BILL ANALYSIS
SB 450
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 30, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
SB 450 (Lowenthal) - As Amended: January 28, 2010
SENATE VOTE : Vote not relevant
SUBJECT : Class size reduction: Long Beach Unified School
District
SUMMARY : Authorizes the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) to approve Kindergarten through grade 3 (K-3) class size
reduction (CSR) funding for the Long Beach Unified School
District (LBUSD) despite exceeding required teacher-to-pupil
ratios, if the increase in teacher-to-pupil ratio is due to a
fire in May 2007. Specifically, this bill :
1)Specifies that the SPI may approve CSR funding for the
2009-10, 2010-11, and the 2011-12 school years for classes
that either exceed 20 pupils or are housed with another class,
if the following conditions are met:
a) The school district certifies that the number of pupils
enrolled in a district school increased as a direct result
of the closures on Catalina Island resulting from the May
2007 fire and resultant debris flow hazard due to
weather-related conditions, and this growth increased the
number of pupils enrolled in classes in which K-3 CSR
program is implemented; and,
b) The school district certifies that it lacked sufficient
classroom space or credentialed teachers to accommodate the
enrollment increase from the closures on Catalina Island
resulting from the May 2007 fire and resultant debris flow
hazard due to weather-related conditions.
2)Specifies that this bill becomes inoperative on July 1, 2012
and is repealed on January 1, 2013, unless a later enacted
statute that is enacted before January 1, 2013, deletes or
extends the dates on which the bill becomes inoperative and is
repealed.
3)Finds and declares that due to unique circumstances relating
to the LBUSD, a general statute cannot be made applicable.
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4)Contains an urgency clause in order to provide timely
essential relief to the LBUSD that may experience a loss of
state funding as a result of mandatory fire and
weather-related school closings on Catalina Island.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the K-3 CSR program to provide funding to school
districts to reduce class size in kindergarten through grade 3
to not more than 20 pupils per certificated teacher.
2)Establishes the following two options under which a school
district may apply for CSR funding:
a) Option One: A school district shall provide a reduced
class size for all pupils in each classroom for the full
regular school day in each grade level for which funding is
claimed. In order to qualify for funding, each class in
CSR shall be maintained with an annual average class size
of not more than 20 pupils for the instructional time that
qualifies the class for funding. Nothing prohibits the
class size from exceeding 20 pupils on any particular day,
provided that the average class size for the school year
does not exceed 20.
b) Option Two: A school district shall provide a reduced
class size for all pupils in each classroom for at least
one-half of the instructional minutes offered per day in
each grade level for which funding is claimed. School
districts selecting this option shall primarily devote
those instructional minutes to the subject areas of reading
and mathematics.
3)Establishes penalty in the form of reduction in payments for
each class that the school district fails to maintain required
pupil-to-teacher ratios.
4)Authorizes a school district located in the counties of Los
Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, or Ventura to
claim CSR funding for the 2003-04 school year based on
enrollment counts before the October 2003 fires in classes for
which the K-3 CSR program is implemented if the school
district certifies that it suffered a loss of enrollment in
those classes due to the October 2003 fires that would result
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in a decrease in CSR funding.
5)Authorizes a school district located in the counties of Los
Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa
Barbara, and Ventura, to claim CSR funding for the 2007-08
school year based on enrollment counts before the October 2007
fires if the school district certifies that it suffered a loss
of enrollment in CSR classes due to the October 2007 fires.
6)Specifies further reduction in penalties, capped at 30%, for
districts that fail to maintain pupil-to-teacher ratios for
the 2008-09 through 2011-12 school years only.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee of a similar bill from 2009, SB 193 (Lowenthal), the
funding is in the budget. However, there is a potential General
Fund/Proposition 98 loss of savings, of approximately $470,000,
to allow LBUSD to retain full funding for the K-3 CSR program.
COMMENTS : Enacted in 1996, the CSR provides incentive funding
of $1,071 per pupil to districts that reduce their kindergarten,
first, second, or third grade classes to an average ratio of 20
pupils per certificated teacher. A class can exceed 20 pupils
for any particular day, as long as the average class size for
the school year does not exceed 20.44. The CSR program requires
reducing grade 1 and grade 2 class sizes before reducing grade 3
or kindergarten class sizes. In 2007-08, only 14 districts did
not participate in this program. The state budget provided $1.8
billion for this purpose in fiscal year (FY) 2008-09.
