BILL ANALYSIS �
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Date of Hearing: April 30, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 2033 (Salas) - As Amended: March 28, 2014
SUBJECT : Agricultural career technical education: Funding
SUMMARY : Makes findings and declarations related to the
Agricultural Career Technical Education Incentive Program,
Future Farmers of America, and the role of agriculture in
California's history and economy and appropriates $4,134,000
from the General Fund/ Prop 98 to be allocated for purposes of
funding the Agricultural Career Technical Education Incentive
Program.
EXISTING LAW : Establishes the Agricultural Career Technical
Education Incentive Grant as a categorical program outside of
the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : The Agricultural Career Technical Education
Incentive Grant provides local educational agencies (LEAs) with
funds to improve the quality of their agricultural career
technical education programs. The goal is to create and maintain
a high-quality, comprehensive agricultural career technical
program in California's public school system to ensure a
constant source of employable, trained, and skilled individuals.
In the current year, California Department of Education (CDE)
has awarded 303 grants to 222 school districts totaling $4.1
million. Funds are typically used by grant recipients for
instructional equipment and supplies. Other allowable uses of
the funds include paying for field trips and student
conferences.
The CDE administers the grants by splitting available funds
based on the number of qualified applicants in a given year. To
qualify, grantees must provide matching funds. In addition, the
high school program must offer three instructional components:
classroom instruction, a supervised agricultural experience
program (project-based learning), and student leadership
development opportunities. To receive a grant renewal, high
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schools must agree to be evaluated annually on 12 program
quality indicators (these indicators include curriculum and
instruction requirements, leadership development, industry
involvement, career guidance, and accountability). As part of
this process, five regional supervisors conduct on-site reviews
and provide ongoing technical assistance to grantees.<1>
In January, 2014, the Governor proposed to add the $4.1 million
in 2013-14 Agricultural Education Grants funds to LCFF. Under
the Governor's proposal, school districts receiving funding for
this program in 2013-14 would have those funds count toward
their LCFF targets beginning in 2014-15. The currently required
categorical activities would be left to districts' discretion.
However, current law continues to fund this program outside of
LCFF. Therefore, the committee may wish to consider that this
bill is attempting to remedy a hypothetical situation and that a
better solution would be to address this concern through the
budget process.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Agricultural Teachers' Association
California Farm Bureau Federation
California State Grange
California Women for Agriculture
Kings County Board of Supervisors
Small School Districts' Association
Western Growers Association
Opposition
None on file
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<1> The 2014-15 Budget: Proposition 98 Education Analysis;
Legislative Analyst Office (LAO).
http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2014/budget/prop98/proposition-98-b
udget-021414.pdf
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Analysis Prepared by : Jill Rice / ED. / (916) 319-2087