BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1186
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 24, 2013

                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                                Joan Buchanan, Chair
                   AB 1186 (Bonilla) - As Amended:  April 10, 2013

          [This bill is being heard for information purposes.  No vote  
          will be taken at this hearing.]

           SUBJECT  :   School finance:  categorical programs

           SUMMARY  :   Extends the flexibility for Tier 3 categorical  
          program funds until 2019-20, as specified.  Specifically,  this  
          bill  :  

          1)Extends the flexibility for Tier 3 categorical program funds  
            until 2019-20, provided, beginning with the 2013-14 fiscal  
            year, a school district that receives them agrees to use at  
            least 9% of the total funds for professional development for  
            certificated and administrative employees related to  
            implementation of the common core content standards;  
            purchasing technology to implement assessments aligned with  
            the common core content standards; or implementation of  
            programs to integrate science, technology, engineering, and  
            mathematics (STEM) in grades 7 to 12, inclusive.

          2)Provides that the requirements of the bill shall be  
            inoperative if the amounts appropriated for the Tier 3  
            programs are increased by less than 18% over the amounts  
            provides in 2012-13 or if a K-12 local control funding formula  
            is enacted during the 2013-14 legislative session.

          3)Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to  
            promptly display the requirements of this bill on its Internet  
            web site, if they are operative.

           EXISTING LAW  

          1)Establishes a "Tier 3" block of 38 K-12 categorical programs  
            through the 2014-15 fiscal year.

          2)Requires the SPI to apportion Tier 3 funds to LEAs, based on  
            the relative proportion that each LEA received in 2008-09.

          3)Authorizes LEAs to use Tier 3 funds for any educational  








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            purpose through 2014-15.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown

           COMMENTS  :   Categorical program flexibility was provided as part  
          of the 2008-09 budget to help LEAs manage a nearly 20% reduction  
          in state K-12 funding.  Funding for some programs-notably  
          special education, child care, and economic impact aid, among  
          others-was neither reduced nor flexed.  These are referred to as  
          Tier 1 programs.  Funding for other programs (English learner  
          assistance programs, student assessments, and charter school  
          facility grants, among others) was reduced but not flexed.   
          These are referred to as Tier 2 programs.  Funding for all other  
          programs, the Tier 3 programs, was both reduced and flexed.   
          There are 38 Tier 3 programs, the largest five of which are  
          Targeted Instructional Improvement Block Grant (TIIG), adult  
          education, regional occupational centers and programs, School  
          and Library Improvement Block Grant, and the instructional  
          materials block grant.

          The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a multi-state  
          effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center  
          for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State  
          School Officers (CCSSO).  Since 2010, 45 states have adopted the  
          standards for English and math.  They are scheduled to be  
          implemented in the 2014-15 school year.  The Smarter Balanced  
          Assessment is a computer adaptive assessment system aligned to  
          the common core standards.  Computer adaptive testing is a form  
          of testing that adapts to the test-taker's ability level.

          Concerns have been raised regarding California's readiness to  
          adopt the common core content standards and implement the  
          Smarter Balanced assessment.  These concerns have centered  
          around unmet professional developments needs for the teachers  
          who will be implementing the content standards, the lack of  
          standards-aligned instructional materials, and the lack of the  
          technical capacity needed to implement the computer-adaptive  
          assessments.  According to the author's office, the Legislature  
          has made common core a priority, and this bill will help give  
          districts the resources they need to implement it in the areas  
          of professional development and technical capacity.  However,  
          this bill does not increase funding to districts.  Rather, it  
          redirects funds that are currently discretionary to these  
          purposes.









                                                                  AB 1186
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          In addition, the author states that another purpose of this bill  
          "is to work toward providing all students in our public schools  
          access to hand-on STEM education programs.  Greater integration  
          of STEM in our classrooms will ultimately enable California to  
          more successfully compete in the global economy."

           Technical correction.   According to the author's office, the  
          intent of this bill is to extend Tier 3 flexibility until  
          2019-20 and to impose the 9% requirement only if Tier 3 funding  
          is increased by at least 18%.  As written, however, the bill  
          renders both the flexibility and the 9% requirement inoperative  
          if the 18% threshold is not met.  Staff recommends the bill be  
          amended to correct this error.

           Related legislation

           AB 88 (Buchanan), which is pending in the Assembly Education  
          Committee, contains the Governor's proposal to implement a Local  
          Control Funding Formula (LCFF) for schools.  The LCFF would  
          eliminated virtually all categorical programs and allocate most  
          K-12 dollars through a base grant plus supplemental funding.   
          The supplemental funding would be based on an LEA's enrollment  
          of English learners, pupils eligible for free or reduced price  
          meals, and pupils in foster care.

          AB 200 (Hagman), which is pending in the Assembly Education  
          Committee, eliminates the sunset date on the Tier 3 categorical  
          programs and provides that, beginning in 2014-15, funds for  
          those programs shall be allocated based on the amount per ADA  
          each recipient received in 2013-14.

          AB 470 (Mullin), which is pending in the Assembly Education  
          Committee, removes the Teacher Credentialing block Grant from  
          Tier 3 flexibility and requires the SPI and the California  
          Commission on Teacher Credentialing to perform onsite reviews  
          for all California Beginning Teacher support and Assessment  
          programs (BTSA), implement high-quality teacher induction  
          programs, and enforce existing BTSA program standards.

          AB 558 (Cooley), which is currently pending in the Assembly  
          Education Committee, extends the phase out of the reduced  
          penalties for exceeding K-3 class size reduction  
          pupil-to-teacher ratios.

          AB 1152 (Ammiano), which is pending in the Assembly Education  








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          Committee, removes the California School Age Families Education  
          Program (Cal-SAFE) from Tier 3.

          AB 1186 (Bonilla), which is pending in the Assembly Education  
          Committee, extends the flexibility for Tier 3 categorical  
          program funds, provided, beginning with the 2013-14 fiscal year,  
          a school district that receives them agrees to use at least 9%  
          of the total funds for professional development for certificated  
          and administrative employees related to implementation of the  
          common core content standards; purchasing technology to  
          implement assessments aligned with the common core content  
          standards; or implementation of programs to integrate science,  
          technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in grades 7 to  
          12, inclusive.

          AB 1215 (Muratsuchi), which is pending in the Assembly Education  
          Committee, requires that an annual appropriation from the  
          General Fund be made directly to  the Southern California  
          Regional Occupational Center for the purposes of providing  
          career and technical education services.  

          SB 223 (Liu), which passed the Senate Education Committee on a  
          9-0 vote and is pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee,  
          extends categorical flexibility in exchange for the recipient  
          LEA agreeing to specified accountability preconditions.


           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          None received

           Opposition 
           
          None received
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087