Amended in Senate May 24, 2013

Amended in Senate May 7, 2013

Amended in Senate April 15, 2013

Amended in Senate April 1, 2013

Senate Bill No. 714

Introduced by Senator Block

February 22, 2013

An act to add and repeal Sections 46308 and 46309 of the Education Code, relating to schools.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 714, as amended, Block. Schools: average daily attendance: online instruction.

Existing law establishes the public elementary and secondary school system in this state, and further establishes a funding system pursuant to which the state apportions funds to local educational agencies based on, among other factors, the average daily attendance of pupils at the schools operated by those agencies. Existing law authorizes, commencing with the 2014-15 school year, for purposes of computing average daily attendance, the inclusion of pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, under the immediate supervision and control of a certificated employee of the school district or county office of education who is delivering synchronous, online instruction, as defined, provided that this instruction meets specified criteria.

This bill, separate from the authority related to online instruction described above, subject to the adoption by the Superintendent of Public Instruction of implementing rules and regulations on or before January 1, 2015, and commencing with the 2015-16 fiscal year, would authorize school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools begin insert providing classroom-based instruction end insert that offer high-quality online education courses, as defined, to claim up to 10% of the total average daily attendance of pupils enrolled in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, on the basis of a pupil’s satisfactory pupil progress toward obtaining a high school diploma by earning course credit through attendance in online educational learning programs, as defined. The bill would cap, as specified, the number of pupils a school district, county office of education, or charter school may enroll in an online course or courses. The bill would also require a school district, county office of education, or charter school begin insert providing classroom-based instruction end insert that did not offer an online course or courses in the 2014-15 school year but chooses to enroll pupils in an online course or courses, to offer the course or courses at the beginning of the school year and to submit semiannual reports to the State Department of Education comparing the course credits earned by pupils enrolled in an online course or courses to the course credits earned by pupils enrolled in classroom-based courses.

The bill would authorize a school district, county office of education, or charter school begin insert providing classroom-based instruction end insert that operates an online educational learning program to receive state apportionments for up to 10% of the total average daily attendance of pupils enrolled in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, for 3 consecutive years begin insert , end insert and for an additional 3 years if semiannual reports are submitted, as described above, and the enrolled pupils are achieving satisfactory pupil progress. The bill would require a school district, county office of education, or charter school that enrolls pupils in an online course or courses to develop and adopt policies that evaluate if a pupil is achieving satisfactory pupil progress and if a pupil should be allowed to continue to enroll in the online educational learning program. The bill would require a participating school district, county office of education, or charter school to submit pupil records for review by the department that compare the course completion rate of pupils participating in the online educational learning program to the overall course completion rate for pupils enrolled in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, if the pupils participating in the online educational learning program are earning less than 75% of the course credits earned by pupils enrolled in classroom-based courses. The bill would require the department to develop a process authorizing a school district, county office of education, or charter school to reduce the state apportionment it receives for the online educational learning program if projected pupil enrollment or satisfactory pupil progress is not being achieved. The bill would authorize the department to reduce or eliminate the apportionments a school district, county office of education, or charter school receives for pupils participating in the online educational learning program if the participating pupils have not achieved satisfactory pupil progress or the semiannual reports are not submitted. The bill would authorize a school district, county office of education, or charter school to appeal a decision of the department to reduce or eliminate the state apportionments received for pupils participating in the online educational learning program.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 46308 is added to the Education Code,
to read:

46308.  

(a) Subject to subdivision (k) and commencing with
the 2015-16 fiscal year, a school district, county office of
education, or charter school begin insert providing classroom-based instruction,
as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (e) of Section 47612.5, end insert
may claim, for up to 10 percent of the total average daily attendance
of pupils enrolled in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, in the school district,
county office of education, or charter school, state apportionments
pursuant to Section 46309, on the basis of a pupil’s satisfactory
pupil progress toward obtaining a high school diploma by earning
course credit through attendance in online educational learning
programs. Online educational learning programs may include one
online course, multiple online courses, or a combination of online
coursework and classroom-based coursework. Online educational
learning programs shall be separate from online courses offered
pursuant to Section 46300.8. Pupils shall be eligible to participate
in online educational learning programs if all of the following
apply:

(1) The pupil is enrolled in grade 9, 10, 11, or 12 begin insert in a
participating school district, county office of education, or charter
school end insert .

