BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 236
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Date of Hearing: June 12, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
SB 236 (Pavley) - As Amended: May 8, 2013
SENATE VOTE : 36-0
SUBJECT : School districts: four-day school week: Moorpark
Unified School District
SUMMARY : Authorizes the Moorpark Unified School District
(District) to, beginning in the 2013-14 fiscal year, operate one
or more high schools offering a middle college program on a
four-day school week, provided that it complies with specified
instructional time requirements and other requirements for
operating a four-day school week schedule. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Authorizes the State Board of Education (SBE) to waive the
five-consecutive-day operating requirements for a middle
college program that operates on a four-day school week,
provided that the District meets the minimum time requirements
for a middle college program.
2)Specifies that if a school in the Moorpark Unified School
District operating a four-day school week fails to achieve its
Academic Performance Index (API) target, the authority of that
school to operate on a four-day school week shall be
permanently revoked beginning with the following school year.
3)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to
reduce the base revenue limit funding by amounts the District
would have received in instructional time incentive funding,
adjusted for cost-of-living since the inception of the
incentive, if the District does not maintain 180 days in a
school year and provide the instructional time required under
current law.
4)Specifies that if a small school with between 11 and 99 valid
Standardized Testing and Reporting Program (STAR) test scores
operating on a four-day school week fails to achieve its API
growth target for two consecutive years, the authority of that
school to operate on a four-day school week shall be
permanently revoked beginning with the following school year.
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5)Specifies that if the District operates one or more schools on
a four-day school week, the District shall submit a report to
the California Department of Education (CDE) and the Senate
and Assembly Education Committees by January 15, 2018. The
report shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, all
of the following:
a) Programs the school district offered on the fifth
schoolday and their participation rates.
b) If the four-day school week schedule resulted in fiscal
savings.
c) Impact on overall attendance of the schools operating a
four-day school week.
d) Programs for which the SBE waived minimum time and
five-consecutive-day requirements and the operational and
educational effects of the programs if they operated at
less time than required.
e) The impact of the four-day school week on crime
statistics, especially on the day on which school would
otherwise be in session.
f) Information on the API for every year a school in the
District operated on a four-day school week. The
information shall include, but not necessarily be limited
to, the base and growth API of each school that operated on
a four-day school week and whether that school met the API
growth targets.
g) Specific outcomes for pupils attending a school
operating on a four-day school week including, but not
limited to, attendance rates, graduation rates, college
entrance and attendance rates, and employment rates of
pupils who do not attend college.
6)Authorizes the District operating one or more schools on a
four-day school week to claim a day of attendance for the
pupils enrolled in a middle college high school operating on a
four-day school week.
7)Becomes inoperative on June 30, 2018, and is repealed on
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January 1, 2019, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes
operative on or before January 1, 2019, deletes or extends the
dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
8)Contains an urgency clause in order for the District to use
the four-day school week authorization provided by this bill
in the 2013-14 school year.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires schools to provide for an instructional program five
days per week and for attendance-counting purposes, defines a
school month as 20 days or four weeks of five days each,
including legal holidays but excluding weekend makeup classes.
2)Authorizes the following school districts to operate a
four-day school week:
a) Pacific Unified School District (Monterey County);
b) Leggett Valley Unified School District (Mendocino
County);
c) Reeds Creek Elementary School District (Tehama County);
d) Alpaugh Unified School District (Tulare County);
e) Potter Valley Community Unified School District
(Mendocino County);
f) Borrego Springs Unified School District (San Diego
County);
g) Julian Union Elementary School District (San Diego
County);
h) Julian Union High School District (San Diego County);
and,
i) Warner Unified School District (San Diego County).
3)Provides that participating school districts may only operate
four-day school weeks if they reach mutual agreement to the
operation in a memorandum of understanding with their
collective bargaining units.
4)Requires a school site council to be involved in the planning
and evaluation of a four-day school week.
5)Requires a school district to consider the impact of the
longer school-day on primary grade pupils, and the impact of
the four-day school week on working parents who may be
required to arrange for additional childcare services.
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6)Requires a participating school district to provide on an
annual basis not less than 560 hours of instructional time for
kindergarten, 700 hours for grades 1, 2, and 3, and 845 hours
for grades 4 through 12.
7)Prohibits a school day from exceeding eight hours and a school
week from being less than four days.
8)Specifies that a school district operating in a four-day week
cannot receive longer day and year incentive funding if the
instructional offering of the school district is not at least
180 days in length and provides the minimum instructional
minutes required by existing statute.
