BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 714
AUTHOR: Block
AMENDED: April 15, 2013
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 24, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Daniel Alvarez
SUBJECT : Schools: average daily attendance: online
instruction.
SUMMARY
This bill beginning with the 2014-15 fiscal year, permits a
school district, county of office of education, or charter
school to claim state apportionment funding for three
consecutive years for asynchronous (defined as "where the
teacher and the pupil are online at different times and do
not interact simultaneously) attendance of pupils 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.
BACKGROUND
Existing law
1) Requires the majority of the state's revenue limit
funding (general purpose) allocated to local educational
agencies (LEAs) be based on average daily attendance
(ADA). ADA is the average amount of time a pupil
attends class under the immediate supervision of a
certificated employee.
(Education Code � 46300 et. seq.)
Within the current ADA requirements, LEAs are able to
provide online courses to pupils in the following ways:
a) Pupils are receiving online instruction in a
classroom setting under the immediate supervision
of a certificated employee.
(EC � 46300 (a))
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b) Pupils are enrolled in a part-time or
full-time independent study (IS) program (i.e., the
pupil may be taking regular classroom courses and
one or two IS program courses online). If a pupil
is enrolled full-time in an IS program, he or she
is required to produce a work product, which is
assessed by a certificated employee of the
district.
(EC � 51745 et. seq.)
c) Pupils who have met the minimum instructional
requirement and are taking an online course. Under
this scenario, the pupil is generating full ADA for
meeting the minimum instructional requirement and
the pupil is taking the online course in addition
to meeting minimum requirements.
d) Pupils are enrolled in a charter school, which
has less traditional accounting and attendance
requirements for its pupils; and typically must
meet statutory requirements, where applicable, or
regulatory guidelines adopted by the State Board of
Education.
1) Establishes the minimum school day for a high school
student to be 240 instructional minutes in a classroom,
in IS, or in a combination of the two settings, and
requires students taking a combination to meet
attendance standards for both the classroom and IS
courses in order for a district to claim a pupil's
attendance for funding purposes. (EC � 46141)
2) Requires that pupils in grades 9 through 12 attend
school for at least 64,800 minutes per year in no less
than 180 days (or 175 days under budget flexibility
language through 2014-15). (EC � 46201)
3) Existing law requires each school district maintaining
any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer courses of
study that (1) fulfill the requirements and
prerequisites for admission to California public
institutions of postsecondary education and (2) provide
an opportunity for pupils to attain entry-level
employment skills in business or industry. School
districts may fulfill their responsibility pursuant to
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number (2) by adopting a required curriculum that meets
or exceeds the model standards the Career Technical
Education adopted by the State Board of Education.
(EC � 51228)
ANALYSIS
This bill beginning with the 2014-15 fiscal year, permits a
school district, county office of education, or charter
school to claim state apportionment funding for three
consecutive years for asynchronous (defined as "where the
teacher and the pupil are online at different times and do
not interact simultaneously) attendance of pupils 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. More specifically this bill:
1) Permits a pupil in grades 9 through 12, to participate
in online educational learning programs, if all of the
following apply:
a) The pupil is a California resident and
enrolled in classes that include courses in a
classroom based setting, courses that are offered
through an online program, or both.
b) The pupil meets state minimum instructional
time requirements, as specified.
c) Each course the pupil is enrolled in is a high
quality online course.
2) Defines a "high quality online course" as an online
course that meets all the following requirements:
a) Requires that the online course is approved
and certified as being as rigorous as a classroom
based course and meeting or exceeding all relevant
state content standards.
b) Requires a teacher teaching an online
course(s) to be accessible to each pupil to respond
to pupil queries, assign tasks, and dispense
information.
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c) Requires a teacher teaching an online
course(s) to employ at least one of the following:
i) Periodic proctored examinations
ii) Direct teacher-pupil meetings, in
person, no less than twice per calendar month.
iii) A visual connection, including, but
not limited to, an Internet Web camera.
iv) 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.
