BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 189
Author: Eng (D), et al.
Amended: 8/30/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 7-2, 6/22/11
AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Price, Simitian,
Vargas
NOES: Blakeslee, Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-3, 8/25/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Emmerson, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 60-15, 6/1/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Education funding
SOURCE : California Council for Adult Education
DIGEST : This bill modifies requirements local education
agencies (LEAs) must adhere to in order to participate in
categorical flexibility. Specifically, this bill: (1)
requires LEAs to hold the regularly scheduled public
hearing prior to and independent of a meeting where the
school district or the governing board of the county office
of education adopts a budget, as specified, and (2)
authorizes the governing board of a school district to
charge for a class in English and citizenship until July 1,
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2015.
ANALYSIS : Existing law, as a condition of receiving
categorical flexibility funds, requires LEAs at a regularly
scheduled public hearing, to take testimony from the
public, discuss, approve, or disapprove the proposed use of
funding and make explicit for each of the categorical
program budget items the purposes for which the funds will
be used.
Statute also requires a LEA to report expenditure of
categorical program funds to indicate the activities for
which these funds are expended. Furthermore, the
California Department of Education (CDE) is required to
collect and provide this information to the Department of
Finance and the Legislature by April 15, 2010 and annually
thereafter.
Existing law prohibits school districts from charging a fee
for an adult education class in English and citizenship or
a class in an elementary subject.
This bill:
1. Modifies existing public hearing requirements on LEAs
that choose to utilize categorical flexibility. It
requires an LEAs to hold the public meeting at which
flexible expenditure decisions will be made, prior to,
and independent of, a meeting where the school district
or the county office of education adopts its budget.
2. Requires the governing board, if it intends to close a
program funded by a budget item specified within the
categorical flexibility statute, to identify in the
notice of the agenda of the public hearing or at another
public hearing, the program(s) proposed to be closed.
Comments
Categorical program funding reductions and flexibility
given to assist school districts and provide greater local
decision-making . SB 4X3 (Ducheny), Chapter 12, Statutes of
2009, Third Extraordinary Session, and extends by SB 70
(Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee), Chapter 7,
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Statutes of 2011, authorizes LEAs through the 2014-15
fiscal year, to use funding for approximately 38
categorical programs (totaling $4.5 billion statewide) for
any educational purpose to the extent permitted by federal
laws. These measures also deem LEAs to be in compliance
with program and funding requirements related to the 38
categorical programs, and requires LEA governing boards to
make flexible expenditure decisions in a regularly
scheduled public meeting.
The flexibility granted under SB 4X3 and SB 70 came as a
result of funding the categorical programs approximately 20
percent lower for the 2008-09 through the 2014-15 fiscal
years, as well as reductions to school district and county
office of education revenue limits (the basic general
purpose money allocated to districts).
Is spirit of public discussion skirted ? Several
categorical program advocates report that districts are
adhering to the statutory meeting requirement at their
governing board meetings when they adopt a final budget.
Essentially, school districts contend they are meeting the
letter of the law when they adopt their budget, which
includes final decisions on which categorical programs are
funded.
Education advocates argue the existing requirement for
discussion at a public hearing is meant for the public to
testify and provide input, which allows governing board
members to weigh the pros, cons, and consequences of
budgetary decisions regarding categorical flexibility
funds. This bill proposes to clarify the public hearing
requirement in SB 4X3 to ensure school districts do not use
the governing board meeting where they adopt the final
budget as satisfaction of this requirement.
Data on how categorical flex funds are spent is elusive .
With the flexibility provisions, LEAs are not required to
report how much funds were diverted and to which programs
they were transferred. As a result, there is no data
available to discern the extent to which LEAs diverted
categorical funds for other educational needs or the number
of programs that have been dismantled. The Legislative
Analyst's Office has conducted two surveys, in the fall of
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2009 and 2010, in an effort to ascertain the effects of
flexibility and other resources in helping LEAs balance
their budgets. The survey results were based on 382
completed surveys out of the 1,000 school districts; the
respondents represent 58 percent of the state's ADA. Among
the findings in the survey is that more districts are
discontinuing programs in 2010-11 compared with 2009-10,
including seven percent of survey respondents report
discontinuing adult education programs in 2010-11.
Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school
district maintaining an adult class to require an adult
enrolled in the class to pay a fee and prohibits the
governing board from imposing a charge for a class in
English and citizenship for foreigners or a class in an
elementary subject, except as specified.
This bill extends the sunset on existing authority of
school districts to charge a fee for a class in English and
citizenship until July 1, 2015. This provision will result
in local revenue for school districts offering those
classes.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, these
additional meeting requirements would be borne by LEAs, as
a condition of categorical flexibility. The cost to
individual LEAs is depending upon the number of programs
they intend to close, their meeting procedures, and their
staffing levels. This bill only requires one additional
public meeting (at which all proposed program closures
could be discussed), and is unlikely to incur a significant
cost for any single LEA. Extending the authority for
charging a fee in English and citizenship will result in
local revenue for school districts offering those classes.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/30/11)
California Council for Adult Education (source)
Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
Asian and Pacific Islanders California Action Network
Asian Resources, Inc.
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California Association for the Gifted
California Association of Leaders for Career Preparation
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
California Federation of Teachers
California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other
Languages
Get Real Coalition:
California Manufacturers & Technology Association
State Building and Construction Trade Council of
California
California Federation of Teachers
California Agricultural Teachers Association
California Farm Bureau
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
California Business Education Association
California Workforce Association
California Industrial Technology Education Association
Association of Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning
Contractors
The Council of Mexican Federations
United Teachers Los Angeles
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
categorical flexibility has given local school districts
the authority to transfer funds from any of approximately
40 categorical programs to each local school district
general fund without having to comply with the statutory
requirements of the specific program. Existing law
requires a public discussion of proposed transfer of funds.
However, some LEAs claim compliance at the meeting where
they adopt the budget and do not offer the community a real
opportunity to provide feedback as intended by law.
While categorical flexibility has enabled school districts
to remain solvent during a time of unprecedented budget
cuts, it is resulting in the dismantling of the state's
core categorical programs, such as adult education, and
regional occupational centers and programs which will be
extremely difficult to restore once categorical flexibility
ends.
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 60-15, 6/1/11
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani,
Gatto, Gordon, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez,
Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jones, Lara, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Nestande,
Olsen, Pan, Perea, Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Grove, Hagman, Halderman,
Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, Morrell, Nielsen, Norby,
Silva, Valadao, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Garrick, Gorell, Jeffries, V. Manuel
P�rez, Smyth
CPM:DWL:do 8/30/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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