BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2027
AUTHOR: Blumenfield
AMENDED: May 28, 2010
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 30, 2010
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Daniel Alvarez
SUBJECT : Online Education
KEY POLICY ISSUES
Should the state permit online courses to be counted for
purposes of claiming funding for pupil attendance?
Does it matter that online courses are offered through a
synchronous or asynchronous approach?
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes, commencing with the 2012-13 fiscal
year, a school district, county office of education (COE), or
charter school to claim attendance toward average daily
attendance (ADA) for the purpose of calculating revenue limit
funding for online synchronous and asynchronous courses, as
specified.
BACKGROUND
Existing law
1) Requires the majority of the state's revenue limit
funding (general purpose) allocated to local educational
agencies (LEAs) be based on average daily attendance
(ADA). ADA is the average amount of time a pupil
attends class under the immediate supervision of a
certificated employee. (Education Code 46300 et. seq.)
Within the current ADA requirements, LEAs are able to
provide online courses to pupils in the following ways:
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(a) Pupils are receiving online instruction in a
classroom setting under the immediate supervision
of a certificated employee. (EC 46300 (a))
(b) Pupils are enrolled in a part-time or
full-time independent study (IS) program (i.e., the
pupil may be taking regular classroom courses and
one or two IS program courses online). If a pupil
is enrolled full-time
in an IS program, he or she is required to produce
a work product, which is assessed by a certificated
employee of the district. (EC 51745
et. seq.)
(c) Pupils who have met the minimum instructional
requirement and are taking an online course. Under
this scenario, the pupil is generating full ADA for
meeting the minimum instructional requirement and
the pupil is taking the online course in addition
to meeting minimum requirements.
(d) Pupils are enrolled in a charter school, which
has less traditional accounting and attendance
requirements for its pupils; and typically must
meet statutory requirements, where applicable, or
regulatory guidelines adopted by the State Board of
Education.
1) Establishes the minimum school day for a high school
student to be 240 instructional minutes in a classroom,
in IS, or in a combination of the two settings, and
requires students taking a combination to meet
attendance standards for both the classroom and IS
courses in order for a district to claim a pupil's
attendance for funding purposes. (EC 46141)
2) Requires that pupils in grades 9 through 12 attend
school for at least 64,800 minutes per year in no less
than 180 days (or 175 days under budget flexibility
language through 2012-13). (EC 46201)
3) Existing law requires each school district maintaining
any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer courses of
study that (1) fulfill the requirements and
prerequisites for admission to California public
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institutions of postsecondary education and (2) provide
an opportunity for pupils to attain entry-level
employment skills in business or industry. School
districts may fulfill their responsibility pursuant to
number (2) by adopting a required curriculum that meets
or exceeds the model standards CTE adopted by the State
Board of Education. (EC 51228)
ANALYSIS
This bill authorizes, commencing with the 2011-12 fiscal
year, a school district, county office of education (COE), or
charter school to claim attendance toward average daily
attendance (ADA) for the purpose of calculating revenue limit
funding for online classes, as specified. More specifically,
this bill:
1) Requires the following conditions apply in order for a
school district, COE, or charter school to claim ADA for
online classes: (a) the pupil is enrolled in grades 9
through 12; (b) the pupil is enrolled in classes that
include courses in a classroom-based setting, courses
that are offered through an online program, or both; (c)
the pupil meets minimum instructional time requirements,
as specified; and (d) each online course in which the
pupil is enrolled is a high-quality online course.
2) Defines a high-quality online course as meeting all the
following requirements:
a) The online course is approved by the governing
board of the school district, such that the online
course is certified, through board resolution, by
the governing board of the school district to meet
these requirements.
b) The teacher is either of the following:
Online at the same time as each
pupil, is accessible to each pupil attending a
synchronous online course to respond to pupil
queries, assign tasks, dispense information,
and is able to make a line-of-sight visual
connection with each pupil for the purposes of
verifying attendance or providing immediate
supervisor of the pupil.
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Online at different times as each
pupil, is accessible to each pupil attending
an asynchronous online course to respond to
pupil queries, assign tasks, dispense
information, and for the purposes of verifying
attendance is able to employ at least two of
the following:
i) Periodic proctored
examinations.
ii) Biometric verification.
iii) A line-of-sight visual
connection, including, but not
limited to, Internet webcam.
a) The ratio of full-time equivalent certificated
teachers teaching the online course to pupils
enrolled in that course is greater than or equal to
the ratio of teachers to pupils in traditional
classroom study of the same subject matter in the
school, school district, or the unified school
district with the largest ADA of pupils in that
county.
