BILL ANALYSIS �
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 714|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 714
Author: Block (D)
Amended: 5/24/13
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 4/24/13
AYES: Liu, Wyland, Block, Correa, Hancock, Hueso, Huff,
Jackson, Monning
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/23/13
AYES: De Le�n, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
SUBJECT : Online instruction: average daily attendance
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill, beginning with the 2015-16 fiscal year,
permits a school district, county of office of education (COE),
or charter school providing classroom-based instruction to claim
funding up to 10% of the total average daily attendance (ADA) in
grades 9-12, 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" (OELPs).
OELPs may include one online course, multiple online courses, or
a combination of online coursework and classroom-based
coursework, as specified. This bill requires a school district,
COE, 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
CONTINUED
SB 714
Page
2
should be allowed to continue to enroll in the OELP.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Requires the majority of the state's revenue limit funding
(general purpose) allocated to local educational agencies
(LEAs) be based on ADA. ADA is the average amount of time a
pupil attends class under the immediate supervision of a
certificated employee.
2. 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.
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/she is required to produce a work product,
which is assessed by a certificated employee of the
district.
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 (SBE).
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
CONTINUED
SB 714
Page
3
the classroom and IS courses in order for a district to claim
a pupil's attendance for funding purposes.
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).
3. Requires each school district maintaining any of grades 7 to
12, inclusive, to offer courses of study that (a) fulfill the
requirements and prerequisites for admission to California
public institutions of postsecondary education and (b)
provide an opportunity for pupils to attain entry-level
employment skills in business or industry. School districts
may fulfill their responsibility pursuant to number (b) by
adopting a required curriculum that meets or exceeds the
model standards the Career Technical Education adopted by the
SBE.
This bill, beginning with the 2014-15 fiscal year, permits LEAs
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." Specifically, this bill:
1. Permits a pupil in grades 9-12, to participate in OELPs, if:
(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; and, (c) each course the pupil is
enrolled in is a high quality online course.
2. Defines a "high quality online course" as meeting specified
requirements, including:
A. A teacher teaching an online course be accessible to
each pupil to respond to pupil queries, assign tasks, and
dispense information; and
B. That a teacher teaching an online course employ all of
the following:
CONTINUED
SB 714
Page
4
(1) Periodic proctored examinations;
(2) Direct teacher-pupil meetings, in person, no less
than twice per calendar month;
(3) A visual connection; and
(4) 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, as specified.
3. Requires the teacher of the online course(s) to hold the
appropriate subject matter credential and meet requirements
for a highly qualified teacher pursuant to federal law.
4. Requires all statewide testing results for pupils enrolled
in the online course be reported to the school, school
district and COE in which the pupil is enrolled for regular
classroom courses. Statewide testing results may be
disaggregated for purposes of comparing testing results of
pupils enrolled on online course(s) to the testing results of
those pupils enrolled in classroom based courses.
5. Prohibits a pupil from being assigned to the online course,
as specified, unless the pupil voluntarily elects to
participate in the online course and the parent or guardian
of the pupil provides written consent.
6. 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, and prohibits a pupil from being charged for
their participation in the online course.
7. Requires the pupils to take exams by proctor, or other
reliable methods used to ensure test integrity, and a clear
record of pupil work, using the same method of documentation
and assessment as used in a classroom-based course.
8. 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.
CONTINUED
SB 714
Page
5
Requires that satisfactory pupil progress means a pupil has
earned at least 60 course credits in a school year.
9. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), on
or before January 1, 2015, to adopt implementing regulations
authorizing LEAs to receive state apportionments for pupils
enrolled in online courses.
10.Permits an LEA to receive state apportionments for pupils
enrolled in a high-quality online course for up to 10% of
that district's or COE's total ADA, as specified.
11.Permits state funding for online courses for an additional
three years if the pupils are achieving satisfactory pupil
progress, as specified.
12.Requires a participating LEA 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 OELP.
13.Requires, if in any year of participation, the pupils that
participate in an online program are earning less than 75% of
the course credits earned by pupils in classroom based
courses, this information shall be sent for review by the
Department of Education (CDE).
14.Requires CDE to develop a process authorizing participating
LEAs to voluntarily reduce state funding (apportionments) for
the online program if projected student enrollment is not
achieved, or if the pupils are not achieving satisfactory
pupil progress.
15.Specifies the CDE may reduce or eliminate apportionments if
the pupils have not achieved satisfactory progress for three
consecutive years or the requirements of semi-annual
reporting has not been complied with.
Comments
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
CONTINUED
SB 714
Page
6
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 OELP could be diluted, eliminated, rendered obsolete or
discretionary at the local level.
Prior Legislation
AB 644 (Blumenfield, Chapter 579, Statutes of 2012) authorized a
school district or COE to claim attendance for pupils in grades
9-12, taking online synchronous courses, toward ADA for the
purpose of calculating revenue limit funding, as specified.
AB 837 (Torlakson, 2009) would have established that a school
district or COE, beginning with 2010-11, may claim ADA 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. The bill was held on the Assembly Appropriations
suspense file.
AB 2457 (Walters, 2008) would have 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
CONTINUED
SB 714
Page
7
Apportionment: Unlikely to result in significant additional
state costs. This bill allows programs more flexibility to
claim ADA for nonclassroom based instruction; in the absence
of this flexibility, LEAs are likely to continue their
programs as they are and to continue to collect existing
apportionment levels.
CDE administration: CDE would require a 0.5 Education
Programs Consultant to manage the regulation development
process and to review school district pupil data for claiming
ADA from online course enrollment. This bill also creates
additional cost pressure to fund an existing departmental
budget request for $145,000. See staff comments.
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/24/13)
California Association of School Business Officers
California Association of Suburban School Districts
EdVoice
Kern County Superintendent of Schools
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
San Diego Unified School District
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/24/13)
California Teachers Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
California has the opportunity to implement a powerful new tool
for student learning. OELPs 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 IS options and
has shown that online and blended learning increases access,
options and high quality learning opportunities for students.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Opponents argue asynchronous
instruction (when a student and teacher are not online at the
same time) is IS. Removing asynchronous instruction from IS
CONTINUED
SB 714
Page
8
removes safeguards that have been built in over time. Current
IS law has a method for trying to calculate how much time was
spent by the student to accomplish the coursework. Students are
not held to the same standard in the system proposed by this
bill.
PQ:k 5/24/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED