BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                       



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                   AB 756|
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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 756
          Author:   Goldberg (D), et al
          Amended:  8/28/06 in Senate
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE  :  8-2, 6/28/06
          AYES:  Scott, Alquist, Lowenthal, Romero, Simitian, Soto,  
            Speier, Torlakson
          NOES:  Maldonado, Denham
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Morrow

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  8-1, 8/7/06
          AYES:  Murray, Alarcon, Alquist, Ashburn, Escutia, Florez,  
            Romero, Torlakson
          NOES:  Aanestad
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Battin, Dutton, Ortiz, Poochigian

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  Not relevant


           SUBJECT  :    Flexible Funding for Pupil Achievement Program

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill establishes the Flexible Funding for  
          Pupil Achievement Program and allows up to five percent of  
          the public schools in the state from no more than 25 school  
          districts to participate in the program at any one time.   
          The bill also requires the Superintendent of Public  
          Instruction to request private funds to evaluate the  
          program.  This bill becomes inoperative July 1, 2017, and  
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          repeals on January 1, 2018.

           Senate Floor Amendments  of 8/28/06 limit participation to  
          no more than 25 school districts, provide that the fund  
          allocation process will be locally, and not state (SPI),  
          determined and make other clarifying revisions.

           ANALYSIS  :    Chapter 276 of 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 pupil learning, with  
          provision to sunset the pilot program in 2010.   
          Participation in this pilot project is limited to no more  
          15 school districts and not more than five percent of the  
          total number of schools.

          This bill establishes the Flexible Funding for Pupil  
          Achievement Program for specified schools.  This bill:

          1.Permits up to five percent of schools in the state from  
            no more than 25 school districts 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.

          2.Requires 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.

          3.Requires a school district to adopt a distribution  
            formula that would be used to determine the allocation of  
            district revenues for the use of participating schools.

          4.Requires the SPI to request private foundations to fund  
            and conduct independent evaluations of the planning,  
            operation and effectiveness of the program.  Provides  
            that the bill's provisions are to be implemented only if  
            the SPI certifies a commitment from private foundations  







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            or other private or public funding sources to fund the  
            evaluations required.

          The bill enacts numerous other provisions to the local  
          program.

           Related legislation

           AB 2152 (Goldberg) in 2004 would have created a similar  
          program of local flexibility, but AB 2152 was vetoed with  
          the following message: 

               While I understand the authors 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 ability to  
               determine the allocation based on their specific  
               needs.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  No

          According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

                          Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions                2006-07     2007-08   2008-09        
            Fund  
          Flexible funding programs                    No new state  
          costs; potential    Prop 98/
                                   redirections program       local  
          option
                                   revenues between schools
                                   within a school district

          SPI oversight                                     Up to  
          $100 initially to track                           General
                                   participation against cap and to
                                   adopt distribution formula










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          NC:nl  8/27/06   Senate Floor Analyses 

                       SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  NONE RECEIVED

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