BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 331| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 331 Author: Levine (D) Amended: 4/7/15 in Assembly Vote: 21 SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 8-0, 6/10/15 AYES: Liu, Runner, Block, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Vidak NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 6-0, 6/22/15 AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza NO VOTE RECORDED: Nielsen ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/30/15 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT: School district governing boards: reduction of membership SOURCE: Sonoma County Office of Education DIGEST: This bill authorizes a county committee on school district organization to decrease the membership of a school district's governing board from five to three if the district's average daily attendance (ADA) during the preceding year was less than 300. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Requires any elementary school district having a governing AB 331 Page 2 board of three members and whose ADA for the preceding fiscal year was 300 or more do one of the following: a) By its own action determine that the number of members of its governing board shall be increased to five, in which case two additional members shall be elected at an upcoming established election date; or b) Request the county superintendent of schools to submit the question of whether the board should be increased to five members to the voters of the district at an upcoming established election date. 2)Provides that a proposal to change the membership of a school district or community college district governing board may be initiated by the county committee on school district organization or made to the committee by a petition signed by a specified number of qualified registered voters residing in the district. 3)Requires the county committee on school district organization to call and conduct at least one hearing in the district on a proposal to change the membership of the district's governing board and to approve or disapprove the proposal at the conclusion of the hearing. This bill: 1)Authorizes the county committee on school district organization to reduce the members of a school district from five to three, if the district's ADA during the preceding year was less than 300, or adopt one of the alternative methods of electing governing board members in accordance with procedural requirements in existing law. 2)Makes other nonsubstantive changes. Comments Need for the bill. According to the author's office, the ability for board membership to expand or contract in proportion to enrollment becomes increasingly important in rural and very small districts, which may have a difficult time finding five community members able to serve on the board. Compounding the AB 331 Page 3 problem of recruiting board members, existing law requires an election to be held for vacant seats if no one is appointed. The author's office maintains that the cost of an election is burdensome and sometimes prohibitive for a very small school district. County committees on school district organization. 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 while the remaining are independent of the board, although workload often falls to county board staff. A county committee on school district organization is authorized to increase and decrease a school district's board membership from five to seven and from seven to five. The county committee can also increase a board from three to five members when ADA increases. However, state law does not allow for the county committee to reduce a five member board if ADA declines. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: Yes According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, 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. SUPPORT: (Verified6/23/15) Sonoma County Office of Education (source) Santa Clara County Office of Education AB 331 Page 4 School Employers Association of California OPPOSITION: (Verified6/23/15) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/30/15 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Campos, Chávez, Gomez Prepared by:Lenin Del Castillo / ED. / (916) 651-4105 6/23/15 10:40:49 **** END ****