BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1599
AUTHOR: Committee on Education
AMENDED: June 18, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 25, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lenin Del Castillo
SUBJECT : School finance: categorical programs.
SUMMARY
This bill, the education omnibus clean-up bill, would make
technical, non-controversial revisions to numerous
provisions of the Education Code.
BACKGROUND
Each year there typically is a K-12 education clean-up bill
that makes various non-controversial revisions to the
Education Code. A majority of the provisions are
identified by the State Department of Education and propose
technical corrections to existing law, such as deleting an
obsolete reporting requirement for a program.
ANALYSIS
This bill would make numerous revisions to the Education
Code. Specifically, this bill :
1) Corrects an obsolete citation regarding school
district reorganization. (SEC. 1)
2) Replaces the term "mentally retarded" with
"intellectually disabled." (SEC. 2)
3) Adds language from Chapter 225 (AB 137, Buchanan)
and Chapter 483 (AB 700, Gomez), Statutes of 2013,
regarding the history-social science framework that
was chaptered out by Chapter 484 (AB 424, Donnelly),
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Statutes of 2013. (SEC. 3)
4) Changes the references from "building and
equipment" and "school lots or buildings" to "real
property" in the section regarding transfer of
property from one district to another. (SEC. 4)
5) Corrects a reference to when an election is to be
conducted in the provision requiring a county
superintendent of schools to call an election for the
reorganization of a school district. (SEC. 5)
6) Revises, for the purposes of initiating lapsation
proceedings, the dates and time period a county
committee on district organization must conduct public
hearings, order a territory annexed to one or more
adjoining districts, and the date the annexation takes
effect. (SEC. 6, 7, & 8)
7) Makes technical cross reference changes. (SEC. 9 &
12)
8) Authorizes school districts, charter schools, and
county offices of education to release eligibility
information on pupils enrolled in the free or
reduced-price meal program to the Superintendent of
Public Instruction for the purposes of determining
funding allocations under the local control funding
formula. Requires the information to be released to
comply with specified pupil record and pupil
confidentiality requirements. (SEC. 10)
9) Makes changes that would align the Algebra I or
Mathematics I graduation requirement to the Common
Core content standards. (SEC. 11)
10) Repeals an obsolete provision requiring an
individualized education program to include a
provision for a review, at least every six months, by
the full individualized education program team,
pursuant to Government Code 7572.5(c)(2), when an
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individualized education program calls for a
residential placement. (SEC. 13)
11) Repeals a provision authorizing local educational
agencies to seek, either directly or through a pupil's
parents or guardians, reimbursement from insurance
companies to cover the costs of related services in
accordance with federal regulations. (SEC. 14)
12) Specifies that if an individual with exceptional
needs is covered by public benefits or insurance, a
public agency may use Medicaid, other public benefits,
or insurance programs in which a pupil participates,
to provide or pay for required services, if the public
agency provides written notification and obtains
written parental consent. (SEC. 15)
13) Deletes the requirement for a nonpublic,
nonsectarian school or agency seeking certification to
submit a form and requires the State Department of
Education to provide electronic notification of the
availability of renewal application materials. (SEC.
16)
14) Strikes obsolete dates and requirements in the
provisions regarding special education local plan
areas and the provision of services to individuals
with exceptional needs. (SEC. 17)
15) Changes "Measurement of Academic Performance and
Progress (MAPP)" to the "California Assessment of
Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP)" in various
sections of the Education Code. (SEC. 18 - 26)
16) Changes the ending date for which the early
literacy assessment of pupils whose primary language
is a language other than English must be administered
from July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2017. (SEC. 27)
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Non-controversial amendments . This bill is the annual
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education omnibus clean-up bill and proposes
technical, non-controversial amendments to existing
law. By tradition, if any affected agency, the
Department of Finance, or any of the four legislative
caucuses objects to a provision in the bill or one
that is being considered, that particular provision
cannot be included.
2) Committee amendments : Staff notes there is an
additional amendment that was agreed to by the various
parties with no objection, but was received too late
to be included in the bill prior to the hearing.
Accordingly, staff recommends that the provisions in
SEC. 10 of the bill be amended to allow local
educational agencies to release individual meal
eligibility information on enrolled pupils
participating in the free or reduced-price meal
program to other local educational agencies, upon
request.
Staff also recommends that the contents in SEC. 11 of
the bill be removed due to concerns that the language
could possibly have the effect of lowering the
graduation standards in the rigor of mathematics by
authorizing any course labeled as "Mathematics I" or a
course that is equivalent rather than the complete
discipline of Algebra I.
SUPPORT
None on the current version of the bill.
OPPOSITION
None on file.