BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 527
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Author: |Liu |
|-----------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|Version: |August 15, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: August 26, 2016 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: | Yes |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Consultant:|Lynn Lorber |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Education finance: Safe Neighborhoods and Schools
Fund: Learning Communities for School Success Program
NOTE: This bill was amended in the Assembly to replace its
contents and this is the first time the bill is being
heard by this Committee in its current form.
SUMMARY
This bill establishes a grant program, to be administered by the
California Department of Education (CDE) that furthers the
purpose of Proposition 47 in reducing truancy and supporting
students who are at risk of dropping out of school or who are
victims of crime.
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1) Establishes the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, through
passage of Proposition 47 in November 2014, which reduces
the penalties for certain non-violent, non-serious drug and
property crimes. Existing law requires 25% of the
resulting savings to be deposited in the Safe Neighborhoods
and Schools Fund to fund a grant program administered by
the CDE to reduce truancy and support students who are at
risk of dropping out of school or who are victims of crime.
(Government Code § 7599, et seq.)
SB 527 (Liu) Page 2
of ?
2) Requires local educational agencies to adopt and annually
update a local control and accountability plan (LCAP),
which must include a description of annual goals to meet
the state priorities, and any additional local priorities,
for all students and each numerically significant subgroup
and a description of the specific actions to achieve the
goals identified in the LCAP.
(Education Code § 52060 and § 52066)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Establishes the Learning Communities for School Success
Program to implement the K-12 education portion of the Safe
Neighborhoods and Schools Act (Proposition 47).
2) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to
administer a grant program and coordinate assistance to
local educational agencies (LEAs) in identifying and
implementing evidence-based, non-punitive programs and
practices that are aligned with the goals for students
contained in each LEA's local control and accountability
plan (LCAP).
Application
3) Requires a LEA that chooses to apply for funding to
submit an application to the CDE, in a format and by a date
determined by the CDE. This bill requires the application
to include, at a minimum, all of the following:
a) Information about the student and school needs
within the LEA.
b) The activities the LEA will undertake with the
grant funding.
c) How the activities support the LEA's goals for
students contained in its LCAP.
d) How the LEA will measure outcomes associated
with the proposed activities and metrics reported in
the LEA's LCAP.
SB 527 (Liu) Page 3
of ?
4) Requires the CDE to issue application guidelines that
include, at a minimum, information about the CDE's plans
for overall evaluation of the program considering the
objectives in #13. This bill requires the CDE, in
consultation with the executive director of the State Board
of Education, for purposes of facilitating program
evaluation, to identify a set of measures and associated
data sources that are deemed valid and reliable for
measuring student and school outcomes and assessing the
benefits of the program.
5) Requires CDE to consult with stakeholders, including but
not limited to, representatives of LEAs, teachers and other
school personnel, parents, advocacy organizations with
experience working with target vulnerable populations, and
parent- and youth-serving community-based organizations.
This bill states legislative intent that stakeholders
provide input to the CDE on the design of the application
and review process, including the size of the grant awards,
but not in determining who will be awarded grants.
Grant awards
6) Requires the CDE to determine eligibility for grants and
the distribution of grant funding based on all of the
following factors:
a) Student and school needs the LEA will address
with the grant funds.
b) Number of students to be served with the grant
funds.
c) Number, size, and type of participating
schools within the LEA.
d) Any challenges the local educational agency
(LEA) experiences in building capacity for fulfilling
the purposes of this bill.
e) The unique characteristics of small school
districts, given their challenges with economies of
scale and access to services in rural locations.
SB 527 (Liu) Page 4
of ?
7) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE),
before the initial application deadline, to conduct
targeted outreach to LEAs that are likely to be given
priority for funding and offer the LEAs technical
assistance as they develop their grant applications. This
bill authorizes the CDE to provide technical assistance
with application development, which may include assistance
from external entities the CDE may contract with to provide
training and technical assistance.
8) Provides that an application is to be for three years of
funding and authorizes the CDE to establish requirements
for grantees to meet at the end of the first and second
years of funding in order to receive funding for the
remaining grant period.
Use of grant funds
9) Requires a LEA that receives a grant to use the grant
funds for planning, implementation, and evaluation of
activities in support of evidence-based, non-punitive
programs and practices to keep the state's most vulnerable
students in school. This bill requires these activities to
complement or enhance the actions and services identified
to meet the LEA's goals as identified in its LCAP. This
bill authorizes these activities to include but not be
limited to, all of the following:
a) Establishing a community school, as defined.
b) Implementing activities or programs to improve
attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism, including
but not limited to, early warning systems or early
intervention programs.
c) Implementing restorative practices,
restorative justice models, or other programs to
improve retention rates, reduce suspensions and other
school removals, and reduce the referral of students
to law enforcement agencies.
d) Implementing activities that advance
social-emotional learning, positive behavior
SB 527 (Liu) Page 5
of ?
interventions and supports, culturally responsive
practices, and trauma-informed strategies.
e) Establishing partnerships with community-based
organizations or other relevant entities to support
the implementation of evidence-based, non-punitive
approaches to further the goals of the program.
f) Adding or increasing staff within a LEA whose
primary purpose is to address ongoing chronic
attendance problems, including but not limited to,
conducting outreach to families and children
currently, or at risk of becoming, chronically truant.