(2) The pupil is a California resident.

(3) The pupil is enrolled in classes that include courses in a
classroom-based setting, courses that are offered through an online
program, or both.

(4) The pupil is not enrolled in a community day school or
juvenile court school.

(5) The pupil meets minimum instructional time requirements
pursuant to:

(A) Section 46141 and Section 46201, 46201.5, or 46202, as
applicable, for pupils enrolled in a noncharter school in a school
district or county office of education.

(B) Section 46170, for pupils enrolled in a continuation school.

(C) Section 46180, for pupils enrolled in an opportunity school.

(D) Subdivision (e) of Section 47612.5, for pupils enrolled in
a charter school.

(6) Each online course in which the pupil is enrolled is a
high-quality online course.

(b) For the purposes of this section, a “high-quality online
course” is defined as an online course that meets all of the
following requirements:

(1) The online course is approved by the governing board of
the school district or county office of education, or by the
governing body of the charter school.

(2) The online course is certified to meet the requirements of
this subdivision, through board resolution, by the governing board
of the school district or county office of education, or by the
governing body of the charter school.

(3) The online course is certified by the governing board of the
school district or county office of education, or by the governing
body of the charter school, as being as rigorous as a
classroom-based course and meeting or exceeding all relevant state
content standards.

(4) begin delete   end delete begin delete (A) end delete  A teacher teaching an online course or courses operated
pursuant to this section shall be accessible to each pupil enrolled
in the online course or courses to respond to pupil queries, assign
tasks, and dispense information. A teacher teaching an online
course shall provide timely feedback on communications for pupils
within 24 hours and timely feedback for assessing pupils’ work
within 72 hours for minor assignments and within one week for
major assignments, including, but not limited to, midterm and final
examinations, major projects, and compositions. A teacher teaching
an online course shall employ all of the following:

begin delete

(i)

end delete

begin insert (A) end insert  Periodic proctored examinations.

begin delete

(ii)

end delete

begin insert (B) end insert  Direct teacher-pupil meetings, in person, no less than twice
per calendar month.

begin delete

(iii)

end delete

begin insert (C) end insert  A visual connection, including, but not limited to, an Internet
Web camera.

(5) Specific minimum standards for teacher-pupil contact shall
be determined through a collective bargaining agreement.

(6) (A) The ratio of pupils enrolled in the online course who
are 18 years of age or younger to school district full-time equivalent
certificated employees who provide online instruction, to be
calculated in a manner prescribed by the department, shall not
exceed the equivalent ratio of pupils to full-time certificated
employees for all other educational programs operated by the
school district, unless a higher or lower ratio is negotiated in a
collective bargaining agreement.

(B) The ratio of pupils enrolled in the online course who are 18
years of age or younger to county office of education full-time
equivalent certificated employees who provide online instruction,
to be calculated in a manner prescribed by the department, shall
not exceed the equivalent ratio of pupils to full-time certificated
employees for all other educational programs operated by the high
school or unified school district with the greatest average daily
attendance of pupils in that county, unless a higher or lower ratio
is negotiated in a collective bargaining agreement.

(C) The computation of the ratios in subparagraphs (A) and (B)
shall be performed annually by the reporting agency at the time
of, and in connection with, the second principal apportionment
report to the Superintendent.

(7) When a classroom-based course of the same course title
exists within the school district, county office of education, or
charter school, the subject matter content of the online course shall
meet or exceed the content standards applied to the
classroom-based course.

