BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 41|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 41
Author: Wright (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 2/27/13
AYES: Liu, Wyland, Block, Correa, Hancock, Huff, Jackson, Lara,
Monning
SUBJECT : School district reorganization: base revenue limit:
Wiseburn
Unified School District
SOURCE : Wiseburn School District
DIGEST : This bill 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 by unifying
(reorganizing) the Wiseburn School District (grades K-8) and the
Centinela Valley Union High School District, as specified.
ANALYSIS : Existing 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. 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
CONTINUED
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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. Existing 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.
Existing 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.
Existing law provides that the Department of Education 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 specified.
This bill 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 by unifying (reorganizing)
the Wiseburn School District (grades K-8) and the Centinela
Valley Union High School District, as specified.
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Comments
Wiseburn Unification Status
The school district is working with the SBE to schedule a
unification hearing at the 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 enables the
district to start operation as a unified school district on July
1, 2014.
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 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 2/28/13)
Wiseburn School District
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, this
bill is needed to immediately address the issue raised in
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Governor Brown's signing message for SB 477 (Wright), Chapter
730, Statutes of 2012. 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 bill is
to meet the May 2013, SBE action time frame.
PQ:nl 2/28/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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