Priority for funding
10) Authorizes the California Department of Education (CDE),
in selecting grant recipients, to give priority to a local
educational agency (LEA) that meets any of the following
criteria:
a) Has a high rate of chronic absenteeism,
out-of-school suspension, or school dropout for the
general student population or for a numerically
significant student subgroup, as identified in the
local control and accountability plan (LCAP). This
bill defines "high rate" as a rate that exceeds the
state average.
b) Is located in a community with a high crime
rate.
c) Has a significant representation of foster
youth among its student enrollment.
Other requirements
11) Requires a LEA that receives a grant to comply with the
following:
a) Provide a local contribution of matching
expenditures equal to at least 20% of the total grant
award. This bill authorizes the local contribution to
be from cash expenditures or in-kind contributions,
SB 527 (Liu) Page 6
of ?
and encourages a LEA to exceed the 20% match
requirement to enable the LEA to sustain the
activities or programs beyond the three-year grant
period.
b) Use the grant funds to increase or improve
services that the LEA currently provides for purposes
specified in this bill.
c) Not use grant funds to pay for law enforcement
activities, including personnel or equipment.
Training and technical assistance
12) Requires CDE to establish a structure to deliver
training and technical assistance to grantees using
regional workshops and technical assistance providers that
have expertise on student engagement, school climate,
truancy reduction, and supporting students who are at risk
of dropping out of school or who are victims of crime.
This bill authorizes CDE to contract with those providers
to assist the grantees as well as to serve as a resource
for other LEAs that may use their own funding sources to
engage in this community of practice. This bill requires
technical assistance provided pursuant to this bill to be
consistent with the technical assistance provided to a LEA
by the county superintendent of schools or the
Superintendent of Public Instruction in the development of
the LCAP.
Evaluation and report
13) Requires a local educational agency (LEA) that receives
grant funding to evaluate and report to the governing board
of the school district, the county board of education, or
its chartering authority, and the California Department of
Education (CDE) the results of the activities it undertakes
with the grant funds. This bill requires CDE to compile
information from grantee reports as part of an overall
evaluation of the grant program implementation, assess the
benefits of participation in the program, and identify the
student and school outcomes associated with the strategies
and programs implemented by grantees. This bill requires
SB 527 (Liu) Page 7
of ?
CDE to submit an interim report of preliminary evaluation
findings to the Legislature by January 31, 2019, and a
final evaluation report to the Legislature by January 31,
2020.
Miscellaneous
14) Authorizes 5% of the funds to be used for the
administrative costs of implementing this bill, including
but not limited to, administering grant awards,
coordinating the training and technical assistance
structure, and completing the evaluation.
15) Establishes the following definitions:
a) "Community school" means a public school that
participates in a community-based effort to coordinate
and integrate educational, developmental, family,
health, and other comprehensive services through
community-based organizations and public and private
partnerships with one or more community partners for
the delivery of community services that may be
provided at a school site to students, families, and
community members.
b) "Local educational agency" means a school
district, county office of education, or charter
school.
16) Prohibits the provisions of this bill from becoming
operative unless funds are appropriated in the annual
Budget Act or another statute to the Safe Neighborhoods and
Schools Fund in accordance with the Safe Neighborhoods and
Schools Act for the purposes specified in this bill.
17) Provides that this bill is contingent upon the passage
of AB 1014 (Thurmond).
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. In November 2014, voters approved
Proposition 47, establishing the Safe Neighborhoods and
Schools Act. The Proposition reduced penalties for
specified non-violent drug and property crimes, resulting
SB 527 (Liu) Page 8
of ?
in a reduced prison population and thereby reduced state
costs. The Proposition requires the Department of Finance
to, on or before July 31st of each fiscal year, beginning
with July 31, 2016, to calculate the savings derived by the
Proposition during the preceding fiscal year. The savings
are required to be allocated for specified purposes,
including 25% to the California Department of Education
(CDE) to administer a grant program to public agencies
aimed at improving outcomes for public school students in
kindergarten through grade 12 by reducing truancy and
supporting students who are at risk of dropping out of
school or are victims of crime. Proposition 47 provided no
guidance for the structure or details of the grant program.
This bill provides those details.
2) Assembly amendments. This bill, when it left the Senate,
related to the implementation of a grant program relative
to the education portion of Proposition 47. This bill was
substantively amended in the Assembly to recast the
provisions of the Proposition 47 grant program. SB 527 now
reflects the framework agreed upon by both Houses of the
Legislature, in collaboration with the CDE, Department of
Justice, Department of Finance, and stakeholders. This
bill implements the framework, along with AB 1014
(Thurmond), which is identical to this bill. While this
Committee does not typically pass two bills on the same
topic, these bills represent an agreement between both
Houses and enactment of both bills is contingent upon the
passage of both bills.
3) Fiscal impact. According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
a) The 2016-17 Budget provides a total of $27.9 for
the purposes of this bill. Specifically, the budget
includes $9.9 million in Proposition 47 savings and an
additional $18 million in one-time Proposition 98
funds to implement the K-12 grant program required
under Proposition 47, pursuant to legislation.
b) Administrative costs to the CDE in the range of
$400,000 to $800,000 to administer grants, provide
technical assistance, and collect and analyze data.
This bill, consistent with the Safe Neighborhoods and
SB 527 (Liu) Page 9
of ?
Schools Act, allows the CDE to use no more than 5% of
the funding the department receives from the Act for
administrative costs.
SUPPORT
Advancement Project
OPPOSITION
None received.
-- END --