BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair


          AB 2380 (Weber) - Parent Advisory Committees
          
          Amended: May 23, 2014           Policy Vote: Education 6-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: August 4, 2014                                 
          Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez                       
          
          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. 
          
          Bill Summary: AB 2380 adds various requirements for school  
          districts preparing a single plan for pupil achievement,  
          including the requirement for a school district to ensure in its  
          consolidated application that a schoolsite council has developed  
          and approved a single plan for pupil achievement for schools  
          participating in programs funded through the Local Control  
          Funding Formula (LCFF). 

          Fiscal Impact: 
              School districts: Placing new requirements on a school  
              district's single plan for pupil achievement could create  
              significant workload for school districts, to the extent  
              that the requirements of this bill differ from local  
              practices.

          Background: Existing law requires the governing board of every  
          school district and county office of education to adopt a local  
          control and accountability plan (LCAP), by July 1, 2014, that  
          must include: a description of the annual goals for all students  
          and each subgroup, to be achieved for each of the state  
          priorities and for any additional local priorities; and a  
          description of the specific actions that will be taken to  
          achieve the goals.  LCAPs must address the following as state  
          priorities:

             1)   The degree to which teachers are appropriately assigned  
               and fully credentialed, every student has sufficient access  
               to standards-aligned instructional materials, and school  
               facilities are maintained in good repair.

             2)   Implementation of the academic content and performance  
               standards, including how English learners will be served,  
               as specified.








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             3)   Parental involvement, as specified.

             4)   Student achievement, as specified.  

             5)   Student engagement, as specified.

             6)   School climate, as measured by all of the following, as  
               applicable:  student suspension rates, student expulsion  
               rates, and other local measures, including surveys of  
               students, parents, and teachers on the sense of safety and  
               school connectedness.

             7)   The extent to which students have access to, and are  
               enrolled in, a broad course of study, as specified.

             8)   Student outcomes, as specified. 

          Existing law authorizes school districts to use a single  
          consolidated application to apply for certain state and federal  
          categorical program funds, and requires school districts which  
          elect to use the consolidated application process to include in  
          that application a single plan for pupil achievement, as  
          specified.

          Existing law authorizes the School-Based Program Coordination  
          Act which, prior to the LCFF in 2013, gave school districts  
          flexibility over the use of specified school-based coordinated  
          categorical program funds in exchange for meeting specified  
          requirements. As part of these requirements, participating  
          school districts were required to establish a schoolsite  
          council. The LCFF replaces almost all sources of state funding,  
          including most categorical programs, and uses new methods to  
          allocate these resources and future resources to school  
          districts, charter schools, and county offices of education.  
          While the School-Based Program Coordination Act is no longer  
          operative as a categorical program due to the LCFF, school  
          districts are still authorized, but not required, to establish  
          and/or operate schoolsite councils. 

          Proposed Law: This bill requires a school district to ensure in  
          its consolidated application that schoolsite councils have  
          developed and approved a single plan for pupil achievement for  
          schools participating in programs funded through the LCFF, as  








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          specified. This bill requires participating school districts to  
          develop their LCAPs and annual updates in consultation with  
          schoolsite level advisory groups and ensure that the LCAP and  
          its specific actions are consistent with, and reflective of, the  
          goals and plans of the schoolsite, as specified.

          This bill requires the CDE, if it makes materials or information  
          available to school districts to assist them in the development  
          of their single plan for pupil achievement, to ensure that all  
          materials and information emphasize that the plan be consistent  
          with and, to the extent possible, support the goals and outcomes  
          specified in the school district's LCAP.

          Related Legislation: AB 2384 (Bradford) places new requirements  
          on the establishment of schoolsite councils, including a  
          requirement for school districts to provide training for council  
          members. That bill is on the Suspense File in this Committee.

          Staff Comments: This bill makes changes to the consolidated  
          application process, which requires school districts to develop  
          a single plan for student achievement, in an effort to align it  
          with the development of a school district's LCAP. To the extent  
          that the requirements differ from current local processes,  
          school districts will need to implement changes to comply with  
          the new requirements. Those changes may ultimately make local  
          processes more efficient, but that will likely vary by district  
          interpretation. The language in the bill is sufficiently vague,  
          that it could be interpreted to create two processes rather than  
          align the LCAP with a school district's single plan for pupil  
          achievement.

          The consolidated application process is the only way by which  
          schools can apply for federal categorical program money, through  
          the California Department of Education. While it is technically  
          elective, school districts must either complete the consolidated  
          application in accordance with statutory requirements, or forego  
          federal categorical program funding. To the extent that this  
          bill is interpreted by school districts to require two parallel  
          processes for developing their LCAP and single plan for pupil  
          achievement, there will be significant cost pressure to do so.












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