BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 497 (Vidak) - Pupil transportation: data
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|Version: April 8, 2015 |Policy Vote: ED. 8 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 18, 2015 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill would require the California Department of
Education (CDE) to collect and post online pupil transportation
data.
Fiscal
Impact:
Administrative costs: The CDE estimates initial start-up costs
to develop the web application to collect data and
communications from LEAs to be $50,000 to $70,000. Ongoing
maintenance of the application and field support costs are
estimated to be $15,000 to $25,000 depending on how many LEAs
respond to the CDE's request. (General Fund)
Cost pressure: Because it is discretionary, there is a cost
pressure for LEAs to report this information to the CDE
without any additional funding.
SB 497 (Vidak) Page 1 of
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Background: Current law authorizes school districts and county offices of
education to provide transportation services to regular
education students attending their schools at the discretion of
their governing board. Additionally, current law requires
school districts to provide transportation services for special
education students whose individualized education programs
require such services. (Education Code § 39800 and § 41850 et.
seq.)
Federal law requires local educational agencies (LEAs) to
transport the following three groups of students: students with
disabilities; students attending federally sanctioned schools;
and homeless students.
In 2013, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was enacted,
which replaced almost all sources of state funding, including
revenue limits and most of the categorical programs. The LCFF
establishes a per-pupil funding target that is adjusted for
differences in grade level, but otherwise is uniform across the
state. The LCFF also provides supplemental funding for
districts that serve students who are low-income, English
language learners, or foster youth. However, one categorical
program not rolled into the LCFF was the Home-to-School
Transportation (HTST) program. This program retained its
separate funding stream; such that any district that received
HTST funding in 2012-13 continues to receive that same amount of
funding in addition to its LCFF allocation each year. However,
the HTST, unlike in prior years, would not be eligible for
future cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). Further, state law
continues to require that districts spend HTST funding on pupil
transportation.
The 2014 Budget Act provides approximately $496 million in
Proposition 98 General Fund for the Home-to-School
Transportation (HTST) program, which includes both allocations
for home-to-school transportation and allocations for some
pupils with disabilities, specifically "severely disabled and
orthopedically impaired" pupils.
In 2013, the LAO was requested to consider new approaches that
could address historical inequities and include incentives for
efficient and effective pupil transportation services. The
report was issued February 2014 and included a description and
assessment of three options: (1) funding pupil transportation
SB 497 (Vidak) Page 2 of
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services within the new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF);
(2) creating a new, targeted program to help districts facing
extraordinarily high transportation costs; and (3) creating a
broad-based program whereby the state pays a share of each
district's transportation costs.
The author's office indicates that agencies, including the CDE,
the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), and
LEAs need the information required by this measure for
administrative purposes, including the ability to compare their
efficiency levels with other LEAs.
Proposed Law:
This bill requires the CDE, beginning with data for the 2014-15
fiscal year and annually thereafter, to request student
transportation data from each school district, charter school,
county office of education, joint powers authority, and regional
occupational center or program that provides student
transportation. The bill provides that it is voluntary for
these entities to provide the requested information to the
department.
This bill requires the data requested to include at least,
totals from each entity for all of the following:
1. Revenue received for transportation purposes;
2. Number of buses;
3. Ridership of all students;
4. Ridership of students with an individualized education
program;
5. Ridership of students who are eligible for free or
reduced-price meals;
6. Number of miles driven;
7. Approved costs;
8. Cost per mile; and
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9. Cost per student.
This bill requires the CDE to annually post the data received on
its website, along with the statewide average cost per mile and
the statewide average cost per student, and to separate data
between home-to-school transportation and special education
transportation, as specified.
Related
Legislation:
SB 191 (Block) would provide for school districts to be funded
at a minimum of 50 percent of approved transportation costs by
the 2021-22 fiscal year, thereby providing equalization funding
for school districts that are reimbursed at less than 50
percent. SB 191 has been placed on this committee's suspense
file.
SB 1137 (Torres, 2014), nearly identical to SB 191, would have
provided for school districts to be funded at a minimum of 50
percent of approved transportation costs by the 2020-21 fiscal
year. SB 1137 passed this Committee on April 9, 2014 but failed
passage in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SB 1166 (Vidak, 2014) would have required school districts to
receive state reimbursement for the full cost of home-to-school
transportation of pupils through an appropriation in the annual
Budget Act. SB 1166 failed passage in the Senate Education
Committee.
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