BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1724
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 1724 (Chesbro) - As Introduced: February 3, 2010
SUBJECT : Necessary small schools: Del Norte County Unified
School District
SUMMARY : Deems the Gasquet Mountain Elementary School and the
Margaret Keating Elementary School in the Del Norte County
Unified School District (DNCUSD) as necessary small schools.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Finds and declares that the DNCUSD is considered to be a large
unified school district that serves pupils from a wide and
varied geographic area. Within these areas, Gasquet Mountain
Elementary School and Margaret Keating Elementary School each
have an average daily attendance (ADA) of fewer than one
hundred. Pupils presently attending Gasquet Mountain
Elementary School and Margaret Keating Elementary School would
have to travel long distances over hazardous terrain in order
to attend other schools within the district.
2)Deems the Gasquet Mountain Elementary School and the Margaret
Keating Elementary School as necessary small schools and
specifies that these two schools shall receive necessary small
school apportionments commencing with the 2010-11 fiscal year.
3)Specifies that if the amount of ADA of the Gasquet Mountain
Elementary School or the Margaret Keating Elementary School
exceeds 100, that school shall no longer be entitled to
receive necessary small school apportionment.
4)Provides that due to the unique circumstances related to the
DNCUSD, the Legislature finds and declares that a general
statute cannot be made as required by Section 16 of Article IV
of the California Constitution.
5)Contains an urgency clause in order to make necessary small
school apportionments available to the DNCUSD prior to the
2010-11 school year.
EXISTING LAW establishes alternative, generally higher, funding
allocations for school districts with one or more schools that
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meet specified eligibility criteria for necessary small
elementary schools and necessary small high schools.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Background . Current law defines a necessary small
school as an elementary school with an ADA of less than 101, or
a necessary small high school with an ADA of no greater than
300, in school districts with an ADA of less than 2,501 pupils.
Necessary small schools receive specified allowances based upon
the size of the small school as measured by the number of
teachers and students, and in lieu of revenue limited funding
that would usually be allocated per pupil in attendance.
Current law also specifies that once a high school is determined
to be a necessary small high school that designation may only be
changed upon review of the school qualification every five
years. The following chart shows the funding allocations for
necessary small elementary schools:
----------------------------------------------------------
| | | |
| Number of | Average Daily | Amount (2009-10) |
| Teachers | Attendance | |
|------------------+--------------------+------------------|
| 1 | 1 - 24 | $113,098 |
|------------------+--------------------+------------------|
| 2 | 25 - 48 | $226,197 |
|------------------+--------------------+------------------|
| 3 | 49 - 72 | $339,296 |
|------------------+--------------------+------------------|
| 4 | 73 - 96 |$452,395 |
----------------------------------------------------------
Several school districts have been statutorily allowed to
receive necessary small school allowances based upon local
circumstances even though they do not meet general qualification
requirements, including Death Valley Unified, Alum Rock Union
Elementary School District, Patterson Joint Unified School
District, and Sierra Sands Unified School District. Several
other districts have also received statutory necessary small
high school designations. In 2007, earlier versions of SB 667
(Hollingsworth), Chapter 559, Statutes of 2007 would have
enabled the Palomar Mountain Elementary School, formerly in the
Pauma Elementary School District, to continue receiving
necessary small schools funding following the merger of the
district with the Valley Center Union Elementary School
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District, causing the district enrollment to exceed 2,501. The
bill signed by the Governor instead appropriated $55,000 to the
district without the necessary small school designation.
According to the DNCUSD, several Del Norte County school
districts and the County Office of Education unified in 1964,
which has increased efficiencies by having one school board and
one superintendent. The district has an enrollment of 3,418
pupils and a budget of $34.6 million with 11 schools. The
district is currently experiencing a $2.9 million budget deficit
with external pressure to close two schools. The Mountain
Elementary School, with an enrollment of 32 pupils, is a
kindergarten through grade 5 (K-5) school located in Gasquet,
approximately 19 miles east of Crescent City. Margaret Keating
Elementary School, with an enrollment of 86 pupils, is also a
K-5 school located in Klamath, approximately 20 miles south of
Crescent City. According to the Superintendent of DNCUSD, both
schools are located in hard to reach areas. Bussing kids to
Crescent City schools would take between 30 to 60 minutes from
Gasquet and 30 to 50 minutes from Klamath through windy forest
roads that is susceptible to mud and rock slides during rainy
weather. Road repairs during non-winter months could also cause
delays. The Superintendent further states, "These communities
have already seen their middle school aged children transferred
to in-town schools. We do not believe the youngest children
should be subject to this commute."
