BILL ANALYSIS
SB 727
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 727 (Rosenthal)
As Amended August 25, 1997
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE : Vote not relevant
BUDGET
(withdrawn)
SUMMARY : Changes the funding basis for school districts and
county offices of education from actual attendance plus excused
absences to actual attendance, but holds districts and counties
harmless from any losses due to this change. Specifically, this
bill :
1) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to make
a one-time adjustment to the revenue limits of school districts
and county offices of education, to take effect beginning in
the fiscal year 1998-99. The adjustment is based on 1996-97
attendance levels and revenue limits and essentially rolls the
amount that districts and counties received in apportionments
from excused absences in that year into their revenue limits,
creating new base revenue limits. The revenue limit
adjustments do not go into effect until 1998-99.
2) Allows the SPI to make compensating adjustments to a new
revenue limit if a county office or district can demonstrate
that the amount of excused absences it had in 1996-97 was
extraordinarily low due to circumstances beyond its control.
3) Changes the definition of excused absences so that districts
may no longer claim them as days of attendance for
apportionment purposes, as of July 1, 1998. (Does not change
the excuses for missing school which qualify as "excused," but
only eliminates the reimbursement characteristic.)
4) Requires districts and counties to report to the SPI, by
September 1, 1997, the portion of attendance reported for
1996-97 that consisted of excused absences. Makes this
requirement a condition of apportionment.
5) Provides for a transition year in 1997-98 for the purposes of
calculating the enrollment growth rate for the Proposition 98
guarantee. Districts and county office attendance would be
calculated both with and without apportionable excused
absences. The 1997-98 attendance calculated with excused
absences would be compared to 1996-97 attendance in determining
the growth rate for Proposition 98 in 1997-98. The 1997-98
SB 727
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attendance calculated without excused absences would be
compared to the 1998-99 attendance in determining the growth
rate for Proposition 98 in 1998-99.
6) Eliminates the current incentive program, which is designed to
decrease the number of excused absences. (See existing law,
below.)
EXISTING LAW :
1) Provides funding ("apportionments") to school districts and
county offices of education based on average daily attendance
(ADA) in the schools operated by the districts and county
offices.
2) Allows districts to claim excused absences as days of
attendance for apportionment purposes. Defines an excused
absence as stemming from any of the following reasons: a)
illness; b) quarantine; c) acquiring medical or dental
services; d) attending a funeral service of a member of the
immediate family; e) compliance with jury duty; and f)
exclusion from school due to lack of immunization (up to five
days).
3) Authorizes a voluntary incentive program, which allows
districts to request to be funded on the basis of actual
attendance plus the lesser of: a) the prior year's excused
absences as a percentage of actual attendance; or b) the
statewide average of excused absences as a percentage of actual
attendance.
FISCAL EFFECT : The Assembly Appropriations Committee analysis
estimates the cost of this bill as follows:
1) Minor Proposition 98 costs, projected to be less than $125,000,
to school districts and county offices of education to provide
attendance data, as specified.
2) No loss of General Fund (Proposition 98) revenue to school
district and county offices of education as a result of the
hold harmless provisions. In addition, the Proposition 98
guarantee is also held harmless as a result of #5 above.
COMMENTS : The present situation in which districts may claim
excused absences for apportionment purposes creates an incentive
for districts to collect excuses for chronic truants, without
investigating the validity of those excuses, some of which are
falsified by students themselves. Under this bill, districts can
earn more revenue if they increase actual attendance.
SB 727
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SB 1452 (Rosenthal) of 1996, which was defeated in the Assembly,
differed from this bill in that it froze districts' excused
absences at the average of their rates between 1992-93 and 1994-95
and thereafter imposed fiscal penalties on districts with excused
absence rates above the statewide average.
The language in this bill is identical to the language in the
April 17, 1997 version of SB 804 (Rosenthal) of this session. The
Legislature removed this language from SB 804 in order to use it
as a Budget Trailer bill.
Analysis prepared by : Leonor Ehling / aed / (916) 445-9431
FN
034787