BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
184 (Block)
Hearing Date: 8/12/2010 Amended: 08/02/2010
Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 7-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 184, an urgency measure, would extend the
special disabilities funding adjustment through the 2009-10
fiscal year.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
Special Disabilities Adjustment Prevents reversion of $69.9
million General*
in funds appropriated in the 2009-10
Budget Act.
*Counts toward meeting the Proposition 98 minimum funding
guarantee
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
In 1997, the Legislature reformed special education funding (AB
602, Ch. 854) to move from a formula based on the number of
special education pupils to one based on a school district's
overall average daily attendance (thereby removing an incentive
to identify higher numbers of pupils as needing special
education to drive an increase in funding). As part of this
reform, a funding mechanism was created to provide additional
funding to special education local plan areas (SELPAs) having a
disproportionately large number of "high-cost" special education
pupils. This funding is based on an incidence multiplier that
was developed pursuant to a study completed in 1998 by the
American Institutes for Research (AIR), and is commonly referred
to as the special disabilities adjustments (SDA). According to
the Department of Education, 32 out of 122 SELPAs currently
receive this adjustment.
AB 602 also required the expiration of this adjustment after the
2002-03 fiscal year and required the completion of a new study
by March of 2003. There was no broad agreement reached on the
merits of the study's revised recommendations, and, as a result,
the original SDA factors have been simply been extended one year
at a time through budget trailer legislation.
However, no such reauthorization of the SDA was authorized for
the 2009-10 fiscal year. The result is that while approximately
$69.9 million dollars for the program have been appropriated in
the 2009-10 budget, there is no authority for their allocation.
The Department of Education included funding for SDA in the
first principal apportionment, and was subsequently obligated to
send a letter to local education agencies advising them that
these funds would need to be recaptured (from deductions to
2010-11 apportionments) absent legislation that would provide
retroactive authority. This bill would provide that authority.
Page 2
AB 184 (Block)
The Budget Conference Committee recently reached a compromise
relative to the special disabilities adjustment, which provides
for the continuation of this funding through the 2010-11 fiscal
year. The compromise suggests legislation separate from the
budget to restore funding authority for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
The compromise further requires federal funding for a study to
determine options for the replacement of the special
disabilities adjustment, and makes the existing adjustment
funding formula inoperative as of July 1, 2011.
While the SDA funding for the 2009-10 fiscal year was
appropriated in the 2009 Budget Act, absent this legislation,
those funds revert at the end of that fiscal year. Therefore,
this bill would prevent the reversion of $69.9 million in the
2009-10 fiscal year.
It is staff's understanding that the author will propose
amendments, reflective of a commitment made in the Senate
Education Committee, that will extend the SDA allocation formula
through the 2010-11 fiscal year and make the formula inoperative
as of July 1, 2011. Funding for the 2010-11 year is proposed in
the 2010 budget.