BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2384
AUTHOR: Bradford
AMENDED: June 12, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 18, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lenin Del Castillo
SUBJECT : Schoolsite councils.
SUMMARY
This bill would authorize schoolsite councils to be
established at any school and imposes requirements, as
specified, for those schoolsite councils.
BACKGROUND
Current law authorizes the School-Based Program
Coordination Act, which prior to the implementation of the
Local Control Funding Formula (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 schoolsite
councils were required, among other things, to develop a
plan made up of specific criteria including, curricula,
instructional strategies, and materials that address the
individual needs and learning styles of each pupil,
instructional and auxiliary services to meet the special
needs of certain pupil populations, a staff development
program for teachers, other school personnel,
paraprofessionals, and volunteers, and the proposed
expenditures of funds available to the school, as
specified. While the School-Based Program Coordination Act
is effectively no longer operative due to the
implementation of the LCFF, school districts are still
authorized, but not required, to establish and/or operate
schoolsite councils.
ANALYSIS
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This bill :
1) Provides that the provisions proposed to be added by
this bill regarding schoolsite councils shall prevail
if the applicable provisions in current law are in
conflict.
2) Allows a schoolsite council to be established at any
school and requires it to include, but not be limited
to, representatives from the following groups:
a) Teachers, to be selected by teachers at the
school;
b) School employees other than teachers, to be
selected by nonteaching school employees at the
school;
c) Parents of pupils at the school; to be
selected by parents of pupils at the school; and
d) In secondary schools, pupils, to be selected
by pupils attending the school.
3) Allows the schoolsite council or governing board of
the school district to expand the composition of the
schoolsite council based on the operational structure
of the school as follows:
a) For elementary schools, to ensure parity
between school employees (principal, teachers,
and other school employees, including, to the
extent possible, at least one classified
employee) and parents; and
b) For secondary schools, to ensure parity
between school employees (principal, teachers,
and other school employees, including, to the
extent possible, at least one classified
employee) and an equal number of parents and
pupils. To the extent possible, the school shall
ensure that socioeconomically disadvantaged
pupils, foster youth, and English learners are
represented on the schoolsite council.
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4) Encourages a schoolsite council to include
participation from community organizations that
participate at the schoolsite and that are focused on
the educational outcomes of the school.
5) Provides that participation from community
organizations shall not be included for purposes of
ensuring parity.
6) Provides that a schoolsite council that elects to
include participation from community organizations is
not required to have the community organization
members be official voting members of the council.
7) Provides that a schoolwide advisory or a school
support group may also be used as a schoolsite
council.
8) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) to provide several examples of selection and
replacement procedures that may be considered by
schoolsite councils.
9) Requires the school district governing board to set
term limits for schoolsite members other than the
principal.
10) Requires schoolsite councils to maximize public input
and other means of advancing a democratic process.
11) Provides that a school employee who is also a parent
or guardian of a pupil who attends another school in
the district may serve on both schoolsite councils;
and provides that the school employee may also serve
on the schoolsite council of the school that his or
her child or ward attends as a parent representative.
12) Requires school districts operating a schoolsite
council to provide training to members of the council
on the purpose and role of the schoolsite council.
13) Requires schoolsite councils to develop school plans
that include, but not be limited to, the following:
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a) Curricula, instructional strategies, and
materials that address the individual needs and
learning styles of each pupil;
b) Instructional and auxiliary services to meet
the special needs of the following pupils:
i) Pupils of limited English
proficiency, including instruction in a
language these pupils understand;
ii) Educationally disadvantaged
pupils;
iii) Pupils eligible for free or
reduced-price meals;
iv) Foster youth;
v) Gifted and talented pupils; and
vi) Pupils with exceptional needs.
c) Ongoing evaluation of the educational
program of the school.
d) Other activities and objectives, as
established by the schoolsite council.
e) The proposed expenditure of funds available
to the school, including funds available to the
school through federal programs.
f) Mechanisms to ensure that the objectives in
the school district's local control and
accountability plan are being met with specific
focus on the local control and accountability
plan goals around school climate, parent
engagement, and pupil engagement.
14) Encourages a schoolsite council to support
professional development programs for teachers, other
school employees, and volunteers.