Until the enactment of SB 311 (Sher), Chapter 910, Statutes of
2004, any class that failed to maintain the required ratio was
subject to a penalty in the form of loss of funding for the
whole class.
SB 4 X3 (Ducheny), Chapter 12, Statutes of 2009, as part of the
FY 2008-09 and 2009-10 budget adjustments, further reduced the
penalties for not meeting required teacher-to-pupil ratios and
capped the penalties at a 30% reduction for the 2008-09 through
2011-12 school years, as follows:
-----------------------------------------------
| | |
| SB 311 | SBX3 4 (2008-09 |
| | through 2011-12) |
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| | |
|-----------------------+-----------------------|
| | |
| Penalty | Penalty |
| Class Size |Class Size |
|-----------------------+-----------------------|
| | |
| 20% | 5% |
|20.45 - 20.94 | 20.5 - 21.5 |
| 40% | 10% |
|20.95 - 21.44 |21.5 - 22.5 |
| 80% | 15% |
|21.45 - 21.84 |22.5 - 23 |
| 100% | 20% |
|> 21.84 |23 - 25 |
| | 30% |
| |> 25 |
-----------------------------------------------
Existing law provides an exemption to the penalties for seven
counties that suffered devastating fires in 2003 and 2007. This
bill provides similar relief to the LBUSD as a result of a fire
on the island of Catalina in May 2007. The Avalon Schools
enrolls almost 700 kindergarten through grade 12 students in the
city of Avalon on Catalina Island. According to the author, "In
May 2007 a major fire destroyed vegetation on all major canyons
that drain into the valley which contains the school site and
the community. Whenever the ground reaches a saturation level
there is imminent danger of mudslides and rockslides, which
could result in extended closures and/or evacuations."
According to the LBUSD, the United States Geological Survey
protocol and onsite reconnaissance has determined that there is
danger of mudslides when the island reaches either 10 inches of
rain within 120 days or receives inch of rain per hour for two
to three hours, and/or over 2 inches of rainfall within a 48
hour period.
This bill authorizes the SPI to approve CSR funding during the
2009-10 through 2011-12 school years if the district certifies
that classes increased as a result of closures on the Catalina
Island resulting from the May 2007 fire and resultant debris
flow hazard due to weather-related conditions, and the district
certifies that it lacked sufficient classroom space or
credentialed teachers to accommodate the enrollment increase.
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This bill essentially prevents the district from losing a
maximum of 30% of its CSR funding if students from Avalon
Schools must be temporarily relocated to other LBUSD schools,
thereby increasing the sizes of those classes that participate
in the CSR program. The provisions of this bill sunset on July
1, 2012, and are repealed on January 1, 2013. According to the
district, the risk of mudslides and rockslides subside when
vegetation that was destroyed by the fire is expected to be
sufficiently restored by 2012.
This bill is identical to SB 193 (Alan Lowenthal), which was
vetoed by the Governor in 2009 with the following message:
"This bill is premature, and therefore unnecessary at this time,
since the Long Beach Unified School District has not received a
reduction in its K-3 Class Size Reduction (CSR) program funding
level. I have previously supported legislation that held
districts harmless for loss of CSR funding due to unexpected
fires that have disrupted operations at certain schools.
However, this bill sets a precedent by providing a hold harmless
provision of CSR funding prospectively. In the event there are
school closures during the 2009-10 through 2011-12 school years,
legislation can be considered at that time."
According to the author, this bill was reintroduced because the
Avalon School was closed for three days due to heavy rains and
threat of debris flow hazards during January 2010.
Other related legislation . AB 548 (Chesbro), authorizes, for
the 2008-09 school year, a local educational agency to choose
for state apportionment purposes either the option set forth in
SB 4X3 (Ducheny) or the option as it read on December 31, 2008
regarding the number of eligible classes. Authorizes the
Riverside Unified School District a similar option for the
2009-10 school year. The bill is pending in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
AB 2272 (Block), introduced in 2010, modified the class size
reduction penalties established by the FY 2009-10 budget
agreement. The bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee's suspense file.
SB 1396 (Lowenthal), pending in the Assembly Education
Committee, establishes the Maximum Categorical Education
Flexibility Pilot Program authorizing the SPI to select three
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school districts to participate and utilize their categorical
funding for any purpose related to improving pupil academic
achievement and academic instruction.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087