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