BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 41
AUTHOR: Wright
INTRODUCED: December 11, 2012
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: February
27, 2013
URGENCY: Yes CONSULTANT: Daniel
Alvarez
SUBJECT : School district reorganization: base revenue
limit: Wiseburn Unified
School District.
SUMMARY
This bill, an urgency measure, addresses issues raised by
the Governor in his signing message of SB 477 (Chapter 730,
Statutes of 2012, Wright) to correct the revenue limit
calculation.
SB 477, statutes of 2012, related to the allocation and
repayment of existing bond indebtedness, the methodology for
determining school district debt capacity, and the
methodology for calculating a blended revenue limit arising
from the creation of the Wiseburn Unified School District
(WUSD) by unifying (reorganizing) the Wiseburn School
District (WSD, grades K-8) and the Centinela Valley Union
High School District (CVUHSD), as specified.
Under SB 477, a special revenue limit calculation reflecting
the unification of the Wiseburn School District was created.
However, in light of the governor's signing message the
author intends to strike out the provision of law that
allows for the creation of a special revenue limit.
BACKGROUND
Current law provides for a county committee on school
district organization in each county (county committee) to
consider locally developed reorganization petitions to
transfer territory among districts; unify, merge or create
new districts or revise the boundaries of trustee areas.
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Proposals for transfer of territory may be decided by the
county committee in a public hearing, although such
decisions to transfer more than 10% of a district's
territory must be ratified by a vote of the people in the
affected districts. The decisions of the county committee
may be appealed to the State Board of Education (SBE) for
specified reasons.
When the reorganization proposal involves more than a
transfer of territory, the county committee holds a public
hearing and forwards the proposal, along with the
committee's recommendation, to the SBE. Current law
provides that if the SBE approves a proposal for
reorganization then the proposal is returned to the County
for approval of a vote of the people in the territory being
reorganized.
Current law defines school district reorganization as any of
the following:
1) Dissolving two or more existing school districts of the
same kind and forming one or more new school districts
of that same kind from the entire territory of the
original districts.
2) Forming one or more new school districts of the same
kind from all or parts of one or more existing school
districts of that same kind.
3) Unifying school districts, including the consolidation
of all or part of one or more high school districts
with all or part of one or more component school
districts into one or more new unified school
districts.
4) De-unifying a school district, including the conversion
of all or part of a unified school district into one or
more new high school districts, each with two or more
new component districts.
Furthermore, current law provides that the State Department
of Education shall use information provided by the county
superintendent of schools in each county that has a school
district affected by an action to unify to compute the base
revenue limit for a newly organized school district, as
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specified.
(Education Code § 35500 et. seq.)
ANALYSIS
This bill, an urgency measure, strikes the provision of law
that allows for the creation of a blended revenue limit
arising from the creation of the Wiseburn Unified School
District (WUSD) by unifying (reorganizing) the Wiseburn
School District (WSD, grades K-8) and the Centinela Valley
Union High School District (CVUHSD), as specified.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author's office,
this measure is needed to immediately address the issue
raised in Governor Brown's signing message for SB 477.
The issue was that SB 477 created a special revenue
limit calculation for the unification of the Wiseburn
School District. The governor signed the legislation
with the understanding that the special revenue limit
section would be repealed and the Wiseburn School
District unification calculated revenue limit would be
done in the same manner as all other school district
unifications. The urgency of the measure is to meet
the May 2013, State Board of Education (SBE) action
time frame.
2) Wiseburn Unification Status . The school district is
working with the State Department of Education to
schedule a unification hearing at the State Board of
Education (SBE). The goal is to have the SBE approval
at the May 2013 SBE meeting and an election at the
scheduled local November 2013 election. This would
enable the district to start operation as a unified
school district on July 1, 2014.
3) What is a revenue limit? The revenue limit is the
general purpose money school districts receive for each
student. Established in law in 1972, the per student
average daily attendance (ADA) revenue limit varies
slightly between districts by size and type of district
(for example, there are three types of school districts
- elementary, unified, and high school - with three
revenue limit bands that takes into account the size
of the district). The district revenue limit income is
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a combination of local property taxes and state general
fund support. Any increase in local property taxes is
offset by a reduction in state funds (except for basic
aid districts). In 2011, the estimated average
"undeficited" revenue limit was $6,247 / ADA for an
elementary school district, $7,504 / ADA for a high
school district, and $6,536 / ADA for a unified school
district.
ADA is the workload standard for California public
education. One ADA is based on one student attending
school for a minimum number of minutes for 180 school
days. The minute requirement varies for specific types
of students, generally: kindergarten - 180 minutes,
grades 1 through 3 - 230 minutes, and grades 4 through
12 - 240 minutes of instruction.
SUPPORT
Wiseburn School District
OPPOSITION
None on file.