BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1523
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 16, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1523 (Perea) - As Amended: May 2, 2012
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:6-4
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill, commencing with the 2013-14 school year, and when
funds become available for additional partnership academies
(PAs), requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI)
to issue grants for the establishment of PAs and give priority
to PAs dedicated to educating pupils in transportation for the
21st Century. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the SPI to continue giving priority to transportation
PAs until no less than one of these academies is established
in each geographical area of the California High-Speed Rail
Project (High Speed Rail) planned project sections.
2)Authorizes the PAs to include, but not be limited to,
educating pupils in construction, engineering, operations,
maintenance, manufacturing of rolling stock, mechanical
functions, equipment operations, and information technology.
3)Requires the State Department of Education (SDE), if a school
district decides to convert an existing PA into one focused on
transportation, to provide the transportation academy with
first-year implementation funds, as specified.
4)Requires the transportation PA's coursework and
internship/pre-apprenticeship programs to focus on the use of
environmentally sound technologies and practices, in order to
be eligible for funding.
5)Authorizes the priority established in this measure to be
satisfied when the specified number of transportation PAs are
funded by utilizing funds appropriated for PAs.
AB 1523
Page 2
FISCAL EFFECT
1)GF/98 costs, of at least $2.1 million, to establish additional
PAs with an emphasis on transportation for the 21st Century.
2)The 2011 Budget Act allocated approximately $21.4 million
GF/98 and special fund for the PA program. This amount
includes $2.6 million for the Clean Technology and Renewable
Energy Academies. According to SDE, there are over 500 PAs
that enroll approximately 50,000 high school students in the
state. SDE also reports 38 PAs either failed or closed within
the fiscal year (FY). The closure of these academies equals
approximately $2.8 million in unallocated funds for this
program.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . The author states: "According to a report prepared
for the �SDE], 95% of PA seniors in 2009-10 graduated at the
end of the school year, compared with 85% statewide. 57% of PA
graduates reportedly completed the A-G course sequence
required for freshman admission to the University of
California or the California State University, compared with
36% of graduates statewide. With 50% of the students required
to be 'at risk' students, PAs have proven to be a vital
resource in lowering high school dropout rates in California.
"
The author contends this bill will lead to a better trained
workforce able to handle the demands necessary for 21st
Century transportation projects, including the High Speed Rail
Project.
2)Program background . A PA is a three-year program, grades
10-12, structured as a school-within-a-school. Academies
incorporate many features of the high school reform movement,
which include creating a family-like atmosphere, integrating
academic and career technical education (CTE), and
establishing viable business partnerships. Emphasis is also
placed on student achievement and positive postsecondary
outcomes as well as the integration of a standards-based
academic and career technical curriculum.
According to an October 2011 report entitled California
AB 1523
Page 3
Partnership Academies 2009-10 (Dayton, C., Hester, C., Stern,
D., UC Berkeley), there were approximately 470 PAs who
submitted information to SDE. These academies operated in 278
of California's 1,264 comprehensive high schools. Most high
schools with PAs rank below average on the state's Academic
Performance Index. The 437 CPAs that provided student-level
data enrolled 48,436 students in grades 10-12 - about 3% of
the state's 1.6 million students in these grades. CPAs serve
36 of California's 58 counties. California's six most populous
counties-Los Angeles, Sacramento, Alameda, Riverside, San
Diego, and Contra Costa -have a total of 287 CPAs.
3)Recent legislation creating "themed" PAs .
SB 1X (Steinberg), First Extraordinary Session, Chapter 2,
Statutes of 2011 established the Clean Technology and
Renewable Energy Job Training, CTE, and Dropout Prevention
program for the purpose of creating PAs that focus on clean
technology and renewable energy businesses, as specified.
According to SDE, 20 school districts received a $15,000
planning grant, for a total of $300,000, to begin operating
these PAs in 2011-12. Chapter 2 further requires an annual
allocation of $8 million be made to the SPI from the Renewable
Resources Trust Fund to fund the clean technology PAs.
AB 2855 (Hancock), Chapter 685, Statutes of 2008, established,
commencing with the 2009-10 school year, the Green Technology
PAs and the Goods Movement PAs as two new categories with the
overall PA program. AB 517 (Committee on Budget), Chapter
757, Statutes of 2008 allocated $12.5 million from the Public
Interest Research and Development Training Fund (within the
Energy Commission) to SDE to establish the Green Technology
PAs. This funding was to be used over a three-year period and
$500,000 of the allocation was provided to SDE for
administration of this program.
According to SDE, the allocation in Chapter 757 funded 40
academies over a three year period. Technically, this money
should be expended by now. SDE, however, reports some of
these academies closed, which enabled the department to
allocate $1.32 million GF/98 in supplemental grants to 15 of
the remaining Green PAs in the 2011-12 FY.
4)Status of High Speed Rail Project . The Safe, Reliable
High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century,
AB 1523
Page 4
approved as Proposition 1A in November 2008, provides $9.95
billion in general obligation bond authority to fund the
planning and construction of a high-speed passenger train
system and complementary improvements to other specified rail
systems in the state.
The California High Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) is responsible
for planning and constructing the passenger train that would
link the state's major population centers. According a
2012-13 budget analysis by the Legislative Analyst Office
(LAO), "In April 2012, the HSRA released its most recent
business plan that estimates the cost of constructing the
first phase of the high-speed train project at $68 billion.
However, the HSRA only has secured about $9 billion in voter
approved bond funds and $3.5 billion in federal funds. Thus,
the availability of future funding to construct the system is
highly uncertain."
The LAO further states: "The Governor's budget plan for
2012-13 requests $5.9 billion-$2.6 billion in state bond funds
matched with $3.3 billion in federal funds to begin
construction of the high-speed rail line in the Central
Valley. In addition, about $800 million is requested to make
improvements to existing passenger rail services and about
$250 million to complete preliminary design work and
environmental reviews for various sections of the project."
According to the LAO: "We find that HSRA has not provided
sufficient detail and justification to the Legislature
regarding its plan to build a high-speed train system.
Specifically, funding for the project remains highly
speculative and important details have not been sorted out. We
recommend the Legislature not approve the Governor's various
budget proposals to provide additional funding for the
project."
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081