9)Provides that if the Borrego Springs Unified School District,
Julian Union High School District, Julian Union Elementary
School District, Warner Unified School District, Potter Valley
Community Unified School District, and Alpaugh Unified School
District do meet their API growth targets, the authority to
operate a four-day school week shall be permanently revoked.
10)Authorizes the establishment of middle college high schools
for the purpose of serving at-risk high school students in an
alternative high school located on a community college campus
in order to reduce the likelihood that they will drop out of
school before graduation.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, this bill is not expected to result in new costs to
the state, as it does not change the Moorpark Unified School
District's current state apportionment.
COMMENTS : This bill authorizes the Moorpark Unified School
District to operate one or more high schools operating a middle
college program on a four-day school week schedule. The
District operates one middle college high school program, The
High School @ Moorpark College, located on the Moorpark College
campus.
Middle college high schools . Existing law authorizes districts
to establish middle college high schools - a joint venture with
California Community College Districts and school districts - to
provide an alternative educational setting for select at-risk
high school students who are performing below their academic
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potential and who can benefit from a program located on a
community college campus in order to reduce the likelihood that
they will drop out of school before graduation. The design of
each middle high school may vary, but the basic elements of a
middle college high school must include the following:
1)A curriculum that focuses on college and career preparation;
2)A reduced adult-student ratio;
3)Flexible scheduling to allow for work internships, community
service experience, and interaction with community college
student role models; and,
4)Opportunities for experiential internships, work
apprenticeships, and community services.
According to the CDE, there are approximately 22 middle college
high schools in the state. The High School @ Moorpark College
enrolls approximately 100 11th and 12th grade at-risk students
as well as non-at-risk students seeking college credits.
Approximately 10% of the students enrolled are at-risk students.
Four-day school weeks . Prior to 1983, school districts were
required to operate schools for five days and 175 days per year.
The Hughes-Hart Educational Reform Act of 1983 (SB 813, Chapter
498, Statutes of 1983) offered incentive funding for districts
to offer 180 days of instruction each year. Current law
authorizes nine districts to operate on a four-day school week
if the districts meet required instructional time of not less
than 560 hours of instructional time for kindergarten; 700 hours
of instructional time for grades 1, 2, and 3; and not less than
845 hours of instructional time for grades 4 through 12, without
losing incentive funding. According to the CDE, only two
districts, Pacific Unified School District (Monterey County) and
Leggett Valley Unified School District (Mendocino County),
operate on a four-day school week schedule, mainly due to
extreme weather or geographic conditions. The other districts,
despite having received authorization, have chosen to continue
operating on a five-day school week schedule.
In the past, this Committee has applied the following criteria
to school districts seeking approval for this option. The
district:
Experiences extremes of climate and geography.
Serves a widely dispersed population requiring long travel
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times for significant number of students in the school
district.
Demonstrates the expected benefits to the school(s) and
students of operating on shorter school week and instructional
year.
Has considered and addressed concerns about possible negative
consequences of a longer school day and shorter week on
employees, students and families.
Is held to the requirements of existing law governing those
school districts already operating schools on a four-day week.
Purpose of the bill . Moorpark Unified School District is not
seeking authorization to operate its middle college high school
on a four-day school week schedule for geographic, climate, or
budgetary reasons. According to the sponsor, the Moorpark
Unified School District, students take most of their classes
from Monday through Thursday and currently spend only two hours
of instruction on Fridays. Allowing the school to go to a
four-day school week schedule would enable students to spend a
whole day on their senior projects, which include community
service hours, or enable teachers to provide tutoring or
additional assistance to students who need it. Instruction time
would increase by an hour from Monday through Thursday in order
to meet statutory instructional minutes. The sponsor indicates
that the families of the students have been surveyed and they do
not object to a four-day school week schedule.
Effects of a four-day school week . According to the Education
Commission of the States, approximately 120 school districts in
17 states authorize four-day school week schedules. The
Christian Science Monitor reported in March 2004 on the use of
four-day school weeks in other states. The key points from the
article are summarized below:
1)Mostly rural school systems are experimenting with the shorter
week, finding that lengthening the school day by an hour or
more and knocking off Monday or Friday saves money on things
like transportation and heating.
2)While monetary savings may result from reducing the school
week by one day, there are other costs associated with a
four-day week, including longer, possibly more tiring days in
class, and difficulty finding day care during the "off " day
for children whose parents work outside the home.
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3)Reviews of the program are mixed and research is scanty on
whether cost savings are significant and if students suffer
academically.
4)Both student and teacher attendance seems to be higher when on
a four-day week schedule.
