BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
266 (Huff)
Hearing Date: 05/28/1009 Amended: 05/06/2009
Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 7-0
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 266 would enact the Open Enrollment Act for
the purpose of allowing pupils attending low-performing schools,
as specified, to attend schools in a different district. The
bill would require school districts to notify parents of pupils
that attend a school that is ranked in deciles 1, 2, or 3 of the
Academic Performance Index (API) of the opportunity for the
pupil to apply for enrollment in another district and provide
specified information. The receiving district ("school district
of enrollment") would be required to review each application for
enrollment and provide a response to the applicant within 60
days of receipt, pursuant to timelines established in the bill.
If the application is rejected, justification for the rejection
must be provided. School districts may exempt themselves from
sending or receiving pupils pursuant to this bill upon a
determination by the school board that transfers would
negatively impact a district's court-ordered desegregation plan
or the racial and ethnic balance of the district. The bill
would also allow the district of enrollment to establish other
priorities for enrollment, such as first ensuring placement for
resident pupils. The bill would take effect as of July 1, 2010,
and become inoperative on July 1, 2020.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Notification $900 to $1,800,
annuallyGeneral*
Applications Unknown, potentially
General*hundreds of thousands
or millions, depending on
participation
*Counts toward meeting the Proposition 98 minimum funding
guarantee
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
Current law provides for pupils to attend school in a district
other than their district of residence in certain situations. A
district may declare itself a school district of choice and
admit transfers into the district. The district of choice may
limit the number of transfers in but must use a random process
of selection that is not based on academic or athletic
performance. Current law also allows for interdistrict
transfers based on employment of childcare needs, upon agreement
by both the receiving and sending district, as specified.
California's public K-12 education system serves approximately 6
million pupils, so in any given year, roughly 1.8 million of
those pupils (30 percent of the total) will attend a
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SB 266 (Huff)
school ranked 1, 2, or 3 on the API. This bill would mandate
districts to notify the parents of all of these pupils of the
school's ranking and provide information about an interdistrict
transfer. Assuming notification costs ranging from $.50 to $1
per pupil, this bill would result in annual reimbursable mandate
costs of $900,000 to $1.8 million. Further, the bill's
requirement that receiving districts review applications, adopt
standards and procedures, reply to applicants within 60 days,
process record transfers, and other related activities would
also drive reimbursable state mandate costs. These costs are
more difficult to estimate as it is unknown how many pupils will
seek a transfer. If only 1 percent of eligible pupils
(approximately 18,000) applied for an interdistrict transfer
pursuant to this bill, it is reasonable to assume that this bill
would result in significant state costs in the hundreds of
thousands or low millions of dollars. This amount maybe more or
less depending on participation.