BILL ANALYSIS �
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 81
Author: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee
Amended: 1/30/12
Vote: 21
PRIOR SENATE VOTES NOT RELEVANT
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
SUBJECT : Home to School Transportation program: funding
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill restores a reduction of $248 million
to the Home to School Transportation (HTST) program for
Fiscal Year (FY) 2011-12 and replaces this with a reduction
of $248 million to school districts, county offices of
education and charter school funding in the 2011-12 FY.
Assembly Amendments delete the prior version of the bill
which was the transportation budget trailer bill containing
provisions necessary to modify the 2010-11 budget and
implement the 2011 Budget Act.
ANALYSIS :
Existing Law
1.Provides discretionary funding to school districts,
county offices of education and charter schools to
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support the general costs of operating schools. These
funds are provided based on a formula that takes their
average daily attendance over the course of the year and
multiplies it by their individual funding rate (also
known as a "revenue limit").
2.Requires, for the 2011-12 school year, that the revenue
limit for each school district, county office of
education, and charter school be reduced pursuant to a
specified formula.
3.Provides categorical program funding for school district
and county office of education transportation costs based
on the amount received for that purpose in the prior
year, or the agencies' actual transportation costs,
whichever is less. Existing law also requires school
districts to provide transportation services for special
education students if the students' individual education
plans specify such need.
This bill restores a reduction of $248 million to the Home
to Scholl Transportation (HTST) program for Fiscal Year
(FY) 2011-12 and replaces this with a reduction of $248
million to school districts, county offices of education
and charter school funding in the 2011-12 FY.
Specifically, this bill:
1.Increases the school district revenue limit deficit
factor from 19.754 percent to 20.404 percent for the
2011-12 FY. This adjustment reduces school district and
charter school revenue limit funding in the current year
in order to offset restoration of funding for the HTST
program for 2011-12.
2.Increases the county office of education revenue limit
deficit factor from 20.041 percent to 20.691 percent for
the 2011-12 FY. This adjustment reduces county office of
education revenue limit funding in the current year in
order to offset restoration of funding for the HTST
program for2011-12.
3.Increases the reduction to categorical programs for Basic
Aid districts in 2011-12 from 8.92 percent to 9.57
percent. This ensures a "fair share" reduction
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commensurate with the revenue limit reduction for
non-Basic Aid districts in 2011-12. Basic Aid districts
are defined as districts that do not receive state
funding for revenue limits.
4.Makes an appropriation of $248 million from the General
Fund to the California Department of Education for
transfer to Section A of the State School Fund to restore
funding for home-to-school transportation for the 2011-12
FY.
5.Declares that the bill is to take effect immediately as a
bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget
Bill.
Comments
The HTST program provides funds to offset a school
district's cost to transport students to and from home and
school. Allocations are based on either a district's prior
year allocations or approved costs, whichever is less. In
the 1992-93 FY, school districts were required to establish
a base year of funding for both home-to-school and special
education transportation funding. All future allocations
of this funding are based on the amount districts received
in 1992-93.
2011-12 Budget Act . The 2011-12 Budget Act provided a
total of $495 million in General Fund (Proposition 98) for
the HTST program. Of the $496 million appropriated in the
2011-12 budget $491 million is provided for pupil
transportation, which includes both allocations for
home-to-school transportation and allocations for some
pupils with disabilities, specifically "severely disabled
and orthopedically impaired" pupils. $5 million is
provided for Small Bus Replacement.
AB 121 (Assembly Budget Committee), Chapter 41, Statutes of
2011, authorized additional reductions to school
transportation appropriations in the Budget Act that would
be "triggered" if state revenues revenue estimates fall
below specified levels. In December 2011, the Department
of Finance applied the trigger cut to the HTST Program,
which resulted in the elimination of the remaining half
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year of funding for the program in 2011-12. A trigger cut
of $79.6 million was also applied to revenue limit funding
pursuant to AB 121. This bill would undo the trigger cut
for the HTST program and replace it with a comparable
reduction to school district, county office of education
and charter school revenue limit funding. Basic aid school
districts would also take a "fair share" reduction.
2012-13 Budget Proposes to Eliminate Home-to-School
Transportation . The Governor's 2012-13 Budget proposes to
eliminate all funding for the HTST program in 2012-13. The
Governor also proposes eliminating most other categorical
programs and instead would provide districts with a new
weighted pupil formula in an effort to make more funds
discretionary for school districts.
