BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1448
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Date of Hearing: April 18, 2102
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 1448 (Furutani) - As Amended: March 19, 2012
SUBJECT : Home-to-school transportation: funding
SUMMARY : Expresses the intent of the Legislature to fund
home-to-school transportation at the level approved in the
Budget Act of 2011 and provides that, beginning with the 2012-13
fiscal year and each year thereafter, the Legislature shall not
reduce home-to-school transportation funding below the amount
provided in the Budget Act of 2011.
EXISTING LAW provides for an annual Budget Act appropriation to
fund the cost of the following:
1)The transportation of pupils between their home and school, as
provided by the local education agency (LEA).
2)Payments to parents or guardians in lieu of LEA-provided
transportation.
3)Board and lodging to pupils in lieu of LEA-provided
transportation.
4)Transportation between a regular full-time day school and the
regular full-time occupational training classes they attend,
as provided by a regional occupational center or program.
5)The transportation of pupils with exceptional needs as
specified in the individualized education programs.
6)The cost of replacing or acquiring schoolbuses.
The amount that each LEA may receive is equal to the lessor of
its prior year approved transportation costs or its prior year
transportation allowance as adjusted by the cost-of-living
increase, if any, provided in the Budget Act.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : This bill provides that, beginning with the 2012-13
fiscal year, the budget appropriation for home-to-school
transportation must be at least equal to the appropriation
provided in the budget for 2011-12. The budget appropriation
for 2011-12 is $496.1 million, including $5 million for small
school district schoolbus replacement. However, the California
Department of Education reports that the actual apportionment
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for home-to-school transportation will be $475.7 million. The
difference is due to the fact that statewide eligibility for
funding is less than the appropriation.
Under the funding formula for home-to-school transportation,
districts receive the lessor of their prior year approved costs
(costs eligible for reimbursement) or their prior year state
aid, adjusted for cost of living or other increases provided in
the Budget Act. This formula has been in place since 1984.
Over time, this formula has eroded the relationship between a
district's approved costs for transportation and the amount of
state aid it receives and reduced the statewide percentage of
approved costs that get reimbursed by state aid. According to
the California Department of Education, approved costs in
2010-11 were $1.3 billion. The $475.7 million apportionment in
the current year covers 36.5% of those costs. As districts have
experienced different rates of growth in their approved
transportation costs since 1984, the percentage of approved
costs reimbursed by the state aid varies widely from district to
district.
Related legislation . AB 121 (Assembly Budget Committee),
Chapter 41, Statutes of 2011, is a budget trailer bill that
provided a trigger mechanism to make mid-year funding reductions
based on revenue estimates provided by the Director of Finance
in December 2011. The K-12 trigger called for, first, a
reduction of $248 million from home-to-school transportation
(one-half of the amount appropriated in the Budget Act), and
second, up to a 4% reduction in school district revenue limit
funding. Based on revenue estimates provided by the Director of
Finance, the trigger was pulled, resulting in the full
transportation cut plus a $79.6 million revenue limit cut.
Education advocates argued that the transportation cut was
unfair, because it had an inequitable impact on districts-some
districts were not affected at all, while others experienced
deep cuts. This was a consequence of the inequitable allocation
of state transportation aid. As a result, the Legislature
passed and the Governor signed SB 81 (Senate Budget Committee),
Chapter 2, Statutes of 2012, which restored transportation
funding and applied the $248 million reduction to revenue limits
instead.
In his January budget, the Governor proposed to eliminate
home-to-school transportation funding beginning in 2012-13. He
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has since modified that proposal and now proposes to fund
transportation for one more year only. Under his weighted
student formula proposal, nearly all categorical programs,
including transportation, would be eliminated, and the funding
for those programs would be rolled into a general purpose
apportionment. The Governor has not introduced legislation to
implement this proposal.
AB 18 (Brownley) is currently before the Senate Education
Committee. That bill creates permanent flexibility for
categorical program funding by rolling many categorical programs
into one of three blocks. Transportation funding is currently
rolled into one of the AB 18 blocks, although the author has
indicated her intent to amend to bill to remove it and keep
transportation funding as a separate categorical programs.
Arguments in support . Supporters point out than an estimated
one million students rely on home-to-school transportation to
get to school, many of whom are special needs, low-income, and
rural, who do not have safe and reliable alternatives. They
argue that funding for home-to-school transportation should be
protected from future cuts, because reductions could leave
thousands of these children unable to attend school.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of School Transportation Officials
California Family Resource Association
California School Employees Association
California Teachers Association
Regional Council of Rural Counties
Service Employees International Union-California
Opposition
None received
Analysis Prepared by : Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087
AB 1448
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