In addition, specifies that specific minimum
standards for teacher-pupil contact may be determined
through a collective bargaining agreement.
d) Requires the pupil-teacher ratio for online
classes from exceeding the equivalent ratio for all
other educational programs offered by the school
district or county office of education, unless
otherwise negotiated in a collective bargaining
agreement. In addition, authorizes the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to adopt
rules and regulations for purposes of implementing
this paragraph.
e) Requires the content of an online course to
meet or exceed the content standards applied to the
classroom-based course, when a classroom-based
course of the same course title exists.
f) Requires the teacher of the online course(s)
to hold the appropriate subject matter credential
and meets requirement for a highly qualified
teacher pursuant to federal law.
g) Requires all statewide testing results for
pupils enrolled in the online course are reported
to the school, school district and county office of
education in which the pupil is enrolled for
regular classroom courses. Statewide testing
results may be disaggregated for purposes of
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comparing testing results of pupils enrolled on
online course(s) to the testing results of those
pupils enrolled in classroom based courses.
h) Prohibits a pupil from being assigned to the
online course pursuant to this section 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 an online course.
i) Prohibits a pupil electing to participate in
the online course from being denied access because
the pupil lacks the computer hardware or software
necessary to participate in the online course.
j) Prohibits a pupil from being charged for their
participation in the online course.
aa) Requires the pupils to 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.
1) Deems each high quality online course to be 60 minutes
for the purposes of calculating instructional time. A
pupil can be credited with a day of attendance for each
school day the pupil is enrolled in the high quality
online course.
Requires that satisfactory pupil progress means a pupil
has earned at least 60 course credits in a school year.
2) Requires the elements of # 3 above are subject to annual
audit reporting.
3) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, on or
before June 30, 2014, to adopt emergency regulations
authorizing a school district, county office of
education (COE) or charter school to receive state
apportionments for pupils enrolled in an online
course(s) beginning in 2014-15.
4) Permits a school district, COE, or charter school to
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receive state apportionments for pupils enrolled in a
high-quality online course(s) based on the number of
online courses taught in the 2013-14 school year, or for
up to 10 percent of that district's or COE total average
daily attendance, as specified.
5) Defines "online educational learning program" as 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.
6) Prohibits the waiver of any provision of this measure,
unless specifically authorized.
7) Permits state funding for online courses for an
additional three years if the pupils are achieving
satisfactory pupil progress, as specified.
8) Permits increasing the number of pupils participating in
the online educational learning program by up to 100
percent if the pupils participating achieve or exceed
satisfactory pupil progress. The State Department of
Education (SDE) shall make this determination.
9) Requires a school district, county office of education
(COE), or charter school to develop and adopt policies
that evaluate if a pupil is achieving satisfactory
progress and if a pupil should be allowed to continue to
participate in the online educational learning program.
10) Requires, if in any year of participation, the pupils
that participate in an online program are earning less
than 75 percent of the course credits earned by pupils
in classroom based courses, this information shall be
sent for review by the (SDE).
11) Requires SDE to develop a process authorizing school
districts, COE, or charter school to voluntarily reduce
state funding (apportionments) for the online program,
if (a) projected student enrollment is not achieved, or
(b) the pupils are not achieving satisfactory pupil
progress.
12) Specifies the SDE may reduce or eliminate the state
funding (apportionments) if the pupils have not achieved
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satisfactory progress for three consecutive years or the
requirements of semi-annual reporting has not been
complied with. However, the bill allows for an appeal
the decision of the SDE to the State Board of Education
of a reduction in apportionments.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author's office,
California has the opportunity to implement a powerful
new tool for student learning. Online educational
learning programs will serve as a platform to help a
diverse range of students learn the same high-quality
content in new ways. This new option may appeal to
students for a variety of reasons; students who do not
do well in traditional classroom settings, students who
want to do a "blended" learning approach with some
classes online and others in the classroom; and students
who need the flexibility in their schedules. Research
supports the use on online learning beyond the
independent study options and has shown that online and
blended learning increases access, options and high
quality learning opportunities for students.
2) Unclear how this measure interacts with recent
legislation . Chapter 579, Statutes of 2012 (AB 644,
Blumenfield), authorizes a school district or county
office of education to claim attendance for pupils in
grades 9 to 12, taking online synchronous courses,
toward average daily attendance (ADA) for the purpose of
calculating revenue limit funding, as specified.
