Under the Dome: Some measures advance as budget talks continue
Published: July 1, 2010
While deliberations on the state budget continue to dominate activity in the Capitol, some bills are continuing to work their way through the process. Here are a few school-related bills that met the June 4 deadline to pass out of their house of origin.
AB 2027 Online education: school attendance
Blumenfield, D-Van Nuys
This bill allows school districts, county offices of education and charter schools to claim attendance credit for pupils enrolled in “high quality” online courses, defined as online courses that meet specific requirements on student-teacher ratios, teacher quality, evaluation of work product, teacher-student interactions and course content. The bill would take effect in the 2011–12 fiscal year.
Position: Support
AB 2211 Work-based learning
Fuentes, D-Los Angeles
This bill authorizes programs such as partnership academies and regional occupational centers to deliver work-based learning opportunities. Work-based learning is defined as an educational approach or instructional methodology that uses the workplace to provide pupils with knowledge and skills that connect school experiences to real-life work activities and career opportunities.
Position: Support
AB 2366 Education finance: revenue limits
Brownley, D-Santa Monica
This bill resolves an inadvertent error contained in prior legislation, AB 851 (Brownley), that simplified school district funding by rolling several revenue limit add-ons, including the add-on for Meals for Needy Pupils, into the base revenue limit. This change was intended to be revenue neutral, but instead it caused about 300 school districts to lose about $16 million in revenue limit funding. AB 2366 addresses this problem by deferring implementation of the change to 2013–14 and making other technical adjustments.
Position: Support
AB 2446 Graduation requirements
Furutani, D-Long Beach
This bill changes high school graduation requirements by adding a course in career and technical education as an option in lieu of either visual/performing arts or foreign language.
Position: Support if amended to require that the CTE course meets standards adopted by the State Board of Education to ensure course rigor
SB 1193 School facilities funding: high-performance schools
Lowenthal, D-Long Beach
This bill increases the amount of a school facilities modernization grant by $250,000 per school site if the project incorporates the use of high- performance design and materials and achieves either Collaborative for High Performance Schools “verified” status or certification status in accordance with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Schools.
Position: Support
SB 1381 Kindergarten: age of admission
Simitian, D-Palo Alto
This bill revises the age of admission to kindergarten and first grade by one month in each of three consecutive years, so that by 2014 a child will have to be 5 years old by Sept. 1 in order to attend kindergarten.
Position: Support if amended to 1) implement the change in one year, instead of three; and 2) ensure that any Proposition 98 “savings” resulting from a reduction of K–12 average daily attendance stay within Proposition 98 and be used to mitigate the loss of enrollment-based revenue in affected districts and to support expanded pre-kindergarten programs
SB 1396 Education funding: maximum categorical education flexibility pilot program
Lowenthal, D-Long Beach
This bill establishes the Maximum Categorical Education Flexibility Pilot Project to allow three districts, to be selected by the state superintendent of public instruction, to use their categorical funding for any purpose related to improving pupil academic achievement and academic instruction. The project would be implemented for three consecutive years, beginning in 2011–12.
Position: Support
SB 1425 Public retirement: final compensation: computation: retirees
Simitian, D-Palo Alto
This bill prohibits the addition of pay to final compensation principally for the purpose of increasing (“spiking”) retirement benefits. It also prohibits a retired person from being retained to perform services for any employer covered by a state or local retirement system until that person has been separated from service for at least six months.
Position: Support if amended to permit the rehire of retirees within six months of separation when the rehire would result in no additional cost to the public retirement system
Easy link:
- See CSBA's “Positions on Legislation.” Positions are taken by CSBA’s Legislative Committee, which is composed of school board and county board of education members appointed by CSBA’s president.