BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2434
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Date of Hearing: May 5, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2434 (Hernandez) - As Amended: April 27, 2010
Policy Committee: EducationVote:6-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill, commencing with the 2012-13 school year, requires a
school district maintaining any of grades 9-12, inclusive, to
offer advanced placement (AP) courses in math and science at
each high school in the district that did not offer any AP
courses during the 2011-12 school year. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Exempts school districts from offering AP courses in math and
science, if the district does not have an AP teacher available
or it has less than 10 pupils who would be enrolled in the
course at a particular school. This measure expresses
legislative intent for school districts to consider
alternative means of providing AP courses, if a teacher is not
available or less than 10 pupils would be enrolled in the
course.
2)Authorizes alternative means to include high-quality online AP
courses, including offering online courses to pupils through a
contract with another school district. This measure also
requires the terms of the contract to be determined by mutual
agreement of the districts, as specified.
3)Defines "high-quality online AP course" as one meeting all of
the following requirements: (a) the course is approved by the
governing board of the school district; (b) the course
contains identical subject matter and has the same test
schedule, as the classroom-based course; (c) the course is
offered by a high school; and (d) the course is taught by a
qualified instructor, as specified.
4)Establishes, for the purpose of online AP courses,
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requirements related to the following: (a) teacher to pupil
ratios, (b) reporting of statewide assessment results, (c)
documentation of pupil work, and (d) records verifying the
time that pupils and instructors spend online.
5)Prohibits pupils from being assigned to an online AP course,
unless he or she elects to participate. This bill also
requires the pupil's parent/guardian to provide written
consent.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Beginning in the 2012-13 school year, annual GF/98 cost
pressure of approximately $960,000 to school districts to
offer AP courses in math and science to pupils at each high
school in the district that did not offer any AP courses
during the 2011-12 school year. According to the State
Department of Education (SDE), there 17,221 AP classes in
1,059 schools in 2008-09.
2)This bill authorizes school districts to provide online AP
classes to pupils in grades 9-12, as specified. The measure,
however, is unclear as to whether these online courses
generate general revenue limit (general purpose) funding for
school districts. To the extent the amount of time a pupil
spends online in an AP course cannot be verified, there is an
increased risk to the state to provide GF/98 revenue limit
funding to LEAs for attendance that cannot be validated.
Consequently, there is also the potential for LEAs to have
increased audit costs to the extent that ADA attendance cannot
be verified as part of the regular audit process.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . AP programs, established over 40 years ago by the
College Board, provide incentives for public comprehensive
high schools to provide access to rigorous, college-level
courses for students. These programs allow pupils to pursue
college-level work while still in secondary school and receive
college credit, advanced academic standing, or both. At the
end of the course, students may opt to sit for the
course-related exam, or may take the exam without having
completed the related course. For a score of 3 or higher (out
of 5) on an AP exam, most colleges and universities will award
college credit for an entry-level course in that discipline,
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though policies vary from institution to institution.
According to The Annual AP Report to the Nation: California
completed by the College Board (February 2010), 32% of the
graduating class of 2009 took at least one AP class. This
compares to 26.5% for the nation. The report also documents
3.6% of African Americans and 33.4% Latino high school seniors
in 2009 took an AP exam.
The College Board, sponsor of this measure, further states:
"Women and minorities participating in AP math and science
courses choose to major in science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics at dramatically higher rates that other
students. Also, AP math and science students, particularly
those scoring three or better on the AP exam, outperform
students in these subject areas from nearly all other
nations." This bill, commencing with the 2012-13 school,
requires school districts maintaining grades 9-12 to offer AP
courses in math and science at each high school in the
district that did not offer any AP courses during the 2011-12
school year.
2)Fiscal concerns with online AP courses . The fundamental
principal for allocating funding under California's school
finance system is the value of instructional time. The state
measures this principal through the average daily attendance
(ADA) system, including the ability of the pupil to be under
the direct supervision (via a line of sight) of a certificated
employee.
Existing law requires the majority of the state's revenue
limit funding (general purpose) allocated to local education
agencies (LEAs) be based on ADA. ADA is the average amount of
time a pupil attends class under the immediate supervision of
a certificated employee. As a result, the more the pupil
attends class the more ADA the LEA receives, which leads to
increased revenue limit funding.
This bill expresses legislative intent that school districts
consider alternative means of providing AP courses if a
teacher is not available or less than 10 pupils would be
enrolled in the course. Also, this bill further defines
alternative means as providing a high-quality online AP
course.
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This measure is silent as to whether school districts may
claim ADA in order to generate revenue limit funding for
online AP courses. Likewise, it does not specify whether or
not the pupil participates in a synchronous online course (the
pupil is online at the same time as the teacher) or an
asynchronous online course (the pupil and the teacher are
online at different times).
There are fiscal questions with claiming ADA for an
asynchronous online course. For example, how does the state,
for accounting and audit purposes, ensure that the pupil meets
the minimum instructional time and day requirements? Also,
what type of mechanisms will be provided to verify it is the
pupil participating in the asynchronous online course?
Under current law, pupils may take online AP courses without
generating revenue limit funding for school districts. For
example, pupils may take the online course in addition to
classroom based courses that enable them to meet minimum day
and minute requirements and allows the district to claim full
revenue limit funding.
Under another scenario, however, a pupil may take an online AP
course in order to meet the minimum ADA requirements for a
school district. This bill does specify how ADA would be
calculated, particularly for an asynchronous online AP course.
The committee may wish to consider whether it is appropriate
for school districts to offer online asynchronous online AP
courses without further clarification as to how districts earn
revenue limit funding.
3)The AP test fee reimbursement program , administered by the
SDE, removes the financial barriers that prevent many
low-income students in comprehensive high schools from taking
the AP course test. Funding supports the payment of AP test
fees for eligible students. The 2009 Budget Act allocated a
total of $2.44 million for this program. Of this amount $3.7
million is federal funds and $1.4 million is GF/98, which
includes a total reduction of 19.8% from the 2008 Budget Act.
4)Previous legislation . AB 1238 (Hernandez), similar to this
measure, was held on this committee's Suspense File in May
2009.
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5)Related legislation . AB 2027 (Blumenfield), pending in this
committee, authorizes a school district, county office of
education, or charter school to claim attendance toward ADA
for the purposes of calculating revenue limit funding for an
online class, as specified.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081