California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1946

Introduced by Assembly Member Chesbro

February 19, 2014

An act to amend Section 42285 of the Education Code, relating to school finance.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1946, as introduced, Chesbro. School finance: necessary small high schools.

Existing law establishes a public school financing system that requires state funding for county superintendents of schools, school districts, and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula. As part of the local control funding formula, existing law requires a school district or charter school to receive state-aid funding of no less than the sum of certain amounts received in the 2012-13 fiscal year, including, among other amounts, the 2012-13 fiscal year funding allowance provided for qualifying necessary small elementary schools and necessary small high schools. Existing law defines a necessary small high school as either (1) a high school with an average daily attendance of less than 287 pupils that meets specified conditions, or (2) a high school maintained by a school district for the exclusive purpose of educating juvenile hall pupils or pupils with exceptional needs.

This bill would add to the definition of a necessary small high school a high school maintained by a unified school district as the only comprehensive high school if the high school has an average daily attendance of less than 300 pupils and the school district has 50 or fewer pupils per square mile of school district territory.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 42285 of the Education Code is amended
to read:

42285.  

(a) For purposes of Section 42284, a necessary small
high school is a high school with an average daily attendance of
less than 287 begin insert pupils end insert that comes within any of the following
conditions:

(1) The projection of its future enrollment on the basis of the
enrollment of the elementary schools in the school district shows
that within eight years the enrollment in high school in grades 9
to 12, inclusive, will exceed 286 pupils.

(2) Any one of the following combinations of distance and units
of average daily attendance applies:

(A) The high school had an average daily attendance of less
than 96 begin insert pupils end insert in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, during the preceding
fiscal year and is more than 15 miles by well-traveled road from
the nearest other public high school and either 90 percent of the
pupils would be required to travel 20 miles or 25 percent of the
pupils would be required to travel 30 miles one way from a point
on a well-traveled road nearest their homes to the nearest other
public high school.

(B) The high school had an average daily attendance of 96 begin insert pupils end insert
or more and less than 144 begin insert pupils end insert in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, during
the preceding fiscal year and is more than 10 miles by well-traveled
road from the nearest other public high school and either 90 percent
of the pupils would be required to travel 18 miles or 25 percent of
the pupils would be required to travel 25 miles one way from a
point on a well-traveled road nearest their homes to the nearest
other public high school.

(C) The high school had an average daily attendance of 144
begin insert pupils end insert or more and less than 192 begin insert pupils end insert in grades 9 to 12, inclusive,
during the preceding fiscal year and is more than 71⁄2 miles by
well-traveled road from the nearest other public high school and
either 90 percent of the pupils would be required to travel 15 miles
or 25 percent of the pupils would be required to travel 20 miles
one way from a point on a well-traveled road nearest their homes
to the nearest other public high school.

(D) The high school had an average daily attendance of 192
begin insert pupils end insert or more and less than 287 begin insert pupils end insert in grades 9 to 12, inclusive,
during the preceding fiscal year and is more than 5 miles by
well-traveled road from the nearest other public high school and
either 90 percent of the pupils would be required to travel 10 miles
or 25 percent of the pupils would be required to travel 15 miles to
the nearest other public high school.

(3) Topographical or other conditions exist in the school district
which would impose unusual hardships on the pupils if the number
of miles specified begin delete above end delete begin insert in paragraph (2) end insert were required to be
traveled. In these cases, the Superintendent may, when requested,
and after investigation, grant exceptions from the distance
requirements.

(4) The Superintendent has approved the recommendation of a
county committee on school district organization designating one
of two or more schools as necessary isolated schools in a situation
where the schools are operated by two or more school districts and
the average daily attendance of each of the schools is less than 287
begin insert pupils end insert in grades 9 to 12, inclusive.

(b) For purposes of Section 42284, a necessary small high school
also includes begin delete a high school maintained by a school district for the
exclusive purpose of educating juvenile hall pupils or pupils with
exceptional needs. end delete begin insert either of the following: end insert

begin insert

(1) A high school maintained by a school district for the
exclusive purpose of educating juvenile hall pupils or pupils with
exceptional needs.

end insert begin insert

(2) A high school maintained by a unified school district as the
only comprehensive high school if the high school has an average
daily attendance of less than 300 pupils and the school district
has 50 or fewer pupils per square mile of school district territory.

end insert

(c) For purposes of Section 42284, a necessary small high school
does not include a continuation school.

(d) For purposes of this section, “other public high school” is
a public school, including a charter school, that serves any of
grades 9 to 12, inclusive.