BILL NUMBER: AB 980	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Swanson

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

   An act to add Section 41320.4 to the Education Code, relating to
school finance.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 980, as introduced, Swanson. Emergency apportionments:
repayment: charter schools.
   Existing law authorizes the governing board of an insolvent school
district to request an emergency apportionment through the
Superintendent of Public Instruction subject to specified
requirements and repayment provisions, including a requirement that
the district repay the loan amount with interest. Existing law
requires the Superintendent to assume all of the legal rights,
duties, and powers of the governing board of a qualifying school
district, as defined, that receives an emergency apportionment.
Existing law requires the Superintendent, in consultation with the
county superintendent of schools, to appoint an administrator to act
on behalf of the Superintendent in exercising the authority assumed
from the school district.
   This bill would require a charter school located within the
geographic boundaries of a school district that is repaying an
emergency apportionment and for which an administrator appointed by
the Superintendent is exercising the authority of the governing
board, to pay a prorated amount of the annual payment made by the
district on the apportionment. The bill would require the
Superintendent to deduct the prorated amount, to be calculated based
upon the ratio of pupil enrollment, as prescribed, from the general
purpose entitlement funding calculated for the charter school and
apply the amount deducted to the outstanding balance of the
applicable emergency apportionment.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) As a direct result of declining enrollment, school districts
that receive emergency apportionments and for which administrators
are appointed to exercise the authority of their governing boards
face increasing difficulty in repaying their emergency loans and
returning to financial stability.
   (b) Although charter schools receive public funding and are
responsible for the education of pupils who reside in school
districts that receive emergency apportionments, they do not
contribute to the repayment of those loans.
   (c) The situations described in subdivisions (a) and (b)
inadvertently exacerbate declining enrollment, worsen the fiscal
issues faced by affected school districts, and create inequality in
the distribution of public resources between school districts and
charter schools.
  SEC. 2.  Section 41320.4 is added to the Education Code, to read:
   41320.4.  (a) A charter school located within the geographic
boundaries of a school district that is repaying an emergency
apportionment pursuant to this article and for which an administrator
appointed by the Superintendent is exercising the authority of the
governing board, shall pay a prorated amount of the annual payment
made by the district on the apportionment.
   (b) The prorated amount for each charter school for purposes of
this section shall be determined by dividing the annual payment made
by the school district on the apportionment by the total number of
pupils enrolled in the school district, plus all of the pupils who
reside within the jurisdiction of the school district and who are
enrolled in charter schools that are located within the geographic
boundaries of the school district, and multiplying that quotient by
the number of pupils who reside within the jurisdiction of the school
district and who are enrolled in the charter school.
   (c) The Superintendent shall deduct the prorated amount determined
for each charter school pursuant to this section from the amount of
general purpose entitlement funding calculated for the charter school
pursuant to Section 47633 and apply the amount deducted to the
outstanding balance of the applicable emergency apportionment.