BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 597
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Author: |Huff |
|-----------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|Version: |February 27, 2015 Hearing Date: |
| | April 8, 2015 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Consultant:|Olgalilia Ramirez |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Pupil attendance: interdistrict transfers
SUMMARY
This bill extends, for one year, the sunset and repeal dates of
statute that allows the governing board of a school district to
permit the enrollment of pupils who reside in another district
by declaring to be a District of Choice (DOC).
BACKGROUND
Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school board to
declare themselves a DOC willing to accept a specified number of
inter-district transfers. A DOC is required to select pupils
through a random and unbiased process that prohibits enrollment
based upon academic or athletic talent. Priority is given to
siblings of children already in attendance in the DOC and
children of military personnel. As a condition of participating
in the program, either the district of residence or DOC may
prevent a transfer if the transfer would exacerbate racial
segregation.
(Education Code § 48300 et. seq.)
Existing law also requires each DOC to keep records of: 1) The
number of requests granted, denied, or withdrawn as well as the
reasons for the denials; 2) The number of pupils transferred out
of the district, as specified; and 3) The number of pupils
transferred into the district, as specified. DOCs are required
to annually report this information to neighboring school
districts, their county office of education, the Superintendent
SB 597 (Huff) Page 2
of ?
of Public Instruction (SPI) and Department of Finance, as
specified. The Department of Finance is required to make the
information available to the Legislative Analyst. The
Legislative Analyst is required to conduct a comprehensive
evaluation of the DOC program, as specified, and submit the
evaluation, along with recommendations, to the appropriate
legislative education policy committees, and the Governor by
November 1, 2014. This section is scheduled to sunset July 1,
2016.
(EC § 48300 et. seq.)
ANALYSIS
This bill extends the inoperative date from July 1, 2016 to July
1, 2017 and the repeal date from January 1, 2017 to January 1,
2018 for which the governing board of a school district is
permitted to enroll students who reside in another district by
declaring themselves a School District of Choice.
STAFF COMMENTS
1. Need for the bill. The District of Choice (DOC) program,
established in 1993, is scheduled to sunset July 1, 2016.
According to the author, many school districts enroll a
significant number of students from outside of their
district boundaries through the DOC program. As result,
ending the program could cause a decline in enrollment for
several small school districts.
2. Data collection and program evaluation. Delays in the data
collection process have stalled the DOC program evaluation
along with recommendations for its extension. In addition
to the records mentioned in the background, existing law
requires the evaluation to incorporate the following
information; the number and characteristics of pupils who
use the school district of choice option, the enrollment of
school districts of residence and school districts of
choice and the fiscal health of school districts of
residence and school districts of choice, as specified. The
statute required the evaluation to be completed and
submitted by November 1, 2014. The Department of Education,
in March 2015, disseminated a letter to all school
SB 597 (Huff) Page 3
of ?
districts requesting DOC's to self-identify and provide
data required by existing law.
It seems reasonable to extend the program until the
evaluation is complete and a recommendation is provided by
LAO. For the purposes of ensuring, the evaluation is
submitted within a reasonable time frame, Staff recommends
updating the completion and submission date from November
1, 2014 to November 1, 2015 per Section 48316 of the
Education Code.
3. Prior legislation.
SB 680 (Romero and Huff, 2009) extended the inoperative and
repeal dates for which school districts are permitted to
enroll pupils who reside in another school district by
declaring to be a "school district of choice," and repealed
the prohibition on new districts electing to become a DOC.
AB 1407 (Huffman, 2009) would have extended the sunset and
repeal dates for the DOC programs for 5 years and required
a census report on DOC by California Department of
Education by November 2010. The bill was held on the
Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file.
AB 270 (Huff, 2007) would have extended the authority for
DOC inter-district transfers from July 1, 2007 to July 1,
2009, prohibited additional districts from becoming DOCs,
and required school districts (electing to accept
transfers) to maintain records on the number of requests it
receives and annually report the number of requests it
receives to the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The
language of this bill was incorporated into SB 80 (Budget
Bill, 2007).
AB 97 (Nation, 2004) extended the sunset date for one year
for the DOC authorization and required the SPI to continue
the calculation for the Special Disabilities Adjustment
using the current incidence multiplier to allow special
education local plan areas to continue to receive funds
provided through 2003-04 until a new multiplier is
calculated.
AB 19 (Quackenbush, 1993) established school DOC and
SB 597 (Huff) Page 4
of ?
allowed the governing board of any school district to
declare the district to be a DOC willing to accept a
specified number of inter-district transfers.
SUPPORT
Alexander Valley Union School District
Glendora Unified School District
Inyo County Superintendent of Schools
Mendocino Unified School District
Riverside Unified School District
Round Valley Joint Elementary School
Round Valley Parent Teacher Organization
Round Valley School Step Foundation
San Rafael City Schools
Vista Del Mar Union School District
Walnut Valley Unified School District
OPPOSITION
None received.
-- END --