BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin Murray, Chairman
756 (Goldberg)
Hearing Date: 8/7/06 Amended: 8/7/06
Consultant: Bob Franzoia Policy Vote: Ed 8-2
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 756 would establish the Flexible Funding for
Pupil Achievement Program for specified schools. The bill
would:
- Permit up to five percent of schools in the state to
participate at any one time. The bill would require a school
district to adopt a five year participation agreement with a
participating school, except that the district would be required
to review the per student funding annually and perform other
oversight and enforcement functions. Districts would be
permitted to retain up to ten percent of local funds for its
program costs.
- Require a participating school to adopt a plan that addresses
the organization of the school, staffing, curriculum, and
classroom schedules as well as a budget, as specified.
- Require the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), by
3/30/2007, to adopt a distribution formula that would be used to
determine the allocation of district revenues for the use of
participating schools.
- Require the SPI to request private foundations to fund and
conduct independent evaluations of the planning, operation and
effectiveness of the program.
The bill would enact numerous other provisions to the local
program.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Fund
Flexible funding program No new state costs; potential
redirections Prop 98/
program revenues between schools
withinlocal
a school district option
SPI oversight Up to $100 initially to track
participation General
against cap and to adopt distribution
formula
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STAFF COMMENTS: The bill provides that the SPI shall request
private foundations to fund and conduct independent evaluations
of the planning, implementation, operation, and effectiveness of
this program. Staff notes the bill does not require the SPI to
evaluate any of the programs and it is not clear what occurs if
private foundations choose not to conduct such evaluations.
Absent evaluations, it is not clear how the Legislature can
determine within the first three years and every five years
after the effectiveness and benefits of providing participating
schools with this funding flexibility and whether to reauthorize
the program after 7/1/2017. Further, if five percent of 8,000
schools participate in the program, evaluation costs will be
significant. One option would be to strike the reference to
private foundations and instead directing the SPI to evaluate
the programs. While this creates a General Fund cost, and staff
is hesitant to make any recommendation which increases the cost
of a bill, this may be preferable to creating a new program
whose evaluation is uncertain.
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AB 756 (Goldberg)
Chapter 276/2005 (SB 1053, Scott) established the Local
Improvement Program as a pilot project to provide participating
schools with flexibility in the development and implementation
of instructional programs to support and improve student
learning. The program is limited to 15 school districts and
sunsets in 2010. The SB 1053 workgroup timeline includes
issuing a letter of interest and application to the field by
10/1/2006. Approval of applications by the State Board of
Education is not scheduled until 1/2007. At this time, it
appears only one district has expressed interest in
participating.
This bill is similar to AB 2152 (Goldberg) of 2004 which was
vetoed by the Governor with the following message:
While I understand the author's intention to address categorical
programs, this bill actually limits the flexibility in the
allocation of funds to best meet the needs of schools at the
local level. The bill dictates an allocation formula to local
districts, instead of allowing school boards the flexibility to
determine the allocation based on their specific needs.