BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 122
AUTHOR: Coto
AMENDED: June 1, 2009
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: July 8, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : Small Schools
SUMMARY
This bill establishes conditions which must be met for a
district to establish a small school and repeals these
provisions on January 1, 2017.
BACKGROUND
AB 1465 (Chan, Statutes of 2004) set aside $20 million in
new construction funding and $5 million in modernization
funding for a Small High School pilot program allowing
school districts to receive an increased amount of funding
when constructing or reconfiguring small high schools
(defined as high schools having a total enrollment of no
more than 500 pupils). The program provided a 20 percent
increase to the new construction per-pupil grant and
changed the state and local matching share from 50/50 to
60/40, respectively. Funding for a single modernization
project was limited to $500,000 and was available to a high
school with an enrollment of 1,000 or more pupils seeking
to reconfigure into two or more small high schools.
Applicant school districts were required to develop an
Academic Reform Strategy, to be reviewed by the California
Department of Education (CDE). Proposition 1D, authorized
by voters in 2006, authorized up to $200 million from new
construction and modernization funds to be used for Small
High Schools.
AB 1465 also required the State Allocation Board (SAB) to
evaluate the cost of construction and modernization of
small high schools in the pilot program, and required the
CDE to evaluate the pupil outcomes at the small high
schools, with the intention that these evaluations be used
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to inform the direction of future school facilities
construction and related bond measures.
The SAB adopted regulations for implementation and
administration of the pilot program, which was authorized
for two years, in July 2005. According to the Office of
Public School Construction, only one project by Porterville
Unified School District, housing 499 pupils in 19
classrooms, received small high school funding for new
construction. No modernization funds were ever
apportioned. The Small High School Pilot Program sunset on
January 1, 2008.
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Authorizes a school district to establish a small
school subject to specified conditions. Specifically,
it:
a) Establishes enrollment levels for
students in specified grade levels. More
specifically it requires that a school providing
instruction for pupils in:
i) Grades K-5 must have
at least 80 and no more than 250 students in
those grades.
ii) Grades K-8 must have at least 80 and
no more than 450 students in those grades.
iii) Grades 6-12 must have at least 80 and
no more than 400 students in those grades.
b) Require the school be staffed by
school district staff that volunteer for
assignment to the school.
c) Requires facilities housing pupils
to be located in proximity to one another.
d) Requires that enrollment be open
to all pupils with at least one parent/guardian
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who is a resident in the attendance area of the
school district.
e) Prohibits admission to the school
to determined by pupil achievement and requires
the school to develop an objective transparent
process to ensure a heterogeneous population that
reflects the diversity of pupils in that
district.
f) Requires the school have an
advisory body, elected by their peers and
comprised of school staff, parents, guardians,
and pupils.
g) Requires the allocation of funds
to the small school such that the amount of
funding per student that is received is the same
as what the pupil would have generated at the
school attended or that would be attended
otherwise.
h) Requires the advisory body, in
consultation with the schoolsite staff to work
with the district to determine how funds
allocated to the small school are spent.
i) Requires the small school to
develop, with collaboration from specified
groups, a school plan that includes specified
components, including an evaluation plan, and
requires that the evaluation plan be submitted by
the school to the California Department of
Education, and the Assembly and Senate Education
Committees at the beginning of the second year of
the school's operation
j) Requires the district to develop a
process for the submission of proposals to
establish a small school by interested
stakeholders.
aa) Requires a district that
establishes a small school(s) pursuant to the
bill's provisions to adopt regulations that
include them as part of an academic reform
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strategy focused on 20 delineated outcomes.
bb) Authorizes a small school to be
located within an existing elementary, middle, or
high school site and to be newly constructed and
located on a single site or with other small
schools or learning communities.
2) Repeals the provisions of the bill on January 1, 2017.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Is this bill necessary ? Under current law, districts
may already establish small schools if they so choose.
The bill itself cites successful efforts in Los
Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, San
Francisco, and San Jose. The challenge in the
creation of small schools appears to be around
facilities and programs, as evidenced by the lack of
participation in the Small High School Program (see
background of this analysis). This bill does not
address these issues. However, assuming that
districts are unaware of the elements necessary for a
successful small school or small learning community,
rather than statutorily prescribe the conditions for
establishing a small school, would it be more
appropriate to direct the California Department of
Education to provide information and assistance to
districts on the establishment of small schools and
learning communities?
2) One size fits all ? This bill prescribes one model for
establishment of a small school. It is unclear
whether this model conflicts with the small school
models that have already been established by districts
in California. In addition, there are over 1000
school districts in the state. Is it reasonable to
assume that this one model can be applied in all
districts? Will it serve as a barrier, rather than an
incentive to the creation of small schools? If it is
the desire of the committee to move this bill, staff
recommends the bill be amended to offer guidelines,
rather than conditions, for the establishment of a
small school and to clarify that the bill offers a
model, but not the only model for creation of a small
school or small learning community.
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3) Fiscal impact . Although legislative counsel has
identified this bill as non-fiscal, staff notes that a
number of fiscal concerns are raised by the bill's
provisions. For example, do the provisions of the
bill create a potential for these schools to become
eligible for necessary small school funding? Does a
school that inadvertently meets some of the conditions
become subject to the various duties outlined? Could
this be construed as a mandate? If it is the desire
to move this bill, staff recommends the motion be "Do
pass as amended to Rules for subsequent referral to
the Senate Appropriations Committee."
SUPPORT
None received on this version.
OPPOSITION
None received.