BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 509
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          Date of Hearing:   July 1, 2009

                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                                Julia Brownley, Chair
             SB 509 (Committee on Education) - As Amended:  June 1, 2009

           SENATE VOTE  :   35-0
           
          SUBJECT  :   Education

           SUMMARY :  Corrects technical errors and oversights, and makes  
          numerous non-controversial and conforming changes to various  
          provisions of the Education Code (EC).  Specifically,  this bill  :  
             

          1)Corrects a reference to the Joint Powers Central County  
            Occupational Center as it recently changed its name to the  
            Metropolitan Education District.

          2)Allows charter schools to amend reports and correct previous  
            errors or omissions relative to poverty data submitted to be  
            eligible for Economic Impact Aid funding without seeking a  
            waiver from the State Board of Education (SBE), as currently  
            required by statute. 

          3)Repeals conflicting language related to pupil transportation  
            funding for charter schools.  Charter schools that participate  
            in the block grant funding model are receiving funding for the  
            pupil transportation program through the Charter School  
            Categorical Block Grant.  The California Department of  
            Education (CDE) does not permit block grant funded charter  
            schools to receive pupil transportation funding from the  
            program.  These proposed changes would not affect continued  
            participation in the program.

          4)Reinstates language that was contained in SB 1251 (Steinberg),  
            Chapter 710, Statutes of 2008 to include 5- and 6-year  
            graduation rates for partial credit in the Academic  
            Performance Index (API). The bill received unanimous votes in  
            policy and fiscal committees and on the floors of both houses.  
             It was signed by the Governor on September 30, 2008 but was  
            chaptered out by a subsequent signature on the education  
            budget trailer bill.

          5)Eliminates a duplicative requirement the CDE submit school  








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            district financial and attendance data to the State  
            Controller's Office.

          6)Makes other non-substantive amendments. 

           EXISTING LAW  assigns various duties to state and local  
          educational agencies and governs the operation of public  
          schools.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown 

           COMMENTS  :  This bill is the annual Education Code clean up  
          legislation, sponsored by the California Department of Education  
          (CDE) that makes various non-controversial revisions to statute.  
          This education omnibus bill corrects errors, resolves conflicts,  
          and deletes obsolete references. 

          By tradition, objection to any provision by the CDE, the  
          Department of Finance, or any of the four legislative caucuses  
          prevents that provision from being included in this bill.

          Two additional amendments have been approved for inclusion into  
          this bill. The amendments: 

          1)Delete a reference to the Golden State Exam as qualifying a  
            basis for eligibility for the merit diploma.  The exam was  
            repealed in 2003, thus no students qualifying for a diploma  
            will be able to use that exam as a basis of eligibility for  
            the merit diploma.  

          2)Delete a reference to the Pre-Internship Teaching Program  
            which was repealed in 2007.

           Staff recommends  the bill be amended to include these two  
          additional technical clean up amendments. 

          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support 
           
          None on file.
           
            Opposition 
           
          None on file. 








                                                                  SB 509
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           Analysis Prepared by  :    Marisol Avi?a / ED. / (916) 319-2087