BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     AB 331


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          Date of Hearing:  April 22, 2015


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                                 Jimmy Gomez, Chair


          AB  
          331 (Levine) - As Amended April 7, 2015


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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  YesReimbursable:   
          Yes


          SUMMARY: This bill authorizes a county committee on school  
          district organization, for any school district whose average  
          daily attendance during the preceding year was less than 300, to  
          approve or disapprove a proposal to decrease the membership of  
          the school district governing board from five to three, in  
          accordance with procedural requirements in existing law.








                                                                     AB 331


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          FISCAL EFFECT:  Unknown, likely minor, Proposition 98/GF state  
          mandated costs for county committees to review requests to  
          reduce board membership.  


          This bill expands existing authority to modify the size of a  
          small school board. This bill affects at least two small school  
          districts and at most could impact 200 small school districts.   
          County offices of education will likely have minor costs and may  
          not seek reimbursement for these changes; if they do, however,  
          those costs are likely to be deemed reimbursable by the  
          Commission on State Mandates.


          COMMENTS:  


          1)Background. County committees on school district organization  
            are the local initiator, coordinator, analyst, facilitator,  
            and arbitrator for the reorganization of school districts.  
            Roughly half of county committees are comprised of members of  
            the county board of education, the remaining are independent  
            of the board, though workload often falls to county board  
            staff.



            Current law authorizes a county committee to increase and  
            decrease board membership from five to seven and seven to  
            five.  The county committee can also increase a board from  
            three to five members when average daily attendance (ADA)  
            increases but the law does not allow for the county committee  
            to reduce board membership if ADA declines.












                                                                     AB 331


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          2)Purpose. This bill provides the county committee on school  
            district organization the authority to reduce board membership  
            from five to three for any school district whose ADA during  
            the preceding year was less than 300. The county committee  
            could act on its own initiative, at the request of the  
            district, or if required by a petition.  
            
            The Sonoma County Office of Education is sponsoring this bill  
            in the interest of two small school districts: Horicon  
            Elementary district with an ADA of 56 students and Two Rock  
            Union Elementary with an ADA of 172 students.  Absent this  
            change in law, these districts would need to hold a special  
            election to fill their board vacancies. The sponsor notes the  
            cost of administering a special election is burdensome for  
            these small school districts (approximately $24,000). 

          Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916) 319-2081