Existing law prohibits a school district from receiving a state apportionment based upon average daily attendance unless it has maintained the regular day schools of the district for at least 175 days during the next preceding fiscal year, except as provided.

Existing law requires a school district or county office of education that is prevented from maintaining its schools during a fiscal year for at least 180 days, and a charter school is so prevented for 175 days for, and any local educational agency is required to operate sessions of shorter length than otherwise prescribed by law because of (1) certain specified extraordinary conditions, including fire, flood, earthquake, or epidemic, among others, or other extraordinary conditions, (2) inability to secure or hold a teacher, or (3) the illness of the teacher, to receive the same apportionment from the State School Fund as it would have received had it not been so prevented from maintaining school for the requisite number of full-length days. Existing law requires the Superintendent to find that the factual basis for being so prevented has been shown, to the Superintendents satisfaction, by the affidavits of the members of the respective governing board or body of the local educational agency and the county superintendent of schools.

Notwithstanding the inability to secure or hold a teacher, or because of the illