California Senate Bill SB942 Introduced / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: SB 942INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Committee on Education (Senators Lowenthal (Chair), Alquist, Blakeslee, Hancock, Huff, Liu, Price, Runner, Simitian, and Vargas) MARCH 24, 2011 An act to amend Sections 52055.720, 52055.730, 52055.760, 52055.770, and 69984 of, to repeal Article 3.8 (commencing with Section 32239.5) of Chapter 2 of Part 19 of Division 1 of Title 1 of, to repeal Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 52360) of Chapter 9 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of, and to repeal Chapter 8.6 (commencing with Section 52270) and Chapter 16 (commencing with Section 53050) of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of, the Education Code, relating to the Secretary for Education. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 942, as introduced, Committee on Education. Secretary for Education. (1) Existing law, the Machado School Violence Prevention and Response Act of 1999, establishes the School Violence Prevention and Response Task Force and makes the Secretary for Education, among others, an ex officio voting member. The task force is required to hold at least 2 public meetings, make recommendations on how to enhance state and local programs and training to adequately prepare school districts and county offices of education regarding disruptive and violent acts on or near school campuses, suggest methods for training school personnel regarding risk factors that lead to violence, and analyze and evaluate statutes and programs on school-based crisis prevention and response. This bill would eliminate the task force. (2) Existing law, the Quality Education Investment Act of 2006 (QEIA), requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to identify and invite school districts and chartering authorities that have eligible schools to participate in the QEIA program and receive funds to improve academic instruction and pupil academic achievement by agreeing to comply with specified program requirements. Existing law gives the Secretary for Education various duties with respect to the program. This bill would eliminate the secretary's duties with regard to the QEIA program. (3) Existing law establishes the Education Technology Grant Program to provide one-time grants to school districts and charter schools for purposes of acquiring computers for instructional purposes at public schools and requires the Office of the Secretary for Education to administer the application process for the award of grants. This bill would repeal the program. (4) Existing law establishes the Industry-Based Certification Incentive Grant Program for the purpose of awarding grants to selected school districts, county offices of education, and regional occupational centers and programs to establish industry-based certification programs within their career technical programs. Existing law requires the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Secretary for Education, to administer the program. This bill would repeal the program. (5) Existing law establishes the Governor's Reading Award Program, a grant program for school districts that maintain kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 8, inclusive, and requires the Secretary for Education to administer the program on behalf of the Governor. Existing law requires the Secretary for Education, subject to the availability of funding, to contract for the development and establishment of a public involvement campaign to inform Californians that promoting reading in the public schools as a key to success in life is the responsibility of all Californians. This bill would repeal the Governor's Reading Award Program and the requirement that the secretary contract for the public involvement campaign. (6) Existing law creates an instrumentality of the state that is known as the Golden State Scholarshare College Savings Trust and vests the purposes, powers, and duties of the Scholarshare trust in the Scholarshare Investment Board. Existing law makes the Secretary of Education a member of the board. This bill would eliminate the secretary as a member of the board. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Article 3.8 (commencing with Section 32239.5) of Chapter 2 of Part 19 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code is repealed. SEC. 2. Section 52055.720 of the Education Code is amended to read: 52055.720. (a) For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply: (1) "Academic Performance Index" or "API" means the Academic Performance Index established under Section 52052. (2) "CBEDS" means the California Basic Educational Data System. (3) "Funded school" means a school that is within a school district or chartering authority, receives funds allocated under this article, and complies with all applicable interim programs and alternative requirements described in this article. (4) The "High Priority Schools Grant Program" or "HPSGP" means the High Priority Schools Grant Program established under Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 52055.600).  (5) "Secretary" means the Secretary for Education.   (6)   (5)  "Superintendent" means the Superintendent of Public Instruction. (b) Public schools and charter schools that are ranked in either decile 1 or 2 on the 2005 Academic Performance Index are eligible to receive funds under this article. (c) A school that is funded under the High Priority Schools Grant Program, has not met the annual growth target requirements under Section 52055.650, and is designated as a state sanctioned school is eligible to be funded under this article if the school undergoes a rigorous review directed by the Superintendent. (d) A school that is funded under the High Priority Schools Grant Program, and has met or is meeting the requirements of Section 52055.650, is eligible to receive funding under this article and the HPSGP if the school agrees to meet all accountability requirements of both programs. (e) A school that is funded under this article and continues to meet the program and achievement requirements of this article shall be funded annually through the 2013-14 fiscal year. (f) The funds appropriated pursuant to this article may be expended for any purpose identified under the schoolsite's Single Plan for Pupil Achievement established under Section 64001. SEC. 3. Section 52055.730 of the Education Code is amended to read: 52055.730. (a) The Superintendent shall identify and invite school districts and chartering authorities that have eligible schools to participate in the program established under this article. (b) The Superintendent shall notify school districts and chartering authorities at the earliest possible date of all of the following: (1) Schoolsites in the district or of a chartering authority that are eligible to receive funding pursuant to this article. (2) The program and accountability requirements for schools that receive funding pursuant to this article. (3) The deadlines for the submission of documents necessary to receive funding pursuant to this article. (4) Any other information the Superintendent deems necessary to implement this article. (c) The Superintendent shall specify the manner in which school districts and chartering authorities shall submit applications to receive funding pursuant to this article. It is the intent of the Legislature that this submission process be as simple as possible, use easily available data, and include the requirements of this article. (d) On or before June 30, 2007, the Superintendent, in consultation with interested parties, shall develop a uniform process that can be used to calculate average experience for purposes of reporting, analyzing, or evaluating the distribution of classroom teaching experience in grades, schoolsites, or subjects across the district. The uniform process shall include an index that uses the 2005-06 California Basic Educational Data System (CBEDS) Professional Assignment Information Form (PAIF), including any necessary corrections, as the base-reporting year to evaluate annual improvements of the funded schools toward balancing the index of teaching experience. The index shall be approved by the Superintendent. The uniform process shall designate teaching experience beyond 10 years as 10 years. (e) The Superintendent  shall make applications submitted pursuant to subdivision (c) available for review by the secretary. The Superintendent and the secretary  shall review the applications and select the schools for recommendation to the state board within 30 days after the date the application is submitted to the Superintendent. (f) After reviewing applications submitted pursuant to subdivision (c), the Superintendent  and the secretary, jointly,  shall submit  their   the  recommendations for schools to be funded to the state board for approval. The recommendations shall ensure a wide geographic distribution of funded schools across urban, rural, and suburban areas of the state. Schools selected should also represent a diverse distribution of grade levels.  If the Superintendent and the secretary cannot complete the review and recommendation process in the time provided, the Superintendent shall submit recommendations to the board.  (g) To the maximum extent possible the Superintendent  , the secretary,  and the state board shall recommend and approve sufficient schools to use all available funds. A school selected in the first year shall continue in the program unless it is terminated pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 52055.740, it declines to participate, or there is evidence of fraud or fiscal irregularities. (h) In approving the recommendations for funding from the Superintendent  and the secretary  , the state board  shall  also  shall  verify that the funded schools represent the required balance, geographic distribution, and diverse distribution of grade levels. (i) The Superintendent shall perform the duties of a county superintendent of schools pursuant to this article for funded schools in those counties in which a single school district operates. The Superintendent may delegate this responsibility to a county superintendent of schools in the region in which the single district county is located. (j) The Superintendent  and the secretary  may select not more than two county offices of education to provide regional technical support, document best practices, and provide information regarding those practices and other support information to schools, school districts, and chartering authorities. It is the intent of the Legislature that these activities be merged to the maximum extent feasible with other state and federally funded activities with similar requirements. SEC. 4. Section 52055.760 of the Education Code is amended to read: 52055.760. (a) A school district or chartering authority may apply for authority from the Superintendent to use alternative program requirements if the district or authority demonstrates that compliance with alternative program requirements would provide a higher level of academic achievement among pupils than compliance with the interim and program requirements of this article. (b) Alternative program requirements may be used to serve no more than 15 percent of the pupils funded pursuant to this article. Alternative