BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2585
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2585 (Daly)
As Amended August 13, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |73-0 |(May 8, 2014) |SENATE: |34-0 |(August 19, |
| | | | | |2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: ED.
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.
The Senate amendments fix a Joint Rule 10 problem caused by the
enactment of SB 858 (Budget and Fiscal Review Committee),
Chapter 32, Statutes of 2014, the education budget trailer bill.
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 : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)One-time General Fund (GF) and Federal Fund savings of
$100,000 to the California Department of Education (CDE)
related to not implementing a software systems upgrade.
2)Estimated annual GF savings of $10,000 to CDE for elimination
of workload related to processing dual budget adoption
information.
3)Minor state-mandated costs to school districts and COEs for
activities related to review and response of conditionally
approved or disapproved budget revisions.
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
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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.
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 this 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
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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. 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.
Analysis Prepared by : Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0004712