BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2585
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Date of Hearing: April 9, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 2585 (Daly) - As Amended: March 25, 2014
SUBJECT : School finance: annual budgets
SUMMARY : Eliminates the dual budget adoption option for school
districts and county offices of education (COEs), makes
conforming changes, and strikes obsolete language from the
Education Code.
EXISTING LAW authorizes school districts and COEs to select to
use either a dual budget adoption process or a single budget
adoption process for their annual budgets.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : All school districts and COEs are required to adopt
their annual budgets by July 1 each year. Budgets must be
adopted at a public meeting of the governing board. School
district budgets are subject to review and approval by their
county superintendent of schools, and COE budgets are subject to
review and approval by the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI). The purpose of the review, which must be done by August
15, is to determine if the budget (1) is in compliance with
standards and criteria adopted by the State Board of Education
(SBE), (2) allows the COE or district to meet its financial
obligations for the fiscal year, and (3) is consistent with a
financial plan that will enable the COE or district to satisfy
its multiyear financial commitments. If a budget is not
approved, the SPI or county superintendent of schools must
inform the COE or district in writing recommendations for
revising the budget and the reasons for the recommendations.
The dual budget adoption option allows a district and COE to
hold a second public hearing on or before September 8 to
formally adopt a revised budget to reflect changes in projected
income or expenditures subsequent to July 1 and to respond to
recommendations from the SPI or county superintendent of
schools, if any. The SPI or county superintendent of schools
must conduct a review of the revised budget and either approve
or disapprove it by October 8.
AB 2585
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Districts and COEs that choose the single adoption cycle are
subject to the same review and timeline. The difference is that
single adoption districts and COEs revise their budgets by
September 8 and submit the revisions for review, but do not
re-adopt them.
Reason for the bill. According to the California Department of
Education (CDE), the September 8 dual budget adoption is
redundant, because:
1)All districts and COEs routinely revise their budgets
throughout the year as more accurate information becomes
available.
2)Within 45 days after the state budget is adopted, all
districts and COEs must make available for public review any
revisions to their budgets to reflect the funding made
available by the Budget Act.
3)The budget review process requires all districts and COEs to
submit two interim budget reports per year, one as of October
31 and another as of January 31.
4)All districts and COEs can formally revise their budgets as
often as they choose, without the need to adopt a revised
budget to replace the July 1 adopted budget.
5)All budgetary and financial information made available through
the dual budget adoption process is available without formally
adopting a revised budget.
The number of districts and COEs selecting the dual adoption
option has declined over the years, and only 13 currently use
it. They are:
Fairfax Elementary
Lost Hills Union Elementary
King City Union elementary
Orange County Department of Education
Coastline ROP JPA
Brea-Olinda Unified
Garden Grove Unified
Newport-Mesa Unified
Savanna Elementary
Tustin Unified
AB 2585
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Banning Unified
Los Alamos Elementary
Sonoma Valley Unified
The CDE reports that it spends about $10,000 annually in
administrative costs to support this option and will spend an
estimated $100,000 (one-time) to include this functionality in a
software upgrade that is planned for later this year.
Eliminating this option would save this one-time cost as well as
the annual $10,000 cost to support it.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson
Opposition
None received
Analysis Prepared by : Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087