BILL ANALYSIS
AB 798
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB 798 (Wildman)
As Amended September 2, 1999
2/3 vote
ASSEMBLY: 76-1 (May 27, 1999) SENATE:40-0 (September 7,
1999)
ASSEMBLY: 79-1 (September 9, 1999)
Original Committee Reference: ED.
SUMMARY : Revises, effective July 1, 2000, the funding formula
for educational programs for adults in correctional facilities.
The Senate amendments :
1)Add one year to the inoperative and repeal dates, from July 1,
1999 to July 1, 2000 and January 1, 2000 to January 1, 2001,
respectively, for the existing funding formula. Modify the
operative date of the revised funding formula, from July 1,
1999 to July 1, 2000.
2)Modify the formula and fiscal year by which a school district
or county board of education is prohibited from claiming or
reporting average daily attendance (ADA) in excess of the
greater of:
a) The average of ADA claimed and authorized for the
education of adults incarcerated in correctional facilities
during the six prior fiscal years; or,
AB 798
Page 2
b) ADA claimed during the prior fiscal year.
3)Authorize, beginning with the 2001-2002 fiscal year and each
fiscal year thereafter, a school district or county board of
education to claim or report the maximum amount of ADA for the
education of adults incarcerated in correctional facilities
authorized for the prior fiscal year multiplied by 1.025,
unless the Legislature approves a greater increase for that
fiscal year in the annual Budget Act.
EXISTING LAW authorizes school districts and county offices of
education to operate educational programs for adults in local
correctional facilities. Programs are funded through a revenue
limit system that pays each school district or county office of
education a formula amount per student based upon actual costs.
Like all adult education programs, the state has imposed growth
limits that allow programs to claim funding for no more than
2.5% more students than in the prior year.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill revised the funding formula
for the education of adults incarcerated in county-based
correction programs.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, unknown, potential General Fund (Proposition 98)
costs of $1.4 million annually.
COMMENTS: The current growth cap on programs for adults in
correctional facilities prevents individual programs from
returning to full strength whenever a jail has to be closed or
renovated and the inmate population, and thus the participating
students, declines temporarily.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE :
Assembly Bill Number 798 would allow a school district
or county office of education operating an Adults in
Correctional Facilities program to claim the average
of the average daily attendance (ADA) during the
AB 798
Page 3
previous six fiscal years, or their previous year's
ADA, whichever is greater, for the purposes of
calculating their allowance for this program.
This bill is intended to address school districts or
county offices of education that experience a
temporary decline in correctional facility ADA due to
extenuating circumstances, and as a result cannot
restore their previous funding level.
I cannot support this bill because it would
unnecessarily allow all districts, regardless of
whether a district experienced a temporary decline in
ADA, to use the average of their previous six years of
ADA, or their previous year's ADA, to determine their
finding level. In addition, I see no reason to use
the average of six years of funding as the means of
calculating the appropriate allowance for this
program. In these ways this bill would unnecessarily
increase funding for this program.
Analysis Prepared by : Lynn Lorber / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0003870