BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 331 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 22, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 331 (Levine) - As Amended April 7, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Education |Vote:|6 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Page 2 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 Page 3 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