BILL NUMBER: AB 853 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 13, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 20, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Blumenfield
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Beall, Cook, and Garrick)
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 853, as amended, 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 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 a California resident.
(2)
(3) 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)
(4) 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)
(5) 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 board of the
school district or county office of education, or by the governing
body of the charter school.
(2) The online course is certified to meet these requirements,
through board resolution, by the governing board of the school
district or county office of education, or by the governing body of
the charter school.
(3) The online course is certified by the governing board of the
school district or county office of education, or by the governing
body of the charter school, 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 pupils enrolled in that course to full-time
equivalent certificated teachers teaching the online course is less
than or equal to the ratio of pupils to teachers 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 board
of the school district or county office of education, or by the
governing body of the charter school, to be unique to the online
setting, the ratio of pupils enrolled in that course to full-time
equivalent teachers teaching the online course shall not exceed 30 to
1.
(6) When a traditional classroom-based course of the same course
title exists within the school district, county office of education,
or charter school, 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 school in which the pupil is enrolled for regular
classroom courses, and to any school district or county office
of education within which that school's testing results are
aggregated.
(9) The online course is offered by a high school, continuation
school, county office of education, or charter school offering
instruction in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive.
(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 with pupils, are maintained by the school district,
county office of education, or charter school.
(c) 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.
(d) 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.
(e) 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 school
district, county office of education, or charter school during the
fiscal year.
(f) To remain eligible for claiming average daily attendance and
generating apportionments, a pupil over 19 years of age enrolled in
an online course or courses shall be continuously enrolled in public
school and make satisfactory progress toward award of a high school
diploma. The Superintendent shall, on or before December 31, 2012,
adopt regulations defining "satisfactory progress."
(f)
(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 school district, county office of education, or
charter school 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.
(g)
(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 (k)
(l) .
(h) For the
(i) For purposes of calculating
average daily attendance pursuant to Section 46300 and meeting the
minimum instructional time requirements specified in paragraph
(3) (4) 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 school
district or county office of education 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.
(i) For the
(j) For purposes of calculating
average daily attendance pursuant to Section 46300, a school
district, county office of education, or charter school 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.
(j) For the
(k) For 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) "Synchronous online course" means a course where the teacher
and pupil are online at the same time and able to interact at that
time.
(k)
(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 (f)
(g) .
(l)
(m) No provision of this section shall be waived unless
the waiver is specifically authorized in statute.
(m)
(n) 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.