BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1143
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Date of Hearing: August 6, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
SB 1143 (Liu) - As Amended: August 4, 2014
Policy Committee: EducationVote:7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill specifies if more than 10% of the total average daily
attendance (ADA) for local education agencies (LEAs) is claimed
utilizing the course-based Independent Study (IS) approach, then
any ADA in excess of 10% shall be reduced by the applicable
statewide average rate of absence for either elementary
districts or high school districts, as prescribed. Further, this
bill specifies that in the use of course-based IS, nothing shall
be deemed to prohibit the right to collectively bargain any
subject within the scope of representation.
FISCAL EFFECT
Unknown, likely minor state savings, to the extent this bill
reduces ADA apportionments for a district, charter school, or
county office of education with greater than 10 percent of its
students enrolled in course-based independent study.
According to the Legislative Analyst Office (LAO), about 165,000
California students took at least one course through IS in
2012-13. Collectively this represents about 2.6 percent of all
K-12 enrollments. It is not likely that school districts will
educate more than 10% of their pupils through IS. This bill is
more likely to affect charter schools that offer IS as their
only mode of instruction (approximately 200 charter schools).
The fiscal impact would likely be minor since LEAs with IS
enrollments exceeding 10% would likely continue to use the
traditional IS model to avoid a reduction in ADA.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose. According to the author, the purpose of this bill is
SB 1143
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to limit the fiscal exposure to the state for school
districts, charter schools, and county offices of education
that provide a new course-based approach to independent study.
Further the bill clarifies that nothing in law prohibits this
new approach to educational delivery from being collective
bargained.
2)Background. Current law authorizes independent study as an
alternative instructional strategy. Independent study
students work independently, according to a written agreement
and under the general supervision of a credentialed teacher or
teachers. While independent study students follow the
district-adopted curriculum and meet the district graduation
requirements, independent study offers flexibility to meet
individual student needs, interests, and styles of learning.
Traditionally, independent study funding is based on students'
academic work products, rather than attendance, since students
do not attend school on a daily basis. For each assignment,
the supervising teacher equates a students' work to an
equivalent amount of seat time. An IS program can claim full
per-pupil funding if the seat-time equivalent of the students'
work is the same as the time the students would have spent in
a classroom setting.
The 2014 education budget trailer bill (SB 858/Ch. 32) makes
several changes to the administration of the independent study
program and offers a new course-based alternative. The
course-based approach eliminates the assignment-by-assignment
requirement and instead authorizes local governing boards to
certify an entire IS course as equivalent to a specific amount
of seat time.
Analysis Prepared by : Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081