BILL NUMBER: AB 802	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Blumenfield

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2011

   An act to add and repeal Section 46300.8 of the Education Code,
relating to online education.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 802, as introduced, Blumenfield. Online education: school
attendance.
   Existing law establishes the public elementary and secondary
school system in this state, and further establishes a funding system
pursuant to which the state apportions funds to local educational
agencies based on, among other factors, the average daily attendance
of pupils at the schools operated by those agencies. Numerous
statutes and regulations govern the calculation and reporting of
average daily attendance.
   This bill, commencing with the 2013-14 fiscal year, would provide
that school districts, county offices of education, and charter
schools that offer online education courses may claim attendance
toward average daily attendance on the basis of a pupil's attendance
in an online course or courses that satisfy prescribed criteria.
   The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction,
in consultation with the Controller and the Director of Finance, on
or before December 31, 2012, to make revisions to any attendance
accounting manual or guidance provided to school districts, county
offices of education, or charter schools that are necessary to
conform to these provisions, or to clarify these provisions with
respect to attendance accounting procedures for asynchronous online
courses, as defined. The bill additionally would require the
Superintendent, in consultation with the Director of Finance, to
adopt rules and regulations for the purposes of clarifying or
expanding the procedures required for verifying the identification of
pupils participating in asynchronous online courses and including
pupil attendance in asynchronous online education courses in the
calculation of average daily attendance.
    The bill would make all of these provisions inoperative on July
1, 2017, and repeal them on January 1, 2018.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 46300.8 is added to the Education Code, to
read:
   46300.8.  (a) Commencing with the 2013-14 fiscal year, a school
district, county office of education, or charter school may claim
attendance toward average daily attendance, for the purposes of
calculating average daily attendance pursuant to Section 46300, on
the basis of a pupil's attendance in an online course or courses if
all of the following apply:
   (1) The pupil is enrolled in grade 9, 10, 11, or 12.
   (2) The pupil is enrolled in classes that include courses in a
classroom-based setting, courses that are offered through an online
program, or both.
   (3) The pupil meets minimum instructional time requirements
pursuant to:
   (A) Section 46141 and Section 46201, 46201.5, or 46202, as
applicable, for pupils enrolled in a noncharter school in a school
district or county office of education.
   (B) Section 46170, for pupils enrolled in a continuation school.
   (C) Section 46180, for pupils enrolled in an opportunity school.
   (D) Subdivision (e) of Section 47612.5, for pupils enrolled in a
charter school.
   (4) Each online course in which the pupil is enrolled is a
high-quality online course.
   (b) For the purposes of this section, a "high-quality online
course" is defined as an online course that meets all of the
following requirements:
   (1) The online course is approved by the governing body of the
local educational agency.
   (2) The online course is certified to meet these requirements,
through board resolution, by the governing body of the local
educational agency.
   (3) The online course is certified by the governing body of the
local educational agency as being as rigorous as a classroom-based
course and meeting or exceeding all relevant state content standards.