Synchronous online courses are those where teacher and
pupil(s) are online at the same time and able to
interact at the same time.
Ostensibly, this measure also covers synchronous and
"blended" (online and classroom based) courses. How will
the differences between this measure and Chapter 579 be
reconciled? It would seem the difference is in the
offering of asynchronous online courses and beginning
the process of accountability for "satisfactory pupil
progress."
3) Funding pupil attendance, promoting educational
interaction, and the state's interest . The Legislature,
generally, has required instruction for funding
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purposes, to be when a pupil attends class under the
immediate supervision of a certificated employee, with
some exceptions (particularly in independent study and
in non-classroom based charter schools). The
fundamental principal for allocation of funding under
California's school finance system is the value of
instructional time. The state measures this principal
through the average daily attendance (ADA) system,
including the ability of the pupil to be under the
direct supervision (via a line of sight) of a
certificated employee.
Further, a critical aspect of education is the
spontaneous interaction between teacher and pupil(s), as
well as pupil-to-pupil, where instruction is enhanced by
ensuing dialogue in a timely question and answer
approach, the ability to work with others, and where a
spontaneous social interactive learning experience can
enrich a pupil's education by supplementing the
acquisition of knowledge and learning, but also assist
in the growth of interpersonal skills pupils will need
in adult life, promoting the development of well-rounded
individuals.
From the perspective of protecting the state's interest
and ensuring that the state's investment in education is
spent directly on providing educational services to
students who are on task in terms of learning, online
delivery of instruction may not be able to provide total
guarantees; certainly in the context of the historical
dependence on the immediate supervision of a teacher to
guarantee the state's interest, many online delivery
approaches create problems; particularly those that
involve asynchronous online courses.
4) In an asynchronous online course , a course where the
teacher and pupil may be online at different times and
do not interact simultaneously, mechanisms that could
guarantee that a pupil is attending or participating,
that the pupil has spent time on task, or that there is
some time value to the pupil's work product are not so
easily defined.
In addition, elimination of simultaneous teacher-pupil
interaction, as would be the case in an asynchronous
course (teacher checking the students work online at
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different times) lack of supervision by a teacher
presents numerous risks to student learning,
particularly for students with special needs and
students in need of remediation. In addition,
elimination of immediate teacher supervision means that
the state has no mechanism to ensure that a student is
actually engaged in the coursework. From the
perspective of the state's interest, these are
situations where the state would be unable to ensure
that its investment in education is spent directly on
instruction.
This bill proposes mechanisms to provide some safeguards
that include: (a) periodic proctored examinations, (b)
direct teacher-pupil meetings of no less than twice per
calendar month, and (c) a visual connection including,
but not limited to, Internet Webcam.
There are fiscal questions related to claiming average
daily attendance (ADA) for an asynchronous online
course. For example, how does the state, for accounting
and audit purposes, ensure that the pupil actually meets
the minimum instructional time and day requirements?
This includes basic issues as how attendance is taken in
these courses. Are there unintended consequences (e.g.,
inequities in access to online instruction, loss of the
speaking skills required in the language arts standards,
or losses in personal and social skills) that might
result from increasing this means of delivering
education services?
This bill begins to answer some of the questions raised
by requiring pupils who enroll in an asynchronous online
class to be "deemed" as meeting 60 minutes of
instructional time for the purposes of meeting minimum
instructional day and minute requirements, in order to
generate ADA, which is the basis for calculating revenue
limit funding, as long as satisfactory pupil progress
has been accomplished, and by providing for minimal
requirements on course quality. However, this is still a
fairly new and less prescriptive way of connecting
funding, pupil academic outcomes, and to a lesser degree
meaningful accountability.
