SB 4

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools of each county, among other specified duties, to make annual visits to each school in his or her county at reasonable intervals to observe its operation and to learn of its problems. Existing law requires that the priority objective of those visits be the determination of whether each school has sufficient textbooks, as defined. This bill would revise the definition of sufficient textbooks for the 2008–09 and 2009–10 fiscal years and, during those fiscal years, would require a county superintendent of schools to use that revised definition to determine whether a school has sufficient textbooks. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2010, and repeal them on January 1, 2011. (2) Existing law requires a revenue limit to be calculated for each county superintendent of schools, adjusted for various factors, and reduced, as specified. Existing law reduces the revenue limit for each county superintendent of schools for the 2008–09 fiscal year by a deficit factor of 4.396%. This bill would instead reduce the revenue limit for each county superintendent of schools for the 2008–09 fiscal year by a deficit factor of 7.839%, and for the 2009–10 fiscal year by a deficit factor of 13.360%. (3) Existing law specifies that the amount apportioned for revenue limits for a school year that are be deemed to attributed to the minimum funding obligation for school districts and community college districts for the following fiscal year shall be $715,118,000. This bill would change that amount and set the amount at $1,101,655,000 for the 2008–09 and each school year thereafter. (4) Existing law requires the Controller to draw warrants on the State Treasury in favor of the county treasurer of each county in each month of each year in prescribed amounts and in a prescribed manner. This bill, commencing with the 2008–09 fiscal year, would require the warrants for the principal apportionments for the month of February in the amount of $2,000,000,000 to be drawn in July of the same calendar year and would require those warrants to be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution for the year in which they are drawn. (5) The Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 requires the State Allocation Board to require school districts applying for funds under that act to deposit, into a specified account for ongoing and major maintenance of school buildings, an amount equal to or greater than 3% of the total general fund expenditures of the applicant school district. This bill, for the 2008–09 to the 2012–13 fiscal years, inclusive, would reduce that deposit requirement to an amount equal to or greater than 1% of the total general fund expenditures of the applicant school district. (6) Existing law requires a governing board of a school district to discuss proposals and plans for expenditure of funds for the deferred maintenance of school district facilities at a regularly scheduled public hearing. Existing law requires the governing board to make a report on the district's spending priorities for the current fiscal year to the Legislature, with copies to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education, the Department of Finance, and the State Allocation Board, by March 1 of any year that the school district does not set aside prescribed funds for the deferred maintenance of its facilities. This bill would make this report requirement inoperative for the 2008–09 to 2012–13 fiscal years, inclusive. (7) Existing law directs that an amount of moneys be transferred in the annual Budget Act from the Proposition 98 Reversion Account to the School Facilities Emergency Repair Account. The amount to be transferred is required to equal 50% of the unappropriated balance of the Proposition 98 Reversion Account or $100,000,000, whichever amount is greater. The moneys transferred are required to be used for the purpose of addressing emergency facilities needs. This bill, for the 2009–10 fiscal year, would reduce the amount required to be transferred pursuant to the requirement above to zero. The bill would prohibit funds provided to school districts from the School Facilities Emergency Repair Account for the purpose of emergency repair grants from being used either to supplant funds provided to local educational agencies for the deferred maintenance of school facilities pursuant to specified statutes or for deposit into a school district deferred maintenance fund for expenditure for specified purposes. (8)  Existing law requires, for the 1990–91 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, that moneys to be applied by the state for the support of school districts, community college districts, and direct elementary and secondary level instructional services provided by the state be distributed in accordance with certain calculations governing the proration of those moneys among the 3 segments of public education. Existing law makes that provision inapplicable to the fiscal years between the 1992–93 and 2008–09, inclusive. This bill would make that provision inapplicable to the 2009–10 fiscal year. (9) The California Constitution requires the state to apply a minimum amount of funding for each fiscal year for the support of school districts and community college districts. The Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Director of Finance, by January 1, 2006, are required to jointly determine the outstanding balance of the minimum funding obligation to school districts and community college districts pursuant to the California Constitution for the 1995–96 to 2003–04 fiscal years, inclusive. Existing law, commencing with the 2006–07 fiscal year, annually appropriates $150,000,000 from the General Fund to the Controller for allocation to school districts and community college districts for the purpose of discharging in full the outstanding balance of the minimum funding obligation to school districts and community college districts pursuant to the California Constitution. Existing law cancels that annual appropriation for the 2008–09 fiscal year. This bill, in addition, would provide that, if the Superintendent and the Director of Finance jointly determine that, for the 2008–09 fiscal year, the state has applied moneys for the support of school districts and community college districts in an amount that exceeds the minimum amount required for that fiscal year pursuant to the California Constitution, the bill would deem $1,100,590,000, as of June 30 of that fiscal year, as a payment in satisfaction of the outstanding balance, as defined, of the minimum funding obligation under that section for the 2002–03 and 2003–04 fiscal years, as specified. (10) Existing law requires a revenue limit to be calculated for each school district and each county superintendent of schools and requires the amount of the revenue limit to be adjusted for various factors. This bill would, for the 2011–12 fiscal year, require the Superintendent to compute an equalization adjustment for each school district so that the prior year base revenue limit per unit of average daily attendance of a school district is not less than the prior year base revenue limit per unit of average daily attendance above which fall not more than 10% of the total statewide units of average daily attendance for the appropriate size and type of school district. (11) Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools to determine a revenue limit for each school district in the county, and requires the amount of the revenue limit to be adjusted for various factors. Existing law reduces the revenue limit for each school district for the 2008–09 fiscal year by a deficit factor of 4.713%. This bill would instead reduce the revenue limit for each school district for the 2008–09 fiscal year by a deficit factor of 7.844%, and for the 2009–10 fiscal year by a deficit factor of 13.094%. (12) Existing law establishes various categorical education programs and appropriates the funding for those programs in the annual Budget Act. That act authorizes local educational agencies to expend up to 10% of the amount apportioned under specified categorical education programs for the purposes of any other program for which the recipient is eligible for funding, as specified. This bill would instead reduce by a percentage, calculated as specified, the appropriations made in the Budget Act of 2008 to school districts and county offices of education in enumerated items that fund specified categorical education programs. The bill would authorize school districts, for the 2008–09 to 2012–13 fiscal years, inclusive, to use the funds received pursuant to any of those budget items, with specified exceptions, for any educational purpose, to the extent permitted by federal law. The school districts and county offices of education would be required, at a regularly scheduled, open, public hearing, to take testimony from the public, discuss, and approve or disapprove the proposed use of funding, and to report to the State Department of Education, in the existing annual Standardized Accounting System reporting process, the purposes for which the funds were used and the amounts used for each of those purposes. The department would be required to collect and provide this information to the appropriate legislative policy and budget committees and the Department of Finance by February 28, 2010. (13) Existing law establishes the Class Size Reduction Program under which a participating school district or county office of education reduces class size to 20 pupils per class in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive. If a school district or county office of education receives funding for a class but fails to reduce the size of that class to 20 pupils, the school district or county office of education suffers a reduction in its next principal apportionment of state funds. This bill would reduce the amount of this penalty for the 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11 and 2011–12 fiscal years, as specified. (14) The Pupil Textbook and Instructional Materials Incentive Program Act requires the governing board of a school district to hold a public hearing and make a determination as to whether each pupil in each school in the district has sufficient textbooks or instructional materials in the subjects of mathematics, science, history-social science, and English/language arts that are aligned to the adopted content standards and that are consistent with the content and cycles of the curriculum framework adopted by the State Board of Education. Existing law subjects school districts that receive funds from any state source to this and specified requirements only in a fiscal year in which the Superintendent of Public Instruction determines that the base revenue limit for each school district will increase by at least 1% per unit of average daily attendance from the prior fiscal year. This bill would delete the condition related to the increase in revenue limit funding so that school districts would be subject to the requirements when they receive funds for instructional materials from any state source. (15) Existing law establishes the Instructional Materials Funding Realignment Program that requires the State Department of Education to apportion funds to school districts and requires the governing board of a school district to use that funding to ensure that each pupil is provided with a standards-aligned textbook or basic instructional materials by the beginning of the first school term that commences no later than 24 months after those materials were adopted by the State Board of Education, except as specified. This bill, until July 1, 2010, would exempt school districts from that requirement. (16) Existing law establishes a statewide system of public postsecondary education that includes, among other segments, the various campuses of the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of the University of California. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that no new General Fund augmentation be made available for contributions to the University of California Retirement Plan. (17) Existing law appropriates $39,780,000 from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, in augmentation of an amount appropriated pursuant to a specified item in the Budget Act of 2008, to provide a 0.68% cost-of-living adjustment to apportionments to community college districts for expenditure during the 2008–09 fiscal year. This bill would repeal this provision. (18) Existing law appropriates $388,283,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for 10 specified programs according to a specified schedule, and requires the department to encumber these funds by July 1, 2009. This appropriation reflects the June 2009 principal apportionment that is deferred to July 2009. Included in this appropriation is $52,583,000 for home-to-school transportation. This bill would eliminate that appropriation for home-to-school transportation and instead would appropriate $570,000,000 for class size reduction in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive. The bill would increase the total appropriation from $388,283,000 to $905,700,000 to reflect the February 2009 principal apportionment and the 2009 payment for class size reduction in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive. The funds appropriated would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution for the 2009–10 fiscal year. (19) The Budget Act of 2008 appropriates $200,000,000 from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges for expenditure during the 2009–10 fiscal year. This bill would increase that appropriation to a total of $540,000,000, and would defer the disbursal of those funds until July 2010. The amount appropriated would represent $115,000,000 of the January apportionment to community college districts, $115,000,000 of the February apportionment to those districts, $55,000,000 of the March apportionment and $55,000,000 of the April apportionment, and $200,000,000 of the June apportionment of those districts. The funds appropriated would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California constitution for the 2009–10 fiscal year. (20) Existing law provides no cost-of-living adjustment for specified education programs for the 2008–09 fiscal year. This bill would add the categorical block grant for charter schools to the list of programs not receiving a cost-of-living adjustment for the 2008–09 fiscal year. (21) The Budget Act of 2008 makes various appropriations for purposes of public education. This bill would reduce or eliminate specified appropriations made in that Budget Act. (22) This bill would appropriate $198,446,000 from the Public Transportation Account in the State Transportation Fund to the State Department of Education for purposes of home-to-school transportation, to be allocated as specified. (23) This bill would appropriate $420,268,000 from the Mass Transportation Fund to the State Department of Education for purposes of home-to-school transportation, to be allocated as specified. (24) The Budget Act of 2008 makes various appropriations for purposes of child care and development programs. This bill would reduce specified General Fund appropriations made in that Budget Act for those purposes. The bill also would reappropriate the unobligated balances from other specified appropriations to the State Department of Education for CalWORKs Stage 2 Child Care services, as specified. (25) This bill would reappropriate for the 2008–09 fiscal year prescribed amounts or the unexpended balance of specified appropriations made in specified prior Budget Acts to the State Department of Education for allocation to the Class Size Reduction Program in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive. (26) This bill would appropriate $958,283,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for 11 specified programs according to a specified schedule and would require the department to encumber these funds by July 31, 2010. The bill would provide that, for purposes of satisfying the minimum annual funding obligation for school districts required by the California Constitution, the appropriated funds are General Fund revenues appropriated for school districts and community college districts for the 2010–11 fiscal year. (27) Existing law requires the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges to adopt regulations providing for the payment of apportionments to community college districts on a schedule to include an advance apportionment on or before July 15 of each year, and a first and 2nd principal apportionment on or before February 20 and June 25 of each year, respectively. Existing law requires the Controller to draw warrants on the State Treasury in favor of the county treasurer of each county in each month of each year during the fiscal year from the State School Fund to the school districts under the jurisdiction of the county superintendent of schools of the county, to the county school service fund, and to the county school tuition fund of the county. Warrants for 6% of specified amounts allowed to the county school service funds and 6% of specified amounts apportioned to school districts and county school service funds for classes maintained by county superintendents of schools and to the county service fund are required to be drawn in July. For the 2008–09 fiscal year only the entire amount of the July warrant for the county school service fund and a specified percentage of the amount of the July warrant for school district apportionments, county school service fund apportionments for classes maintained by the county superintendent of schools, and county school tuition fund apportionments are deferred to the warrants drawn in September. This bill would defer $200,000,000 of the July 2009 community college advance apportionment to October 2009. The bill also would defer $1,000,000,000 of the July 2009 and $1,500,000,000 of the August 2009 apportionments for local educational agencies that maintain kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to October 2009. (28)  This bill would appropriate $540,000,000 from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges for expenditure during the 2010–11 fiscal year according to a specified item in the Budget Act of 2009. The bill would defer until July 2011 the disbursal of those funds. The amount appropriated would represent $115,000,000 of the January apportionment to community college districts, $115,000,000 of the February apportionment to those districts, $55,000,000 of the March apportionment and $55,000,000 of the April apportionment, and $200,000,000 of the June apportionment to those districts. The bill would provide that, for purposes of satisfying the minimum annual funding obligation for community college districts required by the California Constitution, those funds are General Fund revenues appropriated for community college districts for the 2010–11 fiscal year. (29) Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Controller, and the Director of Finance to develop standards and criteria to be reviewed by the State Board of Education and to be used by local educational agencies in the development of annual budgets and the management of subsequent expenditures from those budgets. This bill, for the 2008–09 fiscal year only, would authorize the governing board of a school district or county office of education to use up to 100% of the balances, as of June 30, 2008, of restricted accounts in its general fund or cafeteria fund, excluding restricted reserves committed for capital outlay, bond funds, sinking funds, federal funds, and balances in designated programs. (30) This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to reduce the principal apportionment for school districts and county offices of education for the 2008–09 fiscal year, as necessary, if, during that fiscal year, the Controller has disbursed funds from the appropriations reduced by the bill in amounts greater than the amounts remaining in those appropriations following the reductions and the Superintendent determines there is no other way to recover the funds that have been disbursed during the 2008–09 fiscal year. (31) This bill would set the cost-of-living adjustment for community day schools, for specified items in the Budget Act of 2009, and for specified items in the Budget Act of 2008 for the 2009–10 fiscal year at 0% notwithstanding the cost-of-living adjustment specified in existing statutes. (32) This bill would require funds appropriated pursuant to specified items in the Budget Act of 2009 to be encumbered by July 31, 2010. (33) The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 19, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 19, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution. (34) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.