15) Requires the schoolsite council to annually review the
school plan, establish a new budget, and, if
necessary, make other modifications in the school plan
to reflect changing needs and priorities.
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16) Requires the governing board of the school district to
review and approve or disapprove school plans. A
school plan shall not be approved unless it was
developed and recommended by the schoolsite council.
If a plan is not approved by the governing board,
specific reasons for the disapproval shall be
communicated to the schoolsite. Modifications to any
school plan shall be developed, recommended, and
approved or disapproved in the same manner.
17) Makes other, conforming cross-reference changes.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author's
office, "the state fundamentally changed the funding
mechanism for school districts in order to provide
greater funding for those that have higher
concentrations of low-income, English learners, and
foster care children. Consistent with this intent,
several school districts have decided to increase
funding for individual schools with higher
concentrations of the targeted populations. As a
result, we are witnessing a greater role of schoolsite
councils in overseeing dollars and priorities and yet
they lack adequate training and oversight. However,
many of these schoolsite councils lack adequate
training and oversight." This bill authorizes
schoolsite councils while imposing specific
requirements, including the requirement for school
districts to provide training on the purpose and role
of schoolsite councils.
2) Local Control Funding Formula . The 2013-14 Budget
Act restructured the existing K-12 finance system and
eliminated over 40 existing programs while
implementing a new formula known as the Local Control
Funding Formula (LCFF). The LCFF consolidates the
vast majority of state categorical programs and
revenue limit apportionments into a single source of
funding. Certain categorical programs, including
Special Education, Child Nutrition, Preschool, and
After School programs, are excluded. In addition, the
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statutory and programmatic requirements for almost all
categorical programs were eliminated-the programs
would be deemed "discretionary" and programs in any of
these areas would be dependent on local district
discretion. The School-Based Program Coordination Act
and the requirement for school districts to establish
schoolsite councils are no longer in effect due to the
implementation of the LCFF. School districts are
certainly authorized to establish them, but they are
not required to do so.
3) Local Control Accountability Plans . The LCFF
includes a requirement for school districts to adopt a
Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), which
must be adopted by July 1, 2014. Each LCAP must
address eight state priorities, including parental
involvement and the efforts the school district makes
to seek parent input in making decisions for the
school district and each individual schoolsite and how
the school district will promote parental
participation in programs for unduplicated pupils and
individuals with exceptional needs. School districts
are also required to establish a parent advisory
committee to advise the governing board during the
development of the LCAP, and establish an English
learner parent advisory committee if their enrollment
is at least 15 percent English learners and they
enroll at least 50 English learner pupils. The LCAP
processes could likely address some or all of the same
goals and features of schoolsite councils with regards
to parental input on local decision making. However,
by requiring the plans to be developed by schoolsite
councils to include mechanisms to ensure that the
objectives in the school district's LCAP are being
met, this bill could help promote greater
transparency.
4) Unintended consequences ? School districts are
still currently authorized to establish schoolsite
councils and may continue to operate them under the
Local Control Funding Formula. If this bill were to
become law and impose the various requirements
attached to the establishment of a schoolsite council,
a school district may be discouraged or not willing to
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comply with those requirements. For example, the bill
would require school districts to provide training to
schoolsite council members on the purpose and role of
the schoolsite council. A school district may not
have sufficient resources to provide the required
training and choose not to establish a schoolsite
council. In this situation, the bill could have the
effect of limiting the establishment of a schoolsite
council.
SUPPORT
Advancement Project
Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network
Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition
California Center for Public Health Advocacy
Californians for Justice
Centro CHA, Inc.
Children's Defense Fund-California
Communities for a New California Education Fund
Community Asset Development Redefining Education
Community Coalition
East LA Community Corporation
Edwin and Dorothy Baker Foundation
Families in Schools
Fathers & Families of San Joaquin
Great Oakland Public Schools Leadership Center
InnerCity Struggle
Khmer Girls in Action
Las Fotos Project
Movement Strategy Center
Pico California
PolicyLink
Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission
Public Counsel
Raices Cultura
Santa Ana Boys and Men of Color
Santa Ana Building Healthy Communities
Service Employees International Union
StudentsFirst
United Way
Urban Strategies Council
Volunteers of America
Youth Policy Institute
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OPPOSITION
None on the current version of the bill.