BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2335
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 12, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2335 (Brownley) - As Amended: April 27, 2010
Policy Committee: EducationVote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI), on or before December 1, 2011, to make recommendations to
the Legislature on the use of comprehensive K-12 school-level
financial data, as specified. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the SPI's recommendations to address the following:
(a) simple to use, transparent, and informative school-level
financial reports; (b) in-depth analyses of school-level
financial data; (c) comparisons of financial data across
schools; (d) links between school-level financial,
demographic, programmatic, and academic achievement data; and
(e) a comprehensive means for the education community,
policymakers, researchers, and the public to easily access
information of the performance of each school in the state.
2)Requires the SPI's recommendations to focus on all changes
that are necessary to support a future local education agency
(LEA) requirement for school-level financial data reporting,
as specified. This measure also requires the recommendations
to address modifications to LEA accounting processes, data
collection, and software/hardware, as specified.
3)Expresses legislative intent the SPI do both of the following:
(a) build upon previous research, reports, evaluations,
audits, and studies and (b) develop the recommendations in
consultation with policymakers, the education community, and
the public.
FISCAL EFFECT
One-time GF administrative costs, of at least $125,000, to the
AB 2335
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SPI to convene a group to develop recommendations for a report
on the use of comprehensive K-12 school level financial data, as
specified.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the Education Trust report, Close the
Hidden Funding Gaps in Our Schools (March 2010), "Researchers
have examined the data for districts across the country and
have repeatedly found that the budgeting practices of school
districts frequently favor schools that serve the fewest poor
children. These district-level budgeting practices steal
educational opportunity and all of the rewards academic
success offers from our most vulnerable students, their
families, their communities, and our nation."
The report argues that federal funding formulas, which are
meant to provide poor/needy pupils with additional funding,
actually cause inequity among schools. For example, the
majority of school-level funding is allocated based on
certificated staff costs. This allocation method leads to
schools with more senior staff receiving additional funding.
Data indicates schools with the most senior certificated
staff tend to not educate poor/needy pupils and therefore,
these schools receive less funding. The Education Trust
report cites the New York City school district as an example
of taking steps to rectify its funding inequities.
Specifically, the report states, "Although its equity problems
are real, the school system has taken the all-too- uncommon
step of making publicly available a rich source of
school-level funding data. Such information allows
researchers and advocates to uncover inequitable patterns as
the first step toward changing them."
According to the author, "California's current system of
school finance is the result of three decades of
court-mandated and voter-influenced reforms. It is highly
state-centralized, extremely complex and in need of
fundamental reform. A simpler and more transparent system is
needed in order to support accountability for increased
student success." The author further asserts "school-level
reports on revenue and expenditures [are needed] to facilitate
easy comparisons across schools and districts, including
comparisons of school, district, and statewide demographics
and academic performance."
AB 2335
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This bill requires the SPI, on or before December 1, 2011, to
make recommendations to the Legislature on the use of
comprehensive K-12 school-level financial data, as specified.
2)Existing law requires every school district to produce an
annual school accountability report card for each school under
its jurisdiction. The report card is required to include
specific programmatic and financial data, including
expenditures per pupil. Likewise, LEAs are required to make
school accountability report cards available through the
Internet or through paper copies.
3)Previous legislation . AB 8 (Brownley) required the Director
of the Department of Finance and the Legislative Analyst to
convene a working group to make findings and recommendations
to the Legislature and governor regarding the implementation
of a restructured school finance system, as specified. This
bill was vetoed by the governor with the following message:
"I continue to support reforming the school finance system to
make it less complex and more transparent to parents,
teachers, and the public. However, this bill merely authorizes
the convening of yet another working group that can be
accomplished without statutory authorization. I am concerned
that this bill provides the appearance of activity without
actually translating to achievement. The lack of urgency in
voting on the substantive issues put forth in the education
Special Session can be seen as yet another example of that
appearance. Since nothing under current law prohibits the
objectives of this bill from being met, it is unnecessary."
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081