BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1584
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Date of Hearing: May 16, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1584 (Eng) - As Amended: April 23, 2012
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill extends the sunset date of the Health Science and
Medical Technology (HSMT) Project, administered by the State
Department of Education (SDE), from January 1, 2014 to July 1,
2018. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to
approve all final grant allocations and specifies allocations
for the HSMT Project are contingent upon funding provided in
the annual budget act.
2)Requires grant recipients, at a minimum, to design and
implement a multi-year coherent sequence of standards-based
academic and career technical education (CTE) courses and
work-based learning experiences that provide pupils as early
as middle school with a structured progression of secondary
and postsecondary education, as specified.
3)Limits funding for the HSMT Project to specific activities,
including, implementation of an articulated multiyear sequence
of courses from middle school to postsecondary education in a
selected pathway; providing materials/equipment to support
academic and technical curriculum alignment in the selected
pathway; and development of standards-based health/science and
medical-technology-focused curriculum.
4)Requires SDE to monitor a grantee and provide technical
assistance to ensure the grantee is meeting program
requirements.
5)Changes the report date for this program from January 1, 2012
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to January 1, 2016.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Annual GF/98 costs of at least $2.5 million to continue this
program. The average grant amount for the 2009-10 allocation
was $58,000 GF/98. According to SDE, 43 LEAs received funding
for this project in the 2009-10 fiscal year (FY).
2)Minor, absorbable GF administrative costs to SDE to continue
administering the HSMT Project beyond the 2013-14 FY.
COMMENTS
1)Background . SB 1309 (Scott), Chapter 837, Statutes of 2006,
established the HSMT Project until January 1, 2014 to develop
health-related career pathway programs prepare pupils in
grades 7-12 for the academic rigor of nursing and other
health-career education. Local education agencies (LEAs),
including charter schools, provide programs under this project
in different educational settings, including regional
occupational center programs (ROC/Ps) and/or partnership
academies. The 2005 Budget Act allocated $2.5 million GF/98
for this project.
SB 70 (Scott), Chapter 352, Statutes of 2005, allocated $20
million in GF/98 reversion account funding to establish
Governor Schwarzenegger's Career Technical Education
Initiative. The HSMT Project was funded through this
allocation. Subsequently, SB 1133 (Torlakson), Chapter 751,
Statutes of 2006, provided an additional $32 million GF/98
annually to SB 70 programs (including the HSMT Project) until
the 2013-14 fiscal year. This funding was level was agreed to
in order to settle CTA et.al. v. Schwarzenegger et. al., which
discharged the outstanding balance of the maintenance factor
resulting from the 2004 Budget Act's suspension of the state's
obligation to meet the constitutionally-required Proposition
98 minimum funding level for K-14 schools.
2)Purpose . According to the author, "Since 2008, the
continuation of the $2.5 million from the Governor's CTE
Initiative has funded school sites that are continuing to
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implement health science pathway programs. Students who
benefit from this program represent the diversity of our
state, with 43% Latino, 30% White, 12% Asian, and 6.6% African
American. Many of the students are also on free and reduced
lunch programs. Findings demonstrate that students enrolled in
the HSMTP attend more days of school, enter post-secondary
education and graduate at a higher rates than the general
population of their high schools."
The author further states: "Unfortunately, the HSMT Project is
set to expire on January 1, 2014. Hence, this bill would
extend the HSMT Project for five years, to continue to
establish rich, rigorous, integrated health science and
medical technology careers pathway programs to serve students
from every school in California."
3)Preliminary extension of the HSMT Project . This project is
scheduled to sunset on January 1, 2014, which is two years
from now. The timing of this sunset coincides with the last
FY in which all SB 70 program (extended via SB 1133) funding
statutorily expires. This funding allocates $2.5 million
GF/98 for the HSMT Project. Given the state's severe fiscal
crisis, it is unclear the need to extend the sunset of this
program now and thereby commit to funding it until the 2017-18
FY.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081