b) The teacher of the online course (1) holds the
appropriate subject matter credential, and (2) has
taught the same course to pupils in a traditional
classroom or an online setting at any time within
the immediately preceding two-year period.
c) The subject matter content for the online
course is the same as for the traditional
classroom-based course in the school, school
district, or the unified school district with the
largest ADA of pupils in that county.
d) All statewide testing results for pupils
enrolled in the online course are reported to the
school, school district, or COE in which the pupil
is enrolled for regular in-classroom courses.
e) The online course is offered by a high school,
continuation school, or COE.
f) No pupil is assigned to the online course
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pursuant to this section unless the pupil
voluntarily elects to participate in the online
course and the parent or guardian of the pupil
provides written consent before the pupil
participates in an online course.
g) No pupil electing to participate in the online
course is denied access because the pupil lacks the
computer hardware or software necessary to
participate in the online course.
h) No pupil is charged for their participation in
the online course.
i) Pupils enrolled in the online course take
examinations by proctor or that other reliable
methods are used to ensure test integrity, and
there is a clear record of pupil work, using the
same method of documentation and assessment as used
in a classroom-based course.
j) The school, school district or county office
of education maintains contemporaneous records to
verify the time that a pupil spends online and in
related activities in which a pupil is involved,
and maintains records verifying the time that the
instructor is online.
1) Authorizes a school district, county office of education
or charter school offering an online course to contract
with a school district to provide the online course to
pupils of the offering school district. Also requires
those courses provided under contract to be "high
quality", the contract terms to be determined by mutual
agreement of the school districts, and that such
contracts only be an agreement directly with the school,
school district or county office offering the online
course, and not with the pupils of the offering school
district.
2) Clarifies that nothing in these provisions be
interpreted to mean that a charter school provides
classroom-based or nonclassroom-based instruction for
the purposes of a State Board of Education determination
of that distinction.
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3) Requires that pupil attendance accounted for under this
authorization be subject to audit as part of the local
educational agency's annual financial audit.
4) Prohibits the waiver of any provision of this measure,
unless specifically authorized.
5) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI),
in consultation with the Director of Finance, on or
before December 31, 2011, to make:
Revisions to any attendance accounting manual or
guidance provided to school districts, COEs, or
charter schools that are necessary to conform to the
provisions of this measure;
Revisions necessary to clarify attendance
accounting procedures for asynchronous online courses;
Recommendations regarding statutory changes that
would be necessary to allow attendance in asynchronous
online courses to be included in the calculation of
ADA.
1) Prohibits pupil attendance in asynchronous online
courses from being included in the calculation of ADA
until the SPI has adopted the regulations specified in #
12 below.
2) Deems a pupil engaged in an online course meeting these
requirements to be under the immediate supervision and
control of a certificated employee of the district,
county office or charter school for the purposes of
calculating ADA.
3) Specifies that attendance an online course meeting these
requirements is not required to meet the requirements
for the Independent Study Program for the purposes of
calculating ADA.
4) Defines "asynchronous" and "synchronous" online course,
and "biometric."
5) Requires the SPI, in consultation with the Department of
Finance, to adopt rules and regulations for the purpose
of clarifying or expanding the procedures required for
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verifying the identification of pupils participating in
asynchronous online courses, and for including pupil
attendance in asynchronous online courses in the
calculation of ADA.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, the current
rules for attendance accounting are complex and
cumbersome for schools offering students online
instruction. The current methodologies for attendance
accounting create a disincentive for schools to offer
online courses. This measure seeks to remove barriers
for students to access high-quality online courses by
simplifying attendance accounting for online courses.
2) Past legislative attempts. In 2002, the Legislature
passed AB 885 (Daucher, Chapter 801) that authorized
participation by high school students in the Online
Classroom Pilot (OCP) program, which allowed the use of
an asynchronous, interactive (a teacher and student
interact online, but not necessarily at the same time)
curriculum. 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 access in course for hard-to-staff
subject areas.
The pilot program sunset in 2007 and only cursory
evaluative information was provided; not a thorough
analysis which would assist in decision making for
renewing or expanding the pilot.
3) Online courses the convergence of instructional
delivery, attendance accounting, and public
accountability . The Legislature, generally, has
required instruction for funding purposes, to be when a
pupil attends class under the immediate supervision of a
certificated employee, with some exceptions
(particularly in independent study and in non-classroom
based charter schools). A critical aspect of education
is the "live" interaction between teacher and pupil, as
well as pupil-to-pupil, where instruction is enhanced by
ensuing dialogue in a timely question and answer
approach, the ability to work with others, and where a
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quality "live" social interactive learning experience
can enrich a pupil by assisting in acquiring knowledge
and skills they will need in adult life and can help
them develop into well-rounded individuals.
