BILL ANALYSIS
AB 837
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 6, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 837 (Torlakson) - As Amended: April 22, 2009
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:10-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill, beginning with the 2010-11 fiscal year (FY),
establishes that a school district or county office of education
(COE) may claim average daily attendance (ADA) on the basis of a
pupil's attendance at a class or classes in the classroom-based
setting on that day, for the purpose of learning online, if the
following apply:
1)The pupil is enrolled in grades 9, 10, 11, or 12 and is
enrolled for at least the minimum school day in classes that
include both one or more courses in a classroom-based setting
and one or more courses that are offered on an online program.
The bill also requires the online instruction to be offered
by a high school.
2)The online course is high-quality, as specified. This
definition includes the approval of the course by the school
district governing board and a requirement that the teacher of
an online course be online and accessible to the pupil on a
daily basis, as specified.
3)The subject matter content is the same for the online course
as for the traditional classroom-based course and the teacher
holds the appropriate credential.
4)The pupil cannot be assigned an online course unless he or she
voluntarily elects to participate and his or her parent or
guardian provides written consent.
5)A school district that offers online classroom programs is
required to maintain records to verify the time a pupil spends
AB 837
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online and related activities, as specified. This measure
also requires records to be kept verifying the amount of time
the instructor is online.
FISCAL EFFECT
Potential on-going GF/98 revenue limit costs, of $580,000, for
increased claims of ADA for providing online instruction to
pupils.
COMMENTS
1)Background . AB 885 (Daucher), Chapter 81, Statues of 2002,
established the Online Classroom Pilot (OCP) program until
2007. The purpose of this program was to monitor and evaluate
pupil participation in online interactive instructional
programs. The pilot program addressed the need to provide
expanded educational opportunities for pupils attending
schools with limited educational offerings; the need to
provide access to advanced placement courses where none are
available; and the need to provide quality educational
services in courses for hard-to-staff subject areas in schools
where a shortage of teachers exist.
In accordance with Chapter 81, 40 high schools (within 11
school districts) with no more than five schools per district
were selected through an application process administered by
the SDE. Statute also required that no more than 15% of the
total enrollment of the schoolsite may participate in the
program.
According to the report released by the SDE, "data and
feedback from the participating districts indicate the OCP
program has been successful in fulfilling the legislative
purpose of providing equity of access for students through
online course content. Over 1,700 students have enrolled in
online courses made available through this program." This bill
reestablishes
portions of the OCP program.
2)AB 294 (Daucher), Chapter 429, Statutes of 2003 , established
accountability provisions to ensure that schools participating
in this pilot program provide instructional services
equivalent to those in a traditional setting, including an
assessment of whether the pilot achieves its goals. It also
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required the Superintendent of Public Instruction to convene a
working group to assess the costs of offering online classroom
instruction. According to the SDE, the working group
determined there were benefits to offering classes online;
however, it could not resolve issues related to funding for
attendance and teacher/pupil relationships.
School districts are currently able to offer online classes
through independent study programs as long as they meet the
250 minute in-class instruction requirement.
3)Fiscal implications of the OCP program . SDE's report
identifies several programmatic and fiscal barriers to
implementing this program. Including, a lack of start-up
funding and funding for required data and evaluation
components.
SDE's report also states "All districts maintain fiscal
records that will verify the cost of online program
implementation. Each district was asked to estimate whether
running an online class was more expensive, less expensive, or
about the same as that of a traditional class. In every case,
program contact replies indicated that running an online class
was either about the same or more expensive than running a
traditional class. An initial investment must be made for
necessary equipment, infrastructure, online content and
training to enable successful startup. Although the
development cost will decrease over time, there are recurring
costs associated with online delivery (as there are recurring
costs with traditional content delivery)."
4)Previous legislation . AB 2457 (Walters), which extended the
OCP program until 2012 was held on this committee's suspense
file in May 2008.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081