(8) The teacher of the online course holds the appropriate subject
matter begin delete credential and end delete begin insert credential, end insert meets the requirements for a
highly qualified teacher pursuant to the federal No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et begin delete seq.). end delete begin insert seq.), and is
employed in the state of California. end insert

(9) (A) Statewide testing results for pupils enrolled in an online
course or courses are reported and assigned to the school in which
the pupil is enrolled for classroom-based courses, and to any school
district or county office of education within which that school’s
testing results are aggregated.

(B) Statewide testing results for pupils enrolled in an online
course or courses may be disaggregated for purposes of comparing
the testing results of those pupils to the testing results of pupils
enrolled in classroom-based courses.

(10) The online course is offered by a high school, continuation
school, county office of education, or charter school offering
instruction in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive.

(11) No pupil is assigned to the online course unless the pupil
voluntarily elects to participate in the online course and the parent
or guardian of the pupil provides written consent before the pupil
participates in the online course.

(12) No pupil voluntarily electing to participate in the online
course is denied access because the pupil lacks the computer
hardware or software necessary to participate in the online course.

(13) No pupil is charged for his or her participation in the online
course.

(14) A pupil enrolled in the online course shall take
examinations by proctor, or other reliable methods used to ensure
test integrity, and there is a clear record of pupil work, using the
same method of documentation and assessment as used in a
classroom-based course.

(c) Nothing in this section shall affect a state board
determination made pursuant to Section 47612.5.

(d) Compliance with this section shall be subject to the audit
conducted pursuant to Section 41020.

(e) (1) Each high-quality online course shall be deemed to be
an offering of 60 minutes for purposes of calculating instructional
time.

(2) A pupil shall not receive course credit for the same
high-quality online course more than once.

(3) A pupil enrolled in a high-quality online course shall be
credited with a day of attendance for each schoolday the pupil is
enrolled in the high-quality online course and in accordance with
paragraph (5) of subdivision (a).

(4) “Satisfactory pupil progress” means a pupil has earned at
least 60 course credits in a school year.

(f) To remain eligible for claiming and generating
apportionments, a pupil over 19 years of age enrolled in an online
course or courses shall be continuously enrolled in public school
and achieve satisfactory pupil progress, as defined in paragraph
(4) of subdivision (e), toward award of a high school diploma.

(g) To receive state apportionments, a school district, county
office of education, or charter school begin insert providing classroom-based
instruction, as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (e) of
Section 47612.5, end insert offering an online course or courses meeting the
requirements of subdivision (b) shall not be required to meet the
requirements of Article 5.5 (commencing with Section 51745) of
Chapter 5 of Part 28.

(h) (1) A participating school district, county office of
education, or charter school begin insert providing classroom-based instruction,
as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (e) of Section 47612.5, end insert
shall receive state apportionments, for up to 10 percent of the total
average daily attendance for pupils enrolled in grades 9 to 12,
inclusive, in the school district, county office of education, or
charter school, for pupils enrolled in a high-quality online course
or courses, as defined in subdivision (b), based on the number of
pupils enrolled in an online course or courses in the 2014-15 school
year, or the percentage of pupils authorized to enroll in an online
course or courses pursuant to paragraph (2), whichever is greater.

(2) A participating school district, county office of education,
or charter school begin insert providing classroom-based instruction, as defined
in paragraph (1) of subdivision (e) of Section 47612.5, end insert that did
not offer an online course or courses in the 2014-15 school year
shall receive state apportionments, for up to 10 percent of the total
average daily attendance of pupils enrolled in grades 9 to 12,
inclusive, of the school district, county office of education, or
charter school, if all of the following conditions are met:

(A) A participating school district, county office of education,
or charter school satisfies the requirements of subdivisions (a) and
(b).

(B) A participating school district, county office of education,
or charter school offers the online course or courses at the
beginning of the school year and demonstrates that at least the
same number of pupils that the school district, county office of
education, or charter school is eligible to receive state
apportionments for under an online educational learning program
are actually enrolled in the online course or courses.

(C) The participating school district, county office of education,
or charter school submits a semiannual report to the department
comparing the course credits earned by pupils enrolled in an online
course or courses to course credits earned by pupils enrolled in
classroom-based courses.