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Lawsuit . After
receiving notification of the $248 million "trigger"
reduction, LAUSD filed suit in the Los Angeles Superior
Court to block the mid-year cuts to HTST. LAUSD claims
that they would receive a $38 million reduction, and that
they cannot cease to transport their students due to a 1981
desegregation court-order and special education
transportation requirements. The district argues that the
cut would require them to choose between "two illegal and
unconstitutional outcomes": terminate transportation
services in violation of the court-order, or divert
classroom funds to pay for transportation (resulting in a
"disproportionately lower share of funding and educational
opportunities as compared to students in school districts
without those mandatory costs").
Problems with the Existing Program . The Bureau of State
Audits (BSA) released a report on HTST in 2007,
acknowledging many problems with the existing program
funding formula. Some of the findings include:
1.The current funding mechanism prevents some school
districts that did not receive HTST program funds in the
immediately preceding fiscal year from receiving these
funds because of the basis of allocation.
2.Allocation increases are not always consistent with
student population growth. Some school districts have
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experienced dramatic increases in student population over
the years; however, their allocations have not always
increased at the same rate.
3.Most school districts had to use other funding sources to
pay for some transportation costs and many reported it
had varying levels of fiscal impact on other programs.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
No net fiscal effect. This bill replaces a one-time $248
million General Fund (Proposition 98) reduction to the HTST
program in 2011-12 with a one-time $248 million General
Fund (Proposition 98) reduction to revenue limits and basic
aid school districts, as specified.
SUPPORT : (Verified 2/1/12)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees (AFL-CIO) Atascadero Unified School District
Burrel Union Elementary School District
Butte Valley Unified School District
Caliente Union School District
California Association of School Transportation Officials
California Department of Education
California Labor Federation
California Nurses Association
California PTA
California School Boards Association
California School Employees Association
California Teachers Association Central Union School
District
Central Valley Education Coalition
Chatom Union School District
Coast Unified School District
Cottonwood Union School District
Cuyama Joint Unified School District
Education Coalition
Gold Trail Union School District
Golden Feather Union Elementary School District
Keppel Union School District
Kern County Superintendent of Schools
Kings Canyon Unified School District
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Los Angeles Unified School District
Mariposa County Office of Education
Paso Robles Joint Union School District
Pierce Joint Unified School District
Placer Hills Union School District
Redding School District
Sandy Bluffs Alternative Education Center
Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified School District
Sierra Unified School District
Small School Districts Association
Snowline Joint Unified School District
Sunnyvale School District Trinidad Union School District
Twin Rivers Unified School District
Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District
Washington Unified School District
Wheatland School District
OPPOSITION : (Verified 2/1/12)
California Charter Schools Association (unless amended)
School for Integrated Academics and Technologies (unless
amended)
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the California School
Employees Association, "The current law $248 million
mid-year cut to school transportation has a devastating
impact on school transportation services across this state
and will put the safety and lives of public school children
at risk. The cut requires a small percentage of districts
to shoulder a disproportionate and unfair fiscal burden at
the worst possible time. If the mid-year school
transportation reduction is implemented, over 180 school
districts will be required to take a cut that is equal to
or greater than $150 per ADA. Moreover, the school
districts that will take this large unequal and unfair cut
will have difficulty in implementing such a reduction
because the special education and home-to-school
transportation services provided cannot be reduced or
eliminated without having an impact on student attendance.
In many rural areas, public transportation is not an option
and the roads are very treacherous for them to walk alone
on. Elsewhere, children will have to walk through
dangerous neighborhoods and on busy streets to get to
school. Parents may be forced to drop their children off
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at school before it opens, with the children left on campus
unattended. Other children will not attend school at all.
The impact of these cuts will also stress our already
fragile economy and high unemployment rate with the mass
layoff of bus drivers, maintenance workers, and others who
provide vital services in ensuring school transportation
programs run smoothly. For all of these reasons, we urge
you to sign Senate Bill 81."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : According to the California
Charter Schools Association, "SB 81 would impose new and
additional mid-year cuts to K-12 education, including
charter schools contrary to the budget agreement reached
last June. Historically, charter schools have never been
provided access to the Home-to-school Transportation
categorical program yet this bill seeks to take funds from
charter schools to pay for the cut faced by many school
districts, which have had access to the program. This bill
is intended to improve fairness. However, by including
charter public schools the inequities of public school
funding would be further exacerbated since charter schools
were unable to participate in the program prior to the cut.
CCSA respectfully requests amendments to allocate the cuts
only among those school districts which have had access to
this program."
CPM:cm 2/1/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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