BILL NUMBER: AB 2663	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Cooper
   (Principal coauthors: Senators Hancock and Vidak)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Chiu, Daly, and Salas)
   (Coauthor: Senator Nguyen)

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2016

   An act to add Section 8483.73 to the Education Code, relating to
after school programs, and making an appropriation therefor.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2663, as introduced, Cooper. After school programs: grant
amounts.
   Existing law, the After School Education and Safety Program Act of
2002, enacted by initiative statute, establishes the After School
Education and Safety Program to serve pupils in kindergarten and
grades 1 to 9, inclusive, at participating public elementary, middle,
junior high, and charter schools. The existing act provides that
each school establishing a program pursuant to the act is eligible to
receive a renewable 3-year grant for before or after school
programs, as provided, and a grant for operating a program beyond 180
regular schooldays or during summer, weekend, intersession, or
vacation periods, as provided, and specifies the maximum grant amount
and related amounts for each of these grants. The existing act
provides a formula for determining an amount to be continuously
appropriated from the General Fund to the State Department of
Education for purposes of the program and authorizes the Legislature
to appropriate additional funds for purposes of the program.
   For the 2016-17 fiscal year, and for each fiscal year thereafter,
this bill would continously appropriate $73,260,000 more to the State
Department of Education for purposes of the program. The bill would,
commencing with the 2017-18 fiscal year, require the Department of
Finance to annually adjust that amount using a specified calculation,
provided that adjustment does not result in a reduction. The bill
would, also commencing with the 2017-18 fiscal year, require the
State Department of Education to annually adjust the maximum grant
amounts and those related amounts to reflect the percentage change in
the California Consumer Price Index, provided that adjustment does
not result in a reduction. The bill also would provide that funds
appropriated by the bill would be applied toward the minimum funding
requirements for school districts and community college districts
imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) The After School Education and Safety Program (ASES) serves
more than 400,000 low-income pupils in over 4,000 high-quality
elementary and middle school programs statewide.
   (2) After school programs are essential to closing the achievement
and opportunity gaps for underserved pupils.
   (3) ASES programs receive a daily rate of $7.50 per pupil for
three or more hours each day of academic and enrichment activities, a
rate that experts say is woefully inadequate to run a high-quality
program.
   (4) The daily rate has not been changed since 2006, despite a
decade of substantial increases to the costs of operating these
programs.
   (5) The most significant program cost increases were the two
statutory minimum wage increases, the first on July 1, 2014, and the
second on January 1, 2016.
   (6) As costs significantly outpace funding, ASES programs have
been stretched to the breaking point.
   (7) The ASES daily rate must be increased by fifty cents for each
one dollar increase to the minimum wage. The minimum wage increase in
effect as of January 1, 2016, would translate to an increase in the
daily rate from $7.50 to $8.50, a 13.33 percent increase.
   (b) It is therefore the intent of the Legislature to augment the
ASES budget in an amount sufficient to match the increased costs of
the current minimum wage.
   (c) It is further the intent of the Legislature to ensure the
continuation and stability of high-quality ASES programs by adopting
a statute that requires the Department of Finance to provide a
cost-of-living adjustment to ASES programs in any year in which there
is an increase in the consumer price index.
  SEC. 2.  Section 8483.73 is added to the Education Code, to read:
   8483.73.  (a) For the 2016-17 fiscal year, and for each fiscal
year thereafter, seventy-three million two hundred sixty thousand
dollars ($73,260,000) is hereby continuously appropriated from the
General Fund to the department for purposes of the program
established pursuant to this article. Commencing with the 2017-18
fiscal year, and each fiscal year thereafter, the Department of
Finance shall adjust this amount by adding the product of six hundred
twenty-three million two hundred sixty thousand dollars
($623,260,000) multiplied by the percentage change in the California
Consumer Price Index from the 2016-17 fiscal year, provided that
adjustment does not result in a reduction in any fiscal year.
   (b) Commencing with the 2017-18 fiscal year, and each fiscal year
thereafter, the department shall annually adjust the dollar amounts
specified in Sections 8482.55, 8483.7, 8483.75, and 8483.76 by an
amount necessary to reflect the percentage change in the California
Consumer Price Index from the 2016-17 fiscal year, provided that
adjustment does not result in a reduction in any fiscal year.
   (c) For purposes of making the computations required by Section 8
of Article XVI of the California Constitution, the appropriations
made by subdivision (a) shall be deemed to be "General Fund revenues
appropriated for school districts," as defined in subdivision (c) of
Section 41202, for the fiscal year in which they were appropriated,
and included within the "total allocations to school districts and
community college districts from General Fund proceeds of taxes
appropriated pursuant to Article XIII B," as defined in subdivision
(e) of Section 41202, for the fiscal year in which they were
appropriated.