BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 331 (Levine) - School district governing boards: reduction of
membership.
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|Version: April 7, 2015 |Policy Vote: ED. 8 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: June 22, 2015 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill authorizes a county committee on school
district organization (county committee) to decrease the
membership of a school district's governing board from five to
three if the school district's average daily attendance (ADA) in
the preceding year was less than 300.
Fiscal
Impact:
Potential, likely minor, reimbursable state mandated costs for
county committees to review proposals to decrease the size of
a school district governing board if the Commission on State
Mandates determines this bill imposes a higher level of
service.
Background: County committees on school district organization are the
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local initiator, coordinator, analyst, facilitator, and
arbitrator for the reorganization of school districts. They
have other responsibilities, including changing the number of
members of a school district or community college district
governing board. In some counties, the county board of
education acts as the county committee. Otherwise, the county
committee is a separate body from the county board of education.
Current law authorizes a county committee to increase from five
to seven, and decrease board membership from seven to five. The
county committee can also increase a board from three to five
members when ADA increases. Existing law does not allow for the
county committee to reduce a five member board if ADA declines.
Current law requires any elementary school district with a
governing board of three members and whose ADA during the
preceding fiscal year was at or above 300 to either (1) by its
own action, determine that the number of members of the
governing board be increased to five, in which case two
additional members are to be elected, or (2) request the county
superintendent of schools to order an election to determine
whether the governing board shall be increased to five.
Current law provides that a proposal to change the membership of
a school district or community college district governing board
may be initiated by: (1) the county committee; (2) a petition
signed by a specified number of qualified registered voters
residing in the district; or (3) a resolution of the governing
board of the district. When a proposal is made, the county
committee is required to conduct at least one hearing in the
district on the matter and to approve or disapprove the proposal
at the conclusion of the hearing.
Current law requires that the resolution of the county committee
approving a proposal to increase or decrease the number of
members of the governing board, or a petition is filed
containing at least 10 percent of the district's signatures,
constitutes an order of election, and the proposal must be
placed on the ballot no later than the next election, as
specified.
Proposed Law:
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This bill allows a county committee on school district
organization to decrease number of members of the governing
board from five to three if a school district's ADA during the
preceding year was less than 300, or adopt one of the
alternative methods of electing governing board members as
prescribed in existing law.
Staff
Comments: This bill authorizes a county committee on school
district organization to decrease the membership of certain
school districts' governing boards. This bill subjects the
expanded authority to the process that is established in current
law for increasing the number of governing board members from
five to seven and decreasing it from seven to five.
Though this bill authorizes a county committee to decrease
governing boards of certain school districts from five to three,
according to the process outlined in existing law, once such a
proposal is made to the county committee, in its review, the
county committee must hold at least one hearing on the matter.
Depending on whether the Commission on State Mandates determines
these activities to constitute a higher level of service derived
from the expanded authority, the activities may be interpreted
to be a mandate and therefore may be reimbursable.
According to the State Department of Education, there are about
200 districts with less than 300 ADA. Information regarding the
size of the governing boards of these school districts is
unknown. However, according to the department, there are a
handful of small districts known to experience difficulty in
maintaining a full board.
Though existing law does not specifically authorize the county
committee to reduce a five member board if ADA declines,
according to the department, school districts have the option to
submit a waiver to the State Board of Education to reduce their
governing boards. However, there have not been any known
requests for waivers that have been submitted to date. It is
anticipated that not a large number of school districts will
access the process provided in this bill, and to the extent they
do, it is not expected to drive significant costs to the state.
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