BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1946
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Date of Hearing: May 7, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1946 (Chesbro) - As Introduced: May 1, 2014
Policy Committee: EducationVote:7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill expands the definition of a necessary small high
school to include a high school maintained by a unified school
district as the only comprehensive high school if the high
school has an average daily attendance (ADA) of less than 268
pupils and the school district has 50 or fewer pupils per square
mile of school district territory, as measured by enrollment.
FISCAL EFFECT
Annual GF Proposition 98 costs of roughly $120,000 to $350,000
to provide a higher level of funding for the seven affected
school districts. Costs at full implementation of the Local
Control Funding Formula are roughly $1 million to $3 million.
Looking at revenue projections over time, all districts are
projected to see increases in overall funding. For example,
Princeton Joint Unified School District is projected to see a
22% increase in funding from 2013-14 to 2016-17. (If the
district receives the Necessary Small School (NSS) adjustment,
the district's revenue would grow by 44%).
COMMENTS
Purpose . Existing law provides differentiated funding for small,
geographically isolated schools. To qualify for NSS funding, a
school must be small (fewer than 97 ADA for elementary schools
and fewer than 287 ADA for high schools), be in a district with
fewer than 2,501 ADA, and be geographically isolated, as
measured by traveling distance to the next nearest school. (The
distance requirement varies based on the size of the school's
ADA.) The NSS funding calculation is based on ADA and the number
AB 1946
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of teachers employed, instead of ADA only. This results in a
higher level of funding for those schools in recognition of the
higher cost of operating them.
Prior to the enactment of the Local Control Funding Formula
(LCFF), statute authorized some high schools to receive NSS
funding even if they did not meet the distance requirements, as
long as they were the only high schools maintained by their
district. This bill reinstates a provision of law that allowed
these small high schools to receive NSS funding.
According to the author's office, if this bill is not enacted
Alpaugh, Biggs, Ferndale, Los Molinos, Maricopa, Maxwell and
Princeton school districts will lose funding necessary to
maintain the operation of the only high school in that unified
school district, and will be forced to close the school and
implement other reductions that would impact their K-8 schools.
The affected districts argue that retaining NSS funding is
necessary not just to maintain the quality of programs currently
offered to their students, but to maintain the programs
themselves.
Analysis Prepared by : Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081