BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 298 (De Leon)
Hearing Date: 05/09/2011 Amended: 04/26/2011
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Education 9-0
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 298 extends the authorization sunset for the
Los Angeles County Board of Education (LACBE) to charter the
Soledad Enrichment Action Charter School (SEA) until June 30,
2018.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
SEA sunset extension Potentially substantial
on-going costs General*
* Counts toward meeting the Proposition 98 minimum funding
guarantee
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
SEA began as The Soledad school in 1972, an "Alternative
Education Program-Independent Study Program" in the Los Angeles
Unified School District (LAUSD). When the program expanded to
locations outside city boundaries, it transitioned to become an
"Alternative Education-Community School Program" under the
purview of the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE).
Twenty-five years later, after charter schools began to be
established in California, teachers working under the
county-sponsored program elected to become a charter school.
However, at that time county offices of education were only
authorized to approve charter schools through an appeal process;
a new law was needed to allow the LACBE to authorize Soledad as
a charter school.
SB 298 (De Leon)
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In 1997, SB 1318 (Polanco) authorized a charter school to be
chartered by the Los Angeles County Board of Education and
specifically allowed the charter school to receive the higher
per-pupil funding of county community schools. Soledad school
became SEA, and was funded at its previous level, higher than
other charter schools in Los Angeles County. The rationale was
that community day schools are typically operated by a county
office of education or a school district and serve mandatory and
other expelled students, students referred by a school
attendance review board, and other high-risk youths, which is
the population that SEA primarily serves. In the absence of this
legislation, SEA would have been funded at the regular charter
school rate when it became a charter.
Subsequently, SB 1416 (Polanco, Chapter 467, Statutes of 2002),
extended this unique statutory authorization until July 1, 2008,
and AB 177 (Bass, Chapter 525, 2007) extended it again until
June 30, 2013. In the absence of these sunset extensions, SEA
would have had to either close, or apply for a charter under
current laws and funding formulas. LACBE could have, and can,
renew the SEA charter without benefit of special legislation,
but this legislation is necessary to continue the authority for
the SEA to be funded at the same rates for the same categories
of pupils as community schools and community day schools in Los
Angeles County.
This bill authorizes a charter school, operating under a charter
approved before June 1, 1997 by the LACBE to serve at-risk
pupils, to operate until June 30, 2018. SB 298 is so narrow as
to apply only to SEA. It maintains the current authorization for
the SEA charter school to be funded at the same rates for the
same categories of pupils as community schools and community day
schools in the same county. This bill further authorizes the SEA
charter school to operate one or more community day schools, and
be funded for not more than 2,000 units of average daily
attendance in any fiscal year, to the extent that funding is
appropriated for the purpose. While the funding formula is cost
neutral relative to the funding SEA currently receives, the
funding provided in SB 298 is in excess of charter school
funding.
SB 298 (De Leon)
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