BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 786
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 26, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
SB 786
(Allen) - As Amended August 17, 2015
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Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires the California Community College Chancellor's
Office (CCCCO) and the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) to certify, upon request from a Joint Powers Authority
(JPA), the amount of state funds expended by the JPA for adult
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career technical education (CTE) in the 2012-13 fiscal year, for
purposes of determining Adult Education Block Grant Program
funding. Specifically, this bill:
1)Specifies, if the CCCCO and the SPI certify that a JPA
expended 40% or more of the JPA's total state funding in
2012-13 for adult CTE, the JPA is deemed to have expended
state funds for adult education for purposes of determining
their share of Adult Education Block Grant Program funding.
2)Requires the CCCCO and the SPI to apportion funds directly to
the JPA from the Adult Education Block Grant appropriation in
the 2015 Budget Act in an amount equal to the amount certified
for adult CTE.
3)Requires the JPA to be a member of an adult education
consortium as a condition of receipt of funds.
FISCAL EFFECT:
This bill could result in a redirection of up to $38.1 million
(Proposition 98/GF) from the Adult Education Block Grant Program
to support the loss of regional occupation center or program
(ROC/P) funds for any JPA that used at least 40% of their funds
to provide adult CTE. There are approximately 26 JPAs in the
state. It is not clear how many meet the 40% adult CTE spending
requirement in the bill. At least one JPA, the Southern
California Regional Occupational Center (SoCal ROC) appears to
meet these criteria at a cost of approximately $3.4 million.
The 2015-16 Budget Act provides a total of $500 million for the
Adult Education Block Grant Program. Of this amount, the budget
set aside up to $375 million for school districts to maintain
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prior year adult education spending levels. According to the
Department of Finance, $336.9 million of the $500 million has
been certified for this purpose. Existing law specifies the
remaining $38.1 million shall be allocated to each adult
education consortium based on the region's share of statewide
need. Any funds certified for purposes of this bill will reduce
overall funding for adult education consortia.
COMMENTS:
1)Background on JPAs. Existing law authorizes the establishment
of an ROC/P JPA by two or more school districts, with the
consent of the State Board of Education and the county
superintendent of schools. Theses programs provide career
technical education (CTE) to high school students and some
adult students. Current law finds and declares that
vocational training resources provided through ROC/Ps should
be prioritized for pupils enrolled in high school. The
statute also requires that beginning in the 2011-12 fiscal
year, ROC/Ps may not claim more than 10% of the state ADA for
students not enrolled in grades 9 through 12.
The Local Control Funding Formula eliminated approximately 40
categorical programs, including dedicated funding for ROC/Ps.
ROC/P funds were incorporated into the LCFF base grants and
local educational agencies now receive an increase in their
base funding for students in grades 9-12 for career or college
readiness.
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2)Background on Adult Education. Prior to 2008-09, school
districts operating adult schools received dedicated
Proposition 98 categorical funding (approximately $635 million
annually). In 2008-09, in response to the recession, the
Legislature granted categorical flexibility, allowing
districts to use restricted funds for any educational purpose.
In order to protect adult education programs as the state
transitioned to LCFF, the state required maintenance-of-effort
(MOE) to ensure school districts continued to expend the same
amount of funds on adult education as they had in 2012-13
through the 2014-15 fiscal years. Additionally, the budget
provided $25 million for the development of regional consortia
comprised of CCCs and K-12 school districts to determine how
best to serve adult students within regions throughout the
state.
3)Purpose. This bill seeks to provide at least one JPA, SoCal
ROC, with adult education maintenance of effort (MOE) funds
from the Adult Education Block Grant to supplement their loss
of regional occupation center or program (ROC/P) categorical
program funds. According to the author, SoCal ROC provides CTE
to more than 2,400 adults from more than 60 cities throughout
Los Angeles and Orange counties. ROC/P funds passed-through
from Torrance Unified School District were the primary source
of funding for these adult students.
Under LCFF, Torrance is no longer required to pass these funds
through since they have been incorporated into their LCFF base
grant. As a result, SoCal ROC lost approximately $3.4 million
in ROC/P funding. The author is seeking to supplement this
loss with adult education MOE funding. SoCal ROC is in a
unique position because they chose to use a significant
portion of their ROC/P funding to support a large number of
adult students from outside their member JPA's jurisdictions.
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They argue they should be able to access funding set aside to
maintain services for adults.
4)Current law options for funding. The 2015 budget package
authorized JPAs to be members of the consortia, and as members
of the consortia, the consortia may provide resources in the
Adult Education Block Grant Program, however, the amount
provided to the JPA is determined by the consortia.
Alternatively, local educational agencies who are members of
JPAs may pass through Adult Education Block Grant Program
funding at their local discretion to JPAs that provide adult
education on their behalf.
5)Prior related legislation. AB 2216 (Muratsuchi), would have
extended by two years the MOE requirement for school districts
to spend at least as much on ROC/Ps as they did in the 2012-13
from 2014-15 to 2016-17. The bill was held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee suspense file in 2014.
Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081