programs shall serve the entire school. (c) A school district or chartering authority may use alternative program requirements at a funded school if all the following criteria are satisfied: (1) The proposed alternative requirements are based on reliable data and are consistent with sound scientifically based research consistent with subdivision (j) of Section 44757.5 on effective practices. (2) The costs of complying with the proposed alternative requirements do not exceed the amount of funding received by the school district or chartering authority pursuant to this article. (3) Funded schools agree to comply with the alternative program requirements and be subject to the termination procedures specified in subdivision (c) of Section 52055.740. Funded schools with alternative programs shall also be required to exceed the API growth target for the school averaged over the first three fully funded years and annually thereafter. (4) The Superintendent  and the secretary have jointly   has  reviewed the proposed alternative funded schools of the school district or chartering authority for purposes of this section and have recommended to the state board for its approval those schools, using the same process as for the regular program recommendations. (d) The Superintendent shall give priority for approval of schools with alternative programs to any school serving any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, that has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Superintendent  and the secretary  that the school cannot decrease class sizes as required under this article due to extraordinary issues relating to facilities, or due to the adverse impact of the requirements of this program, if implemented in the school, on the eligibility of the school district for state school facility funding. SEC. 5. Section 52055.770 of the Education Code is amended to read: 52055.770. (a) School districts and chartering authorities shall receive funding at the following rate, on behalf of funded schools: (1) For kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive, five hundred dollars ($500) per enrolled pupil in funded schools. (2) For grades 4 to 8, inclusive, nine hundred dollars ($900) per enrolled pupil in funded schools. (3) For grades 9 to 12, inclusive, one thousand dollars ($1,000) per enrolled pupil in funded schools. (b) For purposes of subdivision (a), enrollment of a pupil in a funded school in the prior fiscal year shall be based on data from the CBEDS. For the 2007-08 fiscal year, the funded rates shall be reduced to reflect the percentage difference in the total amounts appropriated for purposes of this section in that year compared to the amounts appropriated for purposes of this section in the 2008-09 fiscal year. (c) The following amounts are hereby appropriated from the General Fund for the purposes set forth in subdivision (f): (1) For the 2007-08 fiscal year, three hundred million dollars ($300,000,000), to be allocated as follows: (A) Thirty-two million dollars ($32,000,000) for transfer by the Controller to Section B of the State School Fund for allocation by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to community colleges for the purpose of providing funding to the community colleges to improve and expand career technical education in public secondary education and lower division public higher education pursuant to Section 88532, including the hiring of additional faculty to expand the number of career technical education programs and course offerings. (B) Two hundred sixty-eight million dollars ($268,000,000) for transfer by the Controller to Section A of the State School Fund for allocation by the Superintendent pursuant to this article. (2) For each of the 2008-09, and 2011-12 to 2014-15 fiscal years, inclusive, four hundred fifty million dollars ($450,000,000) per fiscal year, to be allocated as follows: (A) Forty-eight million dollars ($48,000,000) for transfer by the Controller to Section B of the State School Fund for allocation by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to community colleges as required under subdivision (e). (B) Four hundred two million dollars ($402,000,000) for transfer by the Controller to Section A of the State School Fund for allocation by the Superintendent pursuant to this article. (3) For the 2009-10 fiscal year, thirty million dollars ($30,000,000), to be allocated for transfer by the Controller to Section B of the State School Fund for allocation by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to community colleges as required under subdivision (e). (4) For the 2010-11 fiscal year, four hundred twenty million dollars ($420,000,000), to be allocated as follows: (A) Eighteen million dollars ($18,000,000) for transfer by the Controller to Section B of the State School Fund for allocation by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to community colleges as required under subdivision (e). (B) Four hundred two million dollars ($402,000,000) for transfer by the Controller to Section A of the State School Fund for allocation by the Superintendent pursuant to this article. (C) Commencing with the 2010-11 fiscal year, payments made pursuant to subparagraphs (A) and (B) shall be made only on or after October 8 of each fiscal year. (d) For the 2013-14 fiscal year the amounts appropriated under subdivision (c) shall be adjusted to reflect the total fiscal settlement agreed to by the parties in California Teachers Association, et al. v. Arnold Schwarzenegger (Case Number 05CS01165 of the Superior Court for the County of Sacramento) and the sum of all fiscal years of funding provided to fund this article shall not