BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair SB 429 (DeSaulnier) Hearing Date: 05/09/2011 Amended: 04/26/2011 Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Education 7-1 _________________________________________________________________ ____ BILL SUMMARY: SB 429 would provide that any school that establishes a program pursuant to the After School Education and Safety Program (ASES), or establishes a program with a before school program component pursuant to ASES is eligible to receive a supplemental grant to operate the program in excess of 180 regular schooldays or during any combination of summer, intersession, or vacation periods for a maximum of 30% of the total grant amount awarded, per year, to the school, as specified. The bill would allow supplemental grantees to change the location of the program and to open eligibility for the program, and to offer 6-hour extended day program, as specified. _________________________________________________________________ ____ Fiscal Impact (in thousands) Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund ASES program flexibility Potentially significant loss of savings General* *Counts toward meeting the Proposition 98 minimum funding guarantee _________________________________________________________________ ____ STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Under existing law, ASES is a grant program that funds before and after school academic enrichment. ASES programs receive direct grants, where attendance is projected and grants are funded up-front, in three one-year increments. The maximum total direct grant awarded annually at $112,500 for each regular school year for elementary schools and $150,000 for middle schools, and is based on a formula of $7.50 per pupil per day of attendance, at a maximum of $37.50 per pupil per week. Schools are also eligible for supplemental grants to operate in excess of 180 days or during any combination of summer, intersession, SB 429 (DeSaulnier) Page 1 or vacation for a maximum of the lesser of the following amounts: a) $7.50 per pupil per day; or b) 30% of the total grant amount awarded to the school. (Education Code § 8482.4 - 8483.7) This bill allows an after school program to offer a 6-hour program (instead of a 3-hour program) using its existing supplemental grant funds, subject to specified restrictions. This bill does not allow for the provision of additional funds for this purpose. It only allows flexibility surrounding how to implement the summer, weekend, or intercession programs. However, the additional programmatic flexibility could allow some programs to spend more of their supplemental grant fund than they would have under existing restrictions. To the extent that this allows grantees to spend more grant money than they otherwise would have, the state will realize a loss of savings from funds that would otherwise revert to the Proposition 98 Reversion Account, which would have allowed them to be spent on other Prop 98 purposes. Grantees can, however, spend the money in their possession now, and most of the programs would do so with or without this flexibility. In 2009-10, less than 5% of ASES supplemental grant funding was unspent and reverted back to the account (for a total of $23.1 million). However, if this flexibility resulted in even a 1% decrease in reversions, the state would lose a savings of more than $500,000.