Dave Cortese
- Democratic
- Senator
- District 15
Author
Existing law establishes a public school financing system that requires state funding for county superintendents of schools, school districts, and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula (LCFF) , as specified. Under existing law, school districts that receive local revenues that exceed the LCFF amount do not receive a specified apportionment of LCFF funds, as provided, and are known as "basic aid school districts" or "excess tax entities." The Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act, an initiative approved by the voters as Proposition 98 at the November 8, 1988, statewide general election, amended the California Constitution to, among other things, set forth a formula for computing the minimum amount of revenues that the state is required to appropriate for the support of school districts and community college districts in any given fiscal year. The California Constitution creates the Public School System Stabilization Account in the General Fund and requires the Controller to transfer, pursuant to a schedule provided by the Director of Finance, a specified amount from the General Fund to the account in each fiscal year, except as provided. The California Constitution generally prohibits the total annual appropriations subject to limitation of the state and each local government from exceeding the appropriations limit of the entity of government for the prior fiscal year, adjusted for the change in the cost of living and the change in population. The California Constitution defines "appropriations subject to limitation" for these purposes. This bill would establish the Equalization Reserve Account in the General Fund. The bill would require interest earned on funds in the account to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to increase per-pupil funding in non-basic aid school districts, defined as school districts that received the above-described apportionment of LCFF funds in any of the then preceding 3 fiscal years, in a manner prescribed by the Legislature. The bill would require the Controller, in any fiscal year in which there is an increase over the preceding fiscal year in the minimum amount of revenues the state is required to appropriate for the support of school districts and community college districts, to transfer from the General Fund to the Equalization Reserve Account an amount equal to the total amount transferred from the General Fund to the Public School System Stabilization Account in that fiscal year, as provided. These provisions would become operative only if a constitutional amendment, approved by the voters, (1) excludes funds transferred to or allocated from the account from computations of the minimum amount of revenues that the state is required to appropriate for the support of school districts and community college districts, from the moneys allocated for purposes of meeting that minimum funding obligation, and from the total annual state appropriations subject to the limitation described above, and (2) requires the Legislature, in each fiscal year, to allocate a percentage of the interest that has been deposited in the account to increase per-pupil funding in non-basic aid school districts.
August 29 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.
August 20 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file.
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 16). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on ED.
In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.
Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 30. Noes 2. Page 1448.) Ordered to the Assembly.
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
Ordered to second reading.
Read third time and amended.
From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 1211.) (May 23).
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
Set for hearing May 23.
April 21 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
Set for hearing April 21.
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 0. Page 736.) (April 9). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
Set for hearing April 9.
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.
From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 24.
Read first time.
Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.
| Bill Text Versions | Format |
|---|---|
| SB743 | HTML |
| 02/21/25 - Introduced | |
| 03/26/25 - Amended Senate | |
| 05/29/25 - Amended Senate | |
| 07/07/25 - Amended Assembly |
| Document | Format |
|---|---|
| 04/07/25- Senate Education | |
| 04/18/25- Senate Appropriations | |
| 05/26/25- Sen. Floor Analyses | |
| 06/02/25- Sen. Floor Analyses | |
| 07/14/25- Assembly Education | PDF PDF |
| 08/18/25- Assembly Appropriations |
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