This bill would deem the Mountain Elementary School and the
Margaret Keating Elementary School as necessary small schools,
making them eligible for necessary small school funding in lieu
of district revenue limit funding. With an estimated ADA of
29.5, Mountain Elementary School would generate $147,922 with a
revenue limit of $5,014 per ADA, but would receive $226,197 as a
necessary small school. With an estimated ADA of 79.1, Margaret
Keating Elementary School would generate $396,631 in revenue
limit funding but would receive $452,395 as a necessary small
school. The district gains $134,039 by designating these two
schools as necessary small schools. The benefit gained by
necessary small school funding is due in part to low revenue
limit funding during this budget crisis. The district should
consider whether the necessary small school designation is still
an advantage when revenue limit funding increases during better
budget times. The necessary small school designation is
permanent unless future legislation changes the designation or
when the district ADA reaches the ceiling of 100 for necessary
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small school eligibility as specified by this bill. This bill
also contains an urgency clause to enable the DNCUSD to receive
necessary small school funding in the 2010-11 fiscal year.
Writing in support of the bill, the Small School Districts'
Association states, "After Proposition 13 and restructuring
necessary small school funding in SB 813 of 1983, necessary
small school funding was limited to school districts with 2500
or fewer students. The effect of the SB 813 provisions is to
deny funding for large geographic school districts that have
more than 2500 students but also have very remote schools.
Individual legislation during past years have addressed this
issue for school districts in Imperial, Santa Clara and other
counties within the state. AB 1724 is a continuation of the
policy that the supplemental funding be addressed on a
case-by-case basis."
The issue for the Committee to consider is whether the
conditions in the DNCUSD warrant authorizing the district to
receive necessary small school designations. While both schools
meet the enrollment requirements for necessary small schools
funding, the district enrollment exceeds the maximum ADA of
2,501. The Committee should also consider whether the
Legislature should continue to grant exceptions to the
eligibility requirements for necessary small school funding.
The Senate Appropriations Committee notes in an analysis of a
similar bill from 2007 that there are 130 school districts with
an ADA of between 2,500 and 5,000. Providing exceptions could
create pressure to fund additional similar exceptions.
Prior related legislation . SB 667 (Hollingsworth), Chapter 559,
Statutes of 2007, appropriated $55,000 from the General Fund to
the Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District for purposes of
allowing the school district to continue to operate the Palomar
Mountain Elementary School, which through the 1999-2000 school
year was part of the Pauma Elementary School District and
qualified that district to receive necessary small school
funding for the school.
SB 460 (Florez), which was held in the Senate Appropriations
Committee suspense file in 2007, authorizes the Kings Canyon
Unified School District to receive necessary small school
funding for the Dunlap High School.
AB 2467 (Thompson) of 2000 would have allowed the Palomar
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Mountain School to retain its necessary small school status and
funding following the merger of the two districts which was then
about to happen. AB 2467 was vetoed by Governor Davis arguing
that if an exception to the law is provided to one district, it
would be inequitable not to provide the same funding to all
similar districts.
SB 268 (Knight), Chapter 24, Statutes of 1998, authorized the
Sierra Sands Unified School District to receive necessary small
school funding for the Rand Elementary School despite having an
ADA of approximately 6,200. This bill was sponsored by the
Sierra Sands Unified School District, which reported that the
alternative to keeping the Rand School open would require its
student body to travel over two hours per day on a school bus.
In this instance, the district said the loss of Federal Impact
Aid eliminated its ability to fund the program from its general
fund resources.
AB 2748 (Honeycutt), Chapter 511, Statutes of 1994, modified the
small school district school finance formula to authorize a
higher apportionment for the Death Valley Unified School
District.
AB 1715 (Areias), Chapter 883, Statutes of 1993, deemed Mt.
Hamilton Elementary School and Harney Elementary School within
the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District and the Patterson
Joint Unified School District, respectively, as necessary small
schools. In lieu of the necessary small school apportionment,
the bill apportioned $20,000 to the Alum Rock Union Elementary
School District for Mt. Hamilton Elementary School and $20,000
to the Patterson Joint Unified School District for the Harney
Elementary School if the schools do not exceed 20 units of
average daily attendance in any fiscal year.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Del Norte County Unified School District (sponsor)
Small School Districts' Association
Opposition
None on file
AB 1724
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Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087