exceed the total funds agreed to by those parties. This annual appropriation shall continue to be made until the Director of Finance reports to the Legislature, along with all proposed adjustments to the Governor's Budget pursuant to Section 13308 of the Government Code, that the sum of appropriations made and allocated pursuant to subdivision (c) equals the total outstanding balance of the minimum state educational funding obligation to school districts and community college districts required by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution and Chapter 213 of the Statutes of 2004 for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 fiscal years, as determined in subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 41207.1. (e) The sum transferred under subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) for the 2008-09 fiscal year shall be allocated by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges as follows: (1) Thirty-eight million dollars ($38,000,000) to the community colleges for the purpose of providing funding to the community colleges to improve and expand career technical education in public secondary education and lower division public higher education pursuant to Section 88532, including the hiring of additional faculty to expand the number of career technical education programs and course offerings. (2) Ten million dollars ($10,000,000) to the community colleges for the purpose of providing one-time block grants to community college districts to be used for one-time items of expenditure, including, but not limited to, the following purposes: (A) Physical plant, scheduled maintenance, deferred maintenance, and special repairs. (B) Instructional materials and support. (C) Instructional equipment, including equipment related to  career-technical   career technical  education, with priority for nursing program equipment. (D) Library materials. (E) Technology infrastructure. (F) Hazardous substances abatement, cleanup, and repair. (G) Architectural barrier removal. (H) State-mandated local programs. (3) The Chancellor of the California Community Colleges shall allocate the amount allocated pursuant to paragraph (2) to community college districts on an equal amount per actual full-time-equivalent student (FTES) reported for the prior fiscal year, except that each community college district shall be allocated an amount not less than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), and the equal amount per unit of FTES shall be computed accordingly. (4) Funds allocated under paragraph (2) shall supplement and not supplant existing expenditures and may not be counted as the district contribution for physical plant projects and instructional material purchases funded in Item 6870-101-0001 of Section 2.00 of the annual Budget Act. (f) For each fiscal year, commencing with the 2011-12 fiscal year, to the 2014-15 fiscal year, inclusive, the sum transferred pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) shall be allocated by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges as follows: Forty-eight million dollars ($48,000,000) to the community colleges for the purpose of providing funding to the community colleges to improve and expand career technical education in public secondary education and lower division public higher education pursuant to Section 88532, including the hiring of additional faculty to expand the number of career technical education programs and course offerings. (g) The appropriations made under subdivision (c) are for the purpose of discharging in full the minimum state educational funding obligation to school districts and community college districts pursuant to Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution and Chapter 213 of the Statutes of 2004 for the 2004-05 fiscal year, and the outstanding maintenance factor for the 2005-06 fiscal year resulting from this additional payment of the Chapter 213 amount for the 2004-05 fiscal year. (h) For the purposes of making the computations required by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, including computation of the state's minimum funding obligation to school districts and community college districts in subsequent fiscal years, the first one billion six hundred twenty million nine hundred twenty-eight thousand dollars ($1,620,928,000) in appropriations made pursuant to subdivision (c) shall be deemed to be "General Fund revenues appropriated for school districts," as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 41202 and "General Fund Revenues appropriated for community college districts," as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 41202, for the 2004-05 fiscal year and included within the "total allocations to school districts and community college districts from General Fund proceeds of taxes appropriated pursuant to Article XIII B," as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 41202, for that fiscal year. The remaining appropriations made pursuant to subdivision (c) shall be deemed to be "General Fund revenues appropriated for school districts," as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 41202 and "General Fund revenues appropriated for community college districts," as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 41202, for the 2005-06 fiscal year and included within the "total allocations to school districts and community college districts from General Fund proceeds of taxes appropriated pursuant to Article XIII B," as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 41202, for that fiscal year. (i) From funds appropriated under subdivision (c), the Superintendent shall provide both of the following: (1) Not more than two million dollars ($2,000,000) annually to county superintendents of schools to carry out the requirements of this article, allocated in a manner similar to that created to carry out the new duties of those superintendents under the settlement agreement in the case of Williams v. California (Super. Ct. San Francisco, No. CGC-00-312236). (2) Five million dollars ($5,000,000) in the 2007-08 fiscal year to support regional assistance under Section 52055.730. It is the intent of the Legislature that the Superintendent  and the secretary , along with county offices of education, seek foundational and other financial support to sustain and expand these services. Funds provided under this paragraph that are not expended in the 2007-08 fiscal year shall be reappropriated for use in subsequent fiscal years for the same purpose. (j) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, funds appropriated under subdivision (c) but not allocated to schools with kindergarten or grades 1 to 12, inclusive, in a fiscal year, due to program termination in any year or otherwise, shall be available for reappropriation only in furtherance of the purposes of this article. First priority for those amounts shall be to provide cost-of-living increases and enrollment growth adjustments to funded schools. (k) The sum of three hundred fifty thousand dollars ($350,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the State Department of Education to fund 3.0 positions to implement this article. Funding provided under this subdivision is not part of funds provided pursuant to subdivision (c). SEC. 6. Chapter 8.6 (commencing with Section 52270) of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code is repealed. SEC. 7. Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 52360) of Chapter 9 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code is repealed. SEC. 8. Chapter 16 (commencing with Section 53050) of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code is repealed. SEC. 9. Section 69984 of the Education Code is amended to read: 69984. (a) (1) The board shall segregate moneys received by the Scholarshare trust into two funds, which shall be identified as the program fund and the administrative fund. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, the program fund is hereby continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal years, to the board for the purposes of this article. Funds in the administrative fund shall be available for expenditure, upon appropriation, for the purposes specified in this article. (2) (A) The board shall separately account for any moneys received by an entity exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or a state or local government agency, depositing the money for the benefit of a beneficiary to be named later pursuant to the operation of a bona fide scholarship program. (B) There is hereby created the Scholarshare Investment Board, that consists of the Treasurer, the Director of Finance,  the Secretary of Education,  a member of the Student Aid Commission appointed by the Governor, a member of the public appointed by the Governor, a representative from a California public institution of higher education appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, and a representative from a California independent college or university or a state-approved college, university, or vocational/technical school appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly. The Treasurer shall serve as chair of the board. The board shall annually prepare and adopt a written statement of investment policy. The board shall consider the statement of investment policy and any changes in the investment policy at a public hearing. The board shall approve the investment management entity or entities consistent with subparagraph (D). (C) Not later than 30 days after the close of each month, the investment manager shall place on file for public inspection during business hours a report with respect to investment performance. The investment manager shall report the following information, to the extent applicable, to the board within 30 days following the end of each month: (i) The type of investment, name of the issuer, date of maturity, par and dollar amount invested in each security, investment, and money within the program fund. (ii) The weighted average maturity of the investments within the program fund. (iii) Any amounts in the program fund that are under the management of an investment manager. (iv) The market value as of the date of the report and the source of this valuation for any security within the program fund. (v) A description of the compliance with the statement of investment policy. (D) Moneys in the program fund may be invested or reinvested by the Treasurer or may be invested in whole or in part under contract with an investment manager, as determined by the board. (b) Transfers may be made from the program fund to the administrative fund for the purpose of paying operating costs associated with administering the Scholarshare trust and as required by this article. On an annual basis, expenditures from the administrative fund shall not exceed more than 1 percent of the total program fund. All costs of administration of the Scholarshare trust shall be paid out of the administrative fund. (c) All moneys paid by participants in connection with participation agreements shall be deposited as received into the program fund, and shall be promptly invested and accounted for separately. Deposits and interest thereon accumulated on behalf of participants in the program fund of the Scholarshare trust may be used for payments to any institution of higher education.