   (4) Either of the following:
   (A) The teacher is online at the same time as each pupil, is
accessible to each pupil attending the synchronous online course to
respond to pupil queries, assign tasks, and dispense information, and
is able to make a visual connection with each pupil for the purposes
of verifying attendance or providing immediate supervision of the
pupil.
   (B) The teacher may be online at different times than each pupil,
is accessible to each pupil attending the asynchronous online course
to respond to pupil queries, assign tasks, and dispense information,
and, for the purposes of verifying attendance, is able to employ at
least one of the following:
   (i) Periodic proctored examinations.
   (ii) Direct teacher-pupil meetings no less than twice per calendar
month.
   (iii) A visual connection including, but not limited to, Internet
Webcam.
   (5) (A) The ratio of full-time equivalent certificated teachers
teaching the online course to pupils enrolled in that course is
greater than or equal to the ratio of teachers to pupils in
traditional classroom study of the same subject matter in the school,
school district, or the unified school district with the largest
average daily attendance of pupils in that county for the prior
school year, as reported on the Internet Web site of the department.
   (B) If the online course is new or deemed by the governing body of
the local educational agency to be unique to the online setting, the
ratio of full-time equivalent certificated teachers to pupils
enrolled in that course shall not exceed 30 to 1.
   (C) If the online course is new or deemed by the governing body of
the local educational agency to be unique to the online setting, the
teacher of the online course, at a minimum, shall meet the
requirements described in paragraph (7).
   (6) When a traditional classroom-based course of the same course
title exists within the local educational agency, the subject matter
content of the online course is the same as for the traditional
classroom-based course.
   (7) The teacher of the online course holds the appropriate subject
matter credential and meets the requirements for a highly qualified
teacher pursuant to the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20
U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.).
   (8) Statewide testing results for online pupils are reported and
assigned to the local educational agency in which the pupil is
enrolled for regular classroom courses.
   (9) The online course is offered by a high school, continuation
school, county office of education, or charter school.
   (10) No pupil is assigned to the online course unless the pupil
voluntarily elects to participate in the online course and the parent
or guardian of the pupil provides written consent before the pupil
participates in the online course.
   (11) No pupil voluntarily electing to participate in the online
course is denied access because the pupil lacks the computer hardware
or software necessary to participate in the online course.
   (12) No pupil is charged for his or her participation in the
online course.
   (13) Pupils enrolled in the online course take examinations by
proctor or other reliable methods are used to ensure test integrity,
and there is a clear record of pupil work, using the same method of
documentation and assessment as used in a classroom-based course.
   (14) Contemporaneous records of the time that a pupil spends
online in the course and in related activities, and of the time the
teacher is online, are maintained by the local educational agency.
   (c) A local educational agency offering an online course may
contract with another local educational agency to provide an online
course meeting all of the requirements specified in subdivisions (a)
and (b).
   (1) A teacher of an online course shall be an employee of the
providing local educational agency, and shall meet all of the
requirements for a teacher of an online course specified in
subdivision (b).
   (2) For the purposes of subdivision (a) of Section 46300 only, a
teacher meeting the requirements of paragraph (1) shall be deemed to
be an employee of the offering local educational agency.
   (3) Contract terms shall be determined by mutual agreement of the
local educational agencies.
   (4) A local educational agency that provides online courses
pursuant to the contract shall contract directly with the offering
local educational agency, and shall not enter into direct contracts
with the pupils of the offering local educational agency or otherwise
attempt to enroll those pupils.
   (d) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to mean that a
charter school provides classroom-based or nonclassroom-based
instruction for the purposes of the state board determination made
pursuant to Section 47612.5.
   (e) Attendance accounted for pursuant to subdivision (a) and
compliance with the requirements of subdivision (b) are subject to
the audit conducted pursuant to Section 41020.
   (f) A pupil shall not be credited with more than five days of
course attendance per calendar week or more than the total number of
calendar days that regular classes are maintained by the local
educational agency during the fiscal year.
   (g) The Superintendent, in consultation with the Controller and
the Director of Finance, on or before December 31, 2012, shall do all
of the following:
   (1) Make revisions to any attendance accounting manual or guidance
provided to a local educational agency that are necessary to conform
to this section.
   (2) Make revisions to any attendance accounting manual or guidance
provided to local educational agencies that are necessary to clarify
attendance accounting procedures for asynchronous online courses.
   (3) Make recommendations to the appropriate policy and fiscal
committees in both houses of the Legislature and to the Governor
regarding statutory changes that would be necessary to allow pupil
attendance in asynchronous online courses to be included in the
calculation of average daily attendance pursuant to Section 46300.
   (h) Pupil attendance in asynchronous online courses shall not be
included in the calculation of average daily attendance pursuant to
Section 46300 until the Superintendent has adopted rules and
regulations pursuant to subdivision (l).
   (i) For the purposes of calculating average daily attendance
pursuant to Section 46300 and meeting the minimum instructional time
requirements specified in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a):
   (1) A pupil enrolled in a noncharter school and engaged in
educational activities in an online course meeting the requirements
of subdivisions (a) and (b) shall be deemed to be under the immediate
supervision and control of an employee of the district or county
office who possesses a valid certification document, registered as
required by law.
    (2) A pupil enrolled in a charter school and engaged in
educational activities in an online course meeting the requirements
of subdivisions (a) and (b) shall be deemed to be attending at the
schoolsite of the charter school.
   (j) For the purposes of calculating average daily attendance
pursuant to Section 46300, a local educational agency claiming pupil
attendance in an online course meeting the requirements of
subdivision (b) shall not be required to meet the requirements of
Article 5.5 (commencing with Section 51745) of Chapter 5 of Part 28.
   (k) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions
apply:
   (1) "Asynchronous online course" means a course where the teacher
and pupil may be online at different times and are unable to interact
simultaneously.
   (2) "Local educational agency" means a school district, county
office of education, or charter school.
   (3) "Synchronous online course" means a course where the teacher
and pupil are online at the same time and able to interact at that
time.
    (l) The Superintendent, in consultation with the Department of
Finance, shall adopt rules and regulations, pursuant to the
rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter
3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title
2 of the Government Code), for both of the following purposes:
   (1) Clarifying or expanding the procedures required for verifying
the identification of pupils participating in asynchronous online
courses meeting all of the requirements of subdivisions (a) and (b).
   (2) Including pupil attendance in asynchronous online courses in
the calculation of average daily attendance pursuant to Section
46300. The Superintendent shall ensure that the rules and regulations
adopted for this purpose are consistent with the revisions and
recommendations required pursuant to subdivision (g).
   (m) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2017, and, as
of January 1, 2018, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2018, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.