Amended in Senate April 6, 2015

Senate Bill No. 256

Introduced by Senator Berryhill

February 18, 2015

An act to begin delete amend end delete begin insert add end insert Section begin delete 42283 of end delete begin insert 42283.5 to end insert the Education Code, relating to school begin delete finance. end delete begin insert finance, and end insert begin insert declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 256, as amended, Berryhill. School finance: necessary small begin delete schools. end delete begin insert schools: Calaveras Unified School District. end insert

begin delete

Existing

end delete

begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert Existing end insert law, for specified purposes, provides that a necessary small school is an elementary school with an average daily attendance of less than 97, excluding pupils attending the 7th and 8th grades of a junior high school, maintained by a school district to which any of certain conditions apply.

begin delete

This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to that provision.

end delete begin insert

Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools to make computations for each elementary and secondary school district that has fewer than 2,501 units of second principal apportionment average daily attendance and maintains at least one school that meets the criteria for a necessary small school.

end insert begin insert

This bill would deem Rail Road Flat Elementary School to be a necessary small school and make the Calaveras Unified School District eligible to receive apportionments for this school pursuant to its status as a necessary small school. The bill would provide that if the average daily attendance of this school exceeds 96, then the school would no longer be eligible to receive apportionments as a necessary small school.

end insert begin insert

(2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Calaveras Unified School District.

end insert begin insert

(3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

end insert

Vote:  begin delete majority end delete begin insert ²⁄₃ end insert . Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  begin delete no end delete begin insert yes end insert . State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert The Legislature finds and declares that the
Calaveras Unified School District is considered to be a large
unified school district that serves pupils from a wide and varied
geographic area. Within these areas, Rail Road Flat Elementary
School has an average daily attendance of fewer than 97 pupils.
Pupils presently attending Rail Road Flat Elementary School would
have to travel long distances over hazardous terrain in order to
attend other schools within the Calaveras Unified School District. end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 42283.5 is added to the end insert begin insert Education Code end insert begin insert , to
read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 42283.5. end insert   

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, the Rail Road
Flat Elementary School shall be deemed a necessary small school,
as defined in Section 42283. Notwithstanding any other law,
commencing with the 2015-16 fiscal year, the Calaveras Unified
School District shall receive apportionments for the Rail Road
Flat Elementary School pursuant to Section 42282.

(b) If the average daily attendance of the Rail Road Flat
Elementary School exceeds 96, then that school shall no longer
be entitled to receive apportionments as a necessary small school.

end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 3. end insert   

end insert begin insert

The Legislature finds and declares that a special law
is necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable
within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California
Constitution because of the unique circumstances relating to the
Calaveras Unified School District as set forth in Section 1 of this
act.

end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 4. end insert   

end insert begin insert

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

end insert begin insert

In order to make necessary small school apportionments
available to the Calaveras Unified School District prior to the
2015-16 school year, it is necessary that this act take effect
immediately.

end insert

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 42283 of the Education Code is amended
to read:

42283.  

(a) For purposes of Sections 42281 and 42282, a
“necessary small school” is an elementary school with an average
daily attendance of less than 97 pupils, excluding pupils attending
the seventh and eighth grades of a junior high school, maintained
by a school district to which any of the following conditions apply:

(1) If as many as five pupils residing in the school district and
attending kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, excluding
pupils attending the seventh and eighth grades of a junior high
school, in the elementary school with an average daily attendance
of less than 97 pupils would be required to travel more than 10
miles one way from a point on a well-traveled road nearest their
home to the nearest other public elementary school.

(2) If as many as 15 pupils residing in the school district and
attending kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, excluding
pupils attending the seventh and eighth grades of a junior high
school, in the elementary school with an average daily attendance
of less than 97 pupils would be required to travel more than five
miles one way from a point on a well-traveled road nearest their
home to the nearest other public elementary school.

(3) If topographical or other conditions exist in a school district
that would impose unusual hardships if the number of miles
specified in paragraph (1) or (2) were required to be traveled, or
if during the fiscal year the roads that would be traveled have been
impassable for more than an average of two weeks per year for
the preceding five years, the governing board of the school district
may, on or before April 1, request the Superintendent, in writing,
for an exemption from these requirements or for a reduction in the
miles required. The request shall be accompanied by a statement
of the conditions upon which the request is based, giving the
information in a form required by the Superintendent. The
Superintendent shall cause an investigation to be made, and shall
either grant the request to the extent he or she deems necessary,
or deny the request.

(b) For purposes of this section, “other public elementary
school” is a public school, including a charter school, that serves
kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 8, inclusive, excluding grades
7 and 8 of a junior high school.

end delete