(i) For purposes of this section, “online educational learning
program” means a program of study that may include any
combination of courses where the teacher and the pupil are online
at the same time or are online at different times and do not interact
simultaneously. A pupil may enroll in online courses,
classroom-based courses, or a combination of both, during a
schoolday to complete the pupil’s established program of study
that satisfies the requirement of achieving satisfactory pupil
progress toward obtaining a high school diploma by earning course
credits.

(j) No provision of this section shall be waived unless the waiver
is specifically authorized in statute.

(k) The Superintendent, on or before January 1, 2015, shall
adopt rules and regulations implementing this section.

(l) This section shall become inoperative on June 30, 2019, and,
as of January 1, 2020, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2020, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.

SEC. 2.  

Section 46309 is added to the Education Code, to read:

46309.  

(a) Subject to subdivision (g), a school district, county
office of education, or charter school begin insert providing classroom-based
instruction, as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (e) of
Section 47612.5, end insert that operates an online educational learning
program is eligible to receive state apportionments for up to 10
percent of the total average daily attendance of pupils enrolled in
grades 9 to 12, inclusive, of the school district, county office of
education, or charter school, pursuant to Section 46308, for three
consecutive years. A school district, county office of education,
or charter school begin insert providing classroom-based instruction, as defined
in paragraph (1) of subdivision (e) of Section 47612.5, end insert is eligible
to receive state apportionments for an additional three years if the
school district, county office of education, or charter school submits
the semiannual reports described in subparagraph (C) of paragraph
(2) of subdivision (h) of Section 46308, and the pupils enrolled in
the online course or courses are achieving satisfactory pupil
progress, as defined in paragraph (4) of subdivision (e) of Section
46308.

(b) A participating school district, county office of education,
or charter school shall develop and adopt policies that evaluate if
a pupil is achieving satisfactory pupil progress, as defined in
paragraph (4) of subdivision (e) of Section 46308, and if a pupil
should be allowed to continue to participate in the online
educational learning program.

(c) If, in any year of participation, the pupils participating in an
online educational learning program offered by a school district,
county office of education, or charter school are earning less than
75 percent of the course credits earned by pupils enrolled in
classroom-based courses, the participating school district, county
office of education, or charter school shall submit pupil records
for review by the department that compare the course completion
rate of pupils participating in the online educational learning
program to the overall course completion rate for pupils enrolled
in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, in the participating school district,
county office of education, or charter school.

(d) The department shall develop a process authorizing a school
district, county office of education, or charter school, to voluntarily
reduce the state apportionments received for the online educational
learning program if projected pupil enrollment is not achieved, or
the pupils are not achieving satisfactory pupil progress, as defined
in paragraph (4) of subdivision (e) of Section 46308.

(e) The department may reduce or eliminate the state
apportionments a participating school district, county office of
education, or charter school receives for pupils participating in an
online educational learning program if the pupils have not achieved
satisfactory pupil progress, as defined in paragraph (4) of
subdivision (e) of Section 46308, for three consecutive years or
the school district, county office of education, or charter school
does not comply with the semiannual reporting requirements
described in subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (h)
of Section 46308. The department shall review the pupil records
of pupils participating in the online educational learning program
to make this determination. If the department decides to eliminate
the state apportionments a participating school district, county
office of education, or charter school receives for pupils
participating in an online educational learning program, the state
apportionments shall be eliminated in the year following the year
the department decides to eliminate the state apportionments. A
participating school district, county office of education, or charter
school may appeal to the state board the decision of the department
to reduce or eliminate the state apportionments a participating
school district, county office of education, or charter school
receives for pupils participating in an online educational learning
program.

(f) Compliance with this section shall be subject to the audit
conducted pursuant to Section 41020.

(g) The Superintendent, on or before January 1, 2015, shall
adopt rules and regulations implementing this section.

(h) This section shall become inoperative on June 30, 2019,
and, as of January 1, 2020, is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2020,
deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and
is repealed.