BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 193|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 193
Author: Lowenthal (D)
Amended: 7/14/09
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 4/29/09
AYES: Romero, Huff, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Maldonado,
Padilla, Simitian, Wyland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 12-0, 5/28/09
AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Corbett, Denham, DeSaulnier, Hancock,
Leno, Oropeza, Runner, Walters, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wolk
SENATE FLOOR : 39-0, 6/3/09 (Consent)
AYES: Aanestad, Alquist, Ashburn, Benoit, Calderon,
Cedillo, Cogdill, Corbett, Correa, Cox, Denham,
DeSaulnier, Ducheny, Dutton, Florez, Hancock, Harman,
Hollingsworth, Huff, Kehoe, Leno, Liu, Lowenthal,
Maldonado, Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Padilla, Pavley,
Romero, Runner, Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Walters,
Wiggins, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 9/1/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Long Beach Unified School District: class size
reduction
SOURCE : Long Beach Unified School District
CONTINUED
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DIGEST : This bill authorizes the Superintendent of
Public Instruction to approve funding for the Long Beach
Unified School District for the 2009-10, 2010-11, and
2011-12 school years for a class size reduction program if
the class size exceeds 20 pupils, or the class is housed
with another class, and specified criteria are met,
including criteria relating to closures on Catalina Island
resulting from the May 2007 fires and resultant debris flow
hazard due to weather-related conditions. These provisions
would become inoperative on July 1, 2012, and would be
repealed on January 1, 2013.
Assembly Amendments delete the 2009-10 school year from the
bill.
ANALYSIS : 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
average daily attendance (ADA) due to the fires or are
forced to load classrooms with displaced pupils, risk
losing CSR funding.
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
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percentages of CSR funding:
1.Classes of 20.5 or more but less than 21.5: Lose 5
percent of funding
2.Classes of 21.5 or more but less than 22.5: Lose 10
percent of funding
3.Classes of 22.5 or more but less than 23.0: Lose 15
percent of funding
4.Classes of 23.0 or more but less than 25.0: Lose 20
percent of funding
5.Classes of 25.0 or more lose 30 percent of funding
This bill:
1.Allows the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
approve funding for the Long Beach Unified School
District class size reduction program for the 2009-10
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 enrollment
increase attributable to the Catalina school closure
2.Provides that the bill's provisions will remain in effect
until July 1, 2012, are repealed as of January 1, 2013.
Prior Legislation
AB 1893 (Garrick), Chapter 30, Statutes 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
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closures and class size increases to accommodate relocated
pupils.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11
2011-12 Fund
CSR exemption $470 $470 General*
*Counts toward meeting the Proposition 98 minimum funding
guarantee
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/29/09)
Long Beach Unified School District (source)
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,
Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore,
Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,
Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu,
Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning,
Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Buchanan
DLW:nl 9/2/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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