5)One superintendent is quoted as saying, "In order to make the
economics work it's really necessary that you be a widely
disbursed operation with extreme climate swings, so that
closing a building down for a day means something."
The Fall 2007 issue of the Rural Educator, a publication of the
National Rural Education Association, contained an article
summarizing reports and studies on four-day school week
schedules and found that a four-day school week schedule:
1)can result in energy savings, less gasoline and bus
maintenance, less food service costs, and salary savings from
a reduced need for classified employees and substitute
teachers;
2)has not resulted in lower student scores for the districts
examined, except that scores in one middle school in New
Mexico did decline and the superintendent advocated a return
to the five-day school week schedule;
3)has increased student attendance ranging from 2% to 5.8%; and,
4)can lead to less teacher absenteeism -- teachers like the
shorter schedule because it provides time to make medical or
dental appointments and more time to prepare lessons plans.
The article also reported that 42% of primary grade students in
Idaho reported that they got tired and that the day was too long
and 41% of parents were concerned that their children were more
fatigued, but only 24% of teachers believed that student and
teacher fatigue were greater.
This bill , similar to prior four-day school week authorizations,
require the school to meet specified instructional time
requirements and to meet their API growth targets, or the
authorization is revoked. The bill also requires the District
to submit a report to the CDE and the Legislature with the
specified information by January 15, 2018 if the District
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chooses to operate one or more schools on a four-day school week
schedule:
1)Programs the school district offered on the fifth schoolday
and their participation rates.
2)If the four-day school week schedule resulted in fiscal
savings.
3)Impact on overall attendance of the schools operating a
four-day school week.
4)Programs for which the SBE waived minimum time and
five-consecutive-day requirements and the operational and
educational effects of the programs if they operated at less
time than required.
5)The impact of the four-day school week on crime statistics,
especially on the day on which school would otherwise be in
session.
6)Information on the API for every year a school in the District
operated on a four-day school week. The information shall
include, but not necessarily be limited to, the base and
growth API of each school that operated on a four-day school
week and whether that school met the API growth targets.
7)Specific outcomes for pupils attending a school operating on a
four-day school week including, but not limited to, attendance
rates, graduation rates, college entrance and attendance
rates, and employment rates of pupils who do not attend
college.
This bill contains an urgency clause as the authorization begins
with the 2013-14 fiscal year, and will sunset on June 30, 2015.
Technical amendment . The Senate Appropriations Committee added
an amendment specifying that the District may claim a day of
attendance for pupils enrolled in a school operating on a
four-day school week pursuant to Education Code Section 46146.5,
which specifies the number of minutes required per day for
attendance in an early college high school or middle college
high school. According to the committee, the intent of this
provision is to clarify that the school must continue to meet
requirements of the middle college high school program. As
such, staff recommends an amendment to include references to
Education Code Sections 11300 and 11301, which establish the
middle college high school program and the requirements for the
program.
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Moorpark College supports the bill and states, "The 4-day
schedule is beneficial both for students and teachers. The
alternative schedule allows more opportunities for students to
take Friday college classes, to interact with college-campus
clubs, and to participate in college activities."
Prior related legislation . AB 691 (Gilmore), Chapter 252,
Statutes of 2009, authorizes the Alpaugh Unified School
District, beginning in the 2010-11 fiscal year, to operate one
or more schools in the school district on a four-day school week
if the district complies with the instructional time
requirements and other requirements for operating a four-day
school week.
AB 868 (V. Manuel Perez) authorizes the Palo Verde Unified
School District to operate one or more schools on a four-day
school week. The author gutted and amended the bill into a
different subject area in 2010.
AB 1889 (Berg), Chapter 661, Statutes of 2008, authorizes the
Potter Valley Community Unified School District, beginning in
the 2009-10 fiscal year, to operate one or more schools in the
school district on a four-day school week if the district
complies with the instructional time requirements and other
requirements for operating a four-day school week.
SB 1138 (Hollingsworth), Chapter 465, Statutes of 2004,
authorizes Borrego Springs Unified School District, Julian Union
High School District, Warner Unified School District,
Jamul-Dulzura Union Elementary School District, and Marysville
Joint Unified School District, to operate a four-day school
week.
AB 1820 (Maze), Chapter 481, Statutes of 2004, authorizes the
Death Valley Unified School District to operate a four-day
school week.
SB 1142 (Chesbro), introduced in 2004, would have authorized the
Pacific Unified School District, Leggett Valley Unified School
District, and Reeds Creek Elementary School District to operate
for less than 180 days without penalty as long as the same
number of annual minutes of instruction is provided. Governor
Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill stating that it would defeat the
objective of the incentive funding program.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Moorpark College
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087