BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 983
AUTHOR: Skinner
INTRODUCED: February 27, 2009
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: July 1, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Before and after school programs: weekends.
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes providers of After School Education
and Safety before and after school programs to operate on
weekends in addition to weekdays, using existing grant
funds.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
1) Proposition 49, passed in 2002, expanded before and
after school opportunities and funding, and renamed
the existing program as the After School Education and
Safety (ASES) program. The ASES program provides
state funding to local before and after school
programs, which are administered through partnerships
between schools and local community resources to
provide literacy, academic enrichment and safe
constructive alternatives for pupils in kindergarten
through ninth grade.
California also administers the federal 21st Century
Learning Community Learning Centers before and after
school program. This bill does not affect 21st
Century programs, as federal law allows 21st Century
programs to operate on weekends.
2) Specifies requirements for the operation of ASES,
including maximum grant levels, local matching
requirements, priority for funding, and authorized
expenditures.
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3) Authorizes ASES programs to operate during any
combination of summer, intersession or vacation
periods.
The 2009 Budget Act allocates $547 million General Fund
(Prop 98) for the ASES program. Proposition 49 requires
state funding for after school programs to be continuously
appropriated, thereby no longer requiring approval by the
Legislature as part of the annual Budget Act. ASES funding
is not subject to categorical flexibility or associated
funding reductions. The amount of additional funding
pursuant to Proposition 49 will be added to the Proposition
98 base in future years.
ANALYSIS
This bill authorizes providers of After School Education
and Safety (ASES) before and after school programs to
operate on weekends in addition to weekdays, using existing
grant funds. Specifically, this bill:
1) Authorizes the administrators of an ASES before and/or
after school program to provide activities on
weekends.
2) Requires costs associated with weekend activities to
be paid from the program's maximum grant or
supplemental grant.
3) Prohibits the participation of pupils in the weekend
activities from being counted toward attendance
reported to the California Department of Education for
the calculation of the amounts for either the maximum
or supplemental grants.
4) Exempts federal 21st Century before and after school
programs from the prohibition detailed in #3 above,
because federal law currently allows those programs to
operate on weekends. Therefore, attendance by pupils
enrolled in those on the weekend should be counted as
attendance for purposes of determining grant amounts.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Current practice ? Staff has received anecdotal
evidence that some ASES programs have been operating
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on weekends, whether or not those programs were
claiming attendance is unknown. The California
Department of Education has made it very clear that
ASES programs are not authorized to operate on the
weekend, regardless of whether attendance was claimed
or weekend operations were paid for using existing
grant funds.
2) Fiscal impact . According to the Assembly
Appropriations Committee analysis of prior legislation
that included provisions that were nearly identical to
this bill, this bill would not impose additional
General Fund (Prop) 98 costs upon the state.
3) Related legislation . AB 434 (Block) reduces the
required local match for ASES programs, and is
scheduled for hearing in this Committee on July 1,
2009.
4) Prior legislation . This bill is very similar to one
of the provisions in SB 1674 (Torlakson, 2008). SB
1674 was vetoed by the Governor, whose veto message
read:
As the primary author of Proposition 49 that
created the After School Education and Safety
Program (ASES) Act, I am very proud of the good
work that after school providers have done in
serving kids over the years. While providing
students with educationally enriching activities
during weekend hours is a worthy goal, this bill
takes the program beyond the original scope of
the ASES program. After school programs are
intended to provide students with access to
quality tutoring, homework assistance, and
educational enrichment during weekday non-school
hours, when they are most at risk of being
involved in dangerous activities.
SUPPORT
After School All-Stars, LA
Bay Area Partnership for Children and Youth
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
LA's BEST
Los Angeles County Office of Education
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State Public Affairs Committee of the Junior Leagues
OPPOSITION
None received.