pupil's home district
revenue limit; also requires the SPI to add the funding
computed pursuant to 2) above, to the revenue limit of the
school district of attendance of the pupil.
4) Deems, for attendance accounting purposes, that a pupil
attending classes operated pursuant to a JPA that became
effective prior to January 1, 2008, satisfies the
requirement that the pupil be under the immediate
supervision and control of a district employed teacher;
requires a school district's annual audit to test that this
attendance funding is in compliance with conditions
specified; and, requires funding to be reduced for
noncompliance, when applicable.
5) Prohibits, commencing with the 2008-09 fiscal year, the
Center for Advanced Research and Technology operating
pursuant to a JPA between Clovis Unified School District
(CUSD) and Fresno Unified School District (FUSD) from being
eligible for funding under charter school funding laws.
6) Makes these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2012, and
repealed as of January 1, 2013.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill creates a loss of General Fund/Proposition
98 revenue limit funding (general purpose) savings, likely
between $500,000 and $1 million. Under CART's existing funding
formula, it receives approximately $770 more per pupil than
other schools. If the existing funding formula for CART were to
sunset, the state would save this amount of funding per pupil.
COMMENTS : CART was established as a charter school in April of
1998 by a joint powers agreement established between CUSD and
FUSD. CART is a career technical education center that provides
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instruction to pupils in grades 11 and 12 from both districts,
where the pupils spend half of their instructional day at CART
and the other half in their regular district high school.
CART's approach combines rigorous academics with career clusters
that include professional sciences, engineering, advanced
communications and global dynamics. Within each cluster are
several career-specific laboratories in which students complete
industry-based projects and receive academic credit for advanced
English, science, math, and technology. Data produced and
analyzed by CART in a self-published study, shows that from 2002
to 2008, CART students were more likely to graduate from high
school, had a higher rate (by 11 percentage points) of
enrollment in community colleges, and had a higher rate (by 2
percentage points) of enrollment in universities, than a
comparison group of similar students drawn from CUSD and FUSD.
Current law requires charter schools to enroll pupils in
classroom instruction for at least 80% of the school day, or be
considered "non-classroom based" charter schools subject to
special review and reduced funding. Current law also provides
that school districts, and charter schools, may not claim
general purpose funding for the attendance of pupils in classes
that are not under the supervision and control of a teacher that
is an employee of the district or charter school. In the
mid-2000s, CART ran afoul of both laws in that pupils were in
charter school classrooms only 50% of the day, although they
attended regular high school classes during the other 50%; also,
since teachers from both districts taught at CART, pupils were
not always being instructed by employees of their home district
or the CART charter school. In 2006, the State Controller's
auditors determined that the charter school could not claim any
funding for that year, or any later year until the charter
school either complied with the law or was granted an exception.
CART's funding for the 2006-07 fiscal year was specifically
authorized by SB 345 (Aanestad), Chapter 524, Statutes of 2007;
the 2006 audit was settled without penalty, but AB 2246
(Villines), Chapter 762, Statutes of 2008, provided a longer
term solution, codified the current funding formula for CART,
and established a July 1, 2012, inoperative date and January 1,
2013, repeal date on those special funding provisions; this bill
extends those dates five years into the future.
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Analysis Prepared by : Gerald Shelton / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0002173