BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 193
AUTHOR: Lowenthal
INTRODUCED: February 23, 2009
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 29, 2009
URGENCY: Yes CONSULTANT: James Wilson
SUBJECT : Class Size Reduction
SUMMARY
This bill, an urgency measure, allows the Long Beach
Unified School District to claim funding, until July 2013,
for the K-3 Class Size Reduction program based on
enrollment counts taken prior to the closure of schools
forced by the October 2007 fire and subsequent mudslides on
Catalina Island.
BACKGROUND
Catalina Island is part of the Long Beach Unified School
District and the Avalon School on Catalina is subject to
closure whenever rains threaten to cause earth on the
hills surrounding the school to slide. The hills are
vulnerable to these mudslides because vegetation was burned
off the hills by the fires on the island in October 2007.
It is projected that the vegetation will have sufficiently
re-grown by 2013 to end the danger of mudslides threatening
the school.
Current law authorizes school districts to receive
incentive funding of $1,071 per pupil for maintaining class
sizes of no greater than 20 pupils per teacher in grades K
through 3. While existing law protects school districts
from general purpose revenue loss by allowing schools to
request the state waiver of missed
days and attendance loss due to emergencies, these
protections are not available to districts with
regard to their class size reduction (CSR) funding.
Districts that experienced temporary loss of ADA due to the
fires or are forced to load classrooms with displaced
pupils, risk losing CSR funding.
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SB 4 of the 3rd Extraordinary Session, enacted in February
as Chapter 12 of 2009, revises the reduction schedule for
districts that fail to maintain 20 to 1 class sizes for the
2008-09 through 2011-12 school years only. During those
years, districts that maintain participating class sizes
within the following ranges will lose the following
percentages of CSR funding.
Classes of 20.5 or more but less than 21.5: Lose 5% of
funding
Classes of 21.5 or more but less than 22.5: Lose 10% of
funding
Classes of 22.5 or more but less than 23.0: Lose 15% of
funding
Classes of 23.0 or more but less than 25.0: Lose 20% of
funding
Classes of 25.0 or more lose 30% of funding
ANALYSIS
This bill, an urgency measure:
1) Allows the Long Beach Unified School District to claim
class size reduction funding for the 2008-09 through
2011-2012 school years based on enrollment counts made
before the October 2007 fires, provided that the
district submits a request for "emergency ADA" lost
due to mandatory school closure. and the district
certifies that it suffered a loss of enrollment in
classes due to mandatory closure.
2) Allows the Long Beach Unified School District to claim
class size reduction funding for the 2008-09 through
2011-2012 school years for classes that either exceed
20 pupils or are housed with another class, if the
district certifies that:
a) The number of pupils enrolled in a school
increased as a direct result of the closures on
Catalina Island resulting from the October 2007 fires
and resultant debris flow hazard and this growth
increased the number of pupils enrolled in K-3 CSR
classes; and,
b) The district lacked sufficient classroom
space or credentialed teachers to accommodate the
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enrollment increase attributable to the Catalina
school closure
3) Provides that the bill's provisions will remain in
effect until July 1, 2013, are repealed as of January
1, 2014.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill? Given that the maximum loss of
class size reduction incentive funding is now limited
to 30% through the 2011 - 2012 school year, is it
still necessary to exempt Long Beach Unified from any
class size funding penalty during those same years ?
2) Technical amendment . The bill calls for exemption
from Class Size Reduction funding loss through the
school year 2011 -2012, but leaves the exemption
operative for an extra year, becoming inoperative in
July 2013. To avoid confusion during the 2012 - 2013
year, staff recommends that the exemption become
inoperative in July 2012, at the end of the 2011 -2012
year.
3) Previous legislation . Chapter 30 (AB 1893, Garrick)
of 2008 provided similar relief to school districts
that operated K-3 class size reduction programs and
were affected by fires in October of 2007. AB 1893,
allowed school districts in specified counties to
continue to receive class size reduction funding for
the 2007-08 fiscal year based on enrollment counts
taken before the fires forced class closures and class
size increases to accommodate relocated
pupils.
SUPPORT
Long Beach Unified School District
OPPOSITION
None received.