However, since the approach presented in this measure is
a fairly new undertaking for the State in terms of both
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educational approach and funding, staff recommends a
number of amendments:
a) Delay implementation until the 2015-16 fiscal
year. This will allow information from the
implementation of Chapter 579 to inform the state
moving forward.
b) Require that both sections of this bill are
subject to the audit conducted pursuant to
Education Code section 41020. This would provide
enough time for updates to the state audit guide
and ensure fiscal integrity of such a new endeavor.
c) Minimum standards for teacher-pupil contact
shall be determined through a collective bargaining
agreement (rather than leaving it permissive and
this language should be given a new paragraph).
d) On page 4, line 31, a teacher teaching an
online course shall employ all of the following?(as
specified on page 4, lines 33 through 37, and in
concert with the recommended amendment below)
e) Require timely feedback to pupils as a basic
tenet of a teacher teaching an online course. On
pages 4 and 5, strike out line 38, and move to page
4 line 31 after the period.
f) Add on page 5, after lines 12 and 21, the
computation of the teacher-pupil ratio be performed
annually and reported with the second principal
apportionment report to the Superintendent of
Public Instruction.
g) In no case shall provisions of this measure be
implemented prior to the adoption of rules and
regulations by the SPI for implementing the two
sections of this measure (rather than just for
apportionments and the prescribing of determining
appropriate teacher-pupil ratios).
h) Limit the amount of average daily attendance
(ADA) that can be generated via online educational
learning programs to no more than 10 percent of a
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school district, county office of education, or
charter school's total ADA. And strike out on page
8, lines 26 through 33.
i) Add a sunset of the provisions of this measure
as of June 30, 2019.
5) Governor's Local Control Funding Formula : As part of
the 2013-14 Governor's Budget, the administration
proposes to restructure the existing K-12 finance system
and eliminate over 40 existing programs while also
repealing, what the administration determines are
countless "discretionary" provisions of statute, while
implementing a new formula known as the Local Control
Funding Formula (LCFF). The LCFF would consolidate the
vast majority of state categorical programs and revenue
limit apportionments into a single source of funding (12
categorical programs, including Special Education, Child
Nutrition, Preschool, and After School programs, would
be excluded). The LCFF proposal would also eliminate
the statutory and programmatic requirements for almost
all existing categorical programs - the programs would
be deemed "discretionary" and programs in any of these
areas would be dependent on local district discretion.
To the extent that the LCFF or a modified version of it
is adopted as part of the budget, the majority of
currently required categorical or state optional
activities would be left to local districts' discretion.
Therefore, the changes proposed by this bill for the
online educational learning program could be diluted,
eliminated, rendered obsolete or discretionary at the
local level.
6) Prior legislation . Chapter 579, Statutes of 2012 (AB
644, Blumenfield), authorizes a school district or
county office of education to claim attendance for
pupils in grades 9 to 12, taking online synchronous
courses, toward average daily attendance (ADA) for the
purpose of calculating revenue limit funding, as
specified.
7) Past legislative attempts. In 2002, the Legislature
passed AB 885 (Daucher, Chapter 801) that authorized
participation by high school students in the Online
Classroom Pilot program, which allowed the use of an
asynchronous, interactive (a teacher and student
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interact online, but not necessarily at the same time)
curriculum. The pilot program addressed the need to
provide expanded educational opportunities for pupils
attending schools with limited educational offerings;
the need to provide access to advanced placement courses
where none are available; and the need to provide
quality educational access in courses for hard-to-staff
subject areas.
The pilot program sunset in 2007 and only cursory
evaluative information was provided; not a thorough
analysis which would assist in decision making for
renewing or expanding the pilot.
8) Prior and related legislation.
AB 2027 (Blumenfield), substantially similar to this
measure, passed this Committee on an 8-0 vote, but was
ultimately held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 837 (Torlakson, 2009) established that a school
district or county office of education, beginning with
2010-11, may claim average daily attendance on the basis
of a pupil's attendance at a class or classes in the
classroom-based setting on that day, for the purpose of
learning online. This measure was held on the Assembly
Appropriations suspense file.
AB 2457 (Walters, 2008) extended the Online Classroom
Pilot program until 2012; the bill was held on the
Assembly Appropriations suspense file.
AB 885 (Daucher, Chapter 801, Statutes of 2002),
established the Online Classroom Pilot.
SUPPORT
California Association of School Business Officers
California Association of Suburban School Districts
EdVoice
Kern County Superintendent of Schools
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
OPPOSITION
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None on file.