BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 754
AUTHOR: Padilla
AMENDED: August 6, 2012
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: August 23,
2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : Economic Impact Aid.
SUMMARY
This bill establishes specified reporting requirements for
school districts as a condition of their receipt of
economic impact aid funds.
BACKGROUND
Current law establishes Economic Impact Aid (EIA), a state
categorical program that provides supplemental funds to
support additional programs and services for English
Learners/limited English proficient (LEP) pupils and
compensatory education services for educationally
disadvantaged students.
Current law requires that economic impact aid funds be
expended to support and assist English learners and
economically disadvantaged pupils and prohibits the use of
these funds at schoolsites without these students. In
addition, current law specifies that schools that receive
these funds are required to use them to support programs
and activities to assist English Learners achieve
proficiency in the English language as rapidly as
practicable and to support programs and activities to
improve the academic achievement of English learners and
economically disadvantaged pupils.
Current law establishes specified calculations for
determining the amount of EIA funds to be received by a
district. Current law specifically requires that these
funds supplement and not supplant existing resources at the
schoolsite. (Education Code � 54020-54028)
SB 754
Page 2
ANALYSIS
This bill establishes specified reporting requirements for
school districts as a condition of their receipt of
economic impact aid funds. More specifically it:
1) Requires that the specified information be posted in
an easily accessible location on the district's
internet web site.
2) Requires that the posted information specifically
include the amount of economic impact aid:
a) Allocated to the school district
in that fiscal year.
b) Used by the school district for
administrative costs in that fiscal year.
c) Expended for limited-English
proficient students in that, and the prior,
fiscal year by the district and by each school
within the district.
d) Expended for state compensatory
education in that, and the prior, fiscal year by
the district and by each school within the
district.
e) Unexpended, and include an
explanation of why funds have not been expended.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, current
law lacks the transparency necessary to understand how
economic impact aid is spent or carried over at the
school district level. While districts post their
budgets on their websites, the author contends that
this information is only provided in broad categories,
and it is not easy for parents and community groups to
determine whether the funding is being expended
according to the law.
2) How many school districts ? According to data provided
SB 754
Page 3
by the California Department of Education, 1,015
school districts and county offices of education
received a total of approximately $944 million of
economic impact aid funding in the 2011-12 fiscal
year.
SUPPORT
American Civil Liberties Union
Public Advocates
The Education Trust - West
Reading and Beyond
OPPOSITION
None received.