BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 946 (Leyva) - Pupil attendance: service on precinct board
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|Version: February 3, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 8 - 1 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: April 11, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill allows a school district, under certain
conditions, to deem a student participating in independent study
if the student serves as a member of a precinct board for an
election. It also allows a school district to include these
absences in the computation of average daily attendance (ADA)
for which it generates state apportionment funds.
Fiscal
Impact: Unknown, but potentially significant costs in the high
hundreds of thousands associated with increased ADA funding.
Costs would depend upon the extent to which students who
volunteer at polls decide to complete assignments as required by
this bill in order to have their absence from school treated as
"independent study" instead of simply an excused absence. This
distinction allows school districts to generate associated ADA
funding for these absences. (Proposition 98)
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Background: State aid to school districts for general purposes is driven
by the ADA of students in a school district. ADA is generated
by students actually attending classes under the immediate
supervision of a properly credentialed teacher. (Education Code
§ 46300, et seq.)
Existing law:
Specifies that excused absences, which include absences
due to students serving as a member of a precinct board for
an election, shall not generate state apportionment
payment. Current law does allow the student to make up any
missed classroom assignments or tests during the absence.
(Education Code § 48205)
Requires that the attendance of students participating
in independent study be included in the calculation of ADA
only if those students participate for five or more
consecutive schooldays. (Education Code § 46300)
Establishes that the persons appointed to serve as
election officers for each precinct at any election shall
constitute that precinct's board (Elections Code Section
12301).
Authorizes an elections official to appoint up to five
students per precinct, subject to the approval of the
governing board of the local educational agency in which
the student is enrolled if the student meets certain
qualifications. (Elections Code Section 12302)
Proposed Law:
This bill allows a school district to deem a student serving
as a member of a precinct board for an election as a participant
in independent study if the student: (1) completes all
assignments and tests missed during the absence, and (2)
completes a report or written assignment on the subject of the
activities he or she engaged in while serving as a member of a
precinct board for an election.
This bill further exempts students serving as a member of a
precinct board for an election from the requirement that he or
SB 946 (Leyva) Page 2 of
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she participate in that activity for five or more consecutive
schooldays for purposes of computing ADA for students in
independent study. This allows a school district to generate
state apportionment funds for these absences.
Related
Legislation: This bill is similar to several past bills. AB
2684 (Stone, 2014) failed passage in this committee. AB 1320
(Carter, 2007) failed passage in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee. AB 466 (Hancock, 2007), SB 1193 (Bowen, 2006), and
AB 1944 (Hancock, 2004) were vetoed by the Governor at that
time. The Governor's veto messages were substantially similar,
stating that these volunteer activities should be in addition
to, and not in place of, classroom time.
Staff
Comments: Existing law specifies that an absence due to a
student working at polls on Election Day is considered an
"excused absence" and therefore not counted towards a student
becoming a truant. However, the law specifically prohibits
excused absences from generating ADA funding. This bill would
allow a school to claim ADA for precinct board participation,
but only if it is treated as independent study.
Ultimately the costs of this bill are unknown. The number of
students that volunteer at polls during an election is unknown,
and it is unclear how many of them will inform schools ahead of
time that they will be absent and will enter into independent
study agreements for each student as required by current law.
Under the state's education funding formula enacted in 2013-14,
school districts receive most of their funding based on ADA in
four grade spans. The current base rate for grade span nine
through 12 is $8,800 per ADA assuming full implementation of the
formula. Assuming each day of attendance is currently worth $50
and one high school student volunteering at each polling
precinct (assuming 14,216 precincts as was the case for the
November 2014 election) the costs related to ADA funding would
be about $711,000. It should be noted that the ratio of
volunteer students to precincts is not typically one to one.
Additional costs would be incurred to the extent there was a
year with a special election that occurred during the school
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year. Costs would also increase to the extent these students
were classified as English learner, low-income, or foster youth,
as they generate more state apportionment funding based on the
state's funding formula.
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