From the perspective of protecting the state's interest
and ensuring that the state's investment in education is
spent directly on providing educational services to
students who are on task in terms of learning, online
delivery of instruction may not be able to provide total
guarantees; certainly in the context of the historical
dependence on the immediate supervision of a teacher to
guarantee the state's interest, many online delivery
approaches create problems; particularly those that
involve asynchronous online courses.
This measure can never achieve the unique qualities that
a "live" education experience provides. The measure,
however, begins the move toward providing an option and
a balance that allows for an online instructional
delivery approach of high quality courses, creating
attendance accountability, and insures accompanying
public fiduciary requirements and responsibilities.
This measure does provide criteria for online courses to
ensure their quality and attempts to insure that
appropriate rules and regulations are in place prior to
assigning ADA for asynchronous online courses. Two ways
in which this measure moves in this direction is (1)
where asynchronous online courses would be verified by
periodic exams, biometric verification, or line-of-sight
visual connection, and (2) the development by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction rules and
regulations.
Staff recommends an amendment to insure the State
Controller is consulted in development of requirements
under #7 in the analysis. This will assist in insuring
rules or regulations developed can meet requirements
basic to a required audit. Under state law, the
Controller is responsible for the audit oversight of
school districts' audit reports.
Staff recommends an amendment to delete of the use of
biometric verification for the purposes of asynchronous
attendance. The use of biometric technology may have
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underlying privacy considerations that should be fully
discussed in a policy committee with such expertise.
However, staff recommends that the remaining two
verification approaches must utilized for purposes of
asynchronous attendance - this will insure a record of a
pupil's work and create a verifiable attendance
standard.
Staff recommends an amendment that clarifies that no
pupil shall be credited with more than five days of
course attendance per calendar week, or more than the
total number of calendar days that regular classes are
maintained by the district in any fiscal year.
4) Clarifying Teacher-to-Pupil Ratios . The measure
specifies the ratio of full-time equivalent certificated
teachers teaching the online course to pupils enrolled
in that course is greater than or equal to the ratio of
teachers to pupils in traditional classroom study of the
same subject matter in the school. The author's office
has noted that some existing online programs have
experienced audit exceptions for not being in
compliance, because the ratio may have changed during
the school term.
Staff recommends an amendment to utilize the "prior
year's" ratio as reported by the California Department
of Education for existing courses.
But what happens if there is a new or unique online
course that is being offered that doesn't necessarily
exist in a school district? For example, in a small
school district a foreign language may not be offered at
all. The language as currently drafted prohibits the
offering of this foreign language because there is no
existing teacher-to-pupil ratio.
Staff recommends an amendment to provide for a
teacher-to-pupil that is no greater than 30:1, in
instances where a new or unique course is offered.
5) Teacher Quality Provisions . Generally in this measure,
a teacher of an online course must have taught the same
course in the previous two years. However, this standard
may not work in settings where a new online course is
being offered.
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Staff recommends an amendment that will insure any
teacher of an online course holds the appropriate
subject matter credential and meets requirements of the
Highly Qualified Teacher provisions of the federal No
Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), as prescribed by the
California Department of Education.
6) Author wants to insure quality and consistency for new
and existing courses.
The bill requires the subject matter content for the
online course is the same as for the traditional
classroom-based course in the school or school district.
However, this may not necessarily work for new or unique
courses.
The author wants to require upfront that "the local
governing board certifies that any online course is
certified as rigorous as a classroom-based course and
meets or exceeds all relevant state content standards."
Staff recommends adoption of the suggested author's
amendment.
7) Sunset of Measure's Provisions is Appropriate . This
measure, as previously stated, moves toward a new and
responsible funding approach for online courses;
however, as with any new approach unintended
consequences or unanswered questions may arise.
Therefore, in order to provide an additional level of
accountability and review staff recommends that the
measure sunset the provisions.
Staff recommends adding a sunset to the provisions of
this measure.
8) Prior and related legislation .
AB 837 (Torlakson, 2009) established that a
school district or COE, beginning with 2010-11, may
claim 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. This
measure was held on the Assembly Appropriations
suspense file.
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AB 2457 (Walters, 2008) extended the OCP
program until 2012; the bill was held on the
Assembly Appropriations suspense file.
AB 885 (Daucher, Chapter 801, Statutes of
2002), established the Online Classroom Pilot.
SUPPORT
Alameda County Board of Education
Alameda County Superintendent of Schools
California County Superintendents Educational Services
Association
California Teachers Association
Perris Union High School District
Riverside County Schools Advocacy Association
San Diego County Office of Education
San Francisco Unified School District
Santa Clara County Office of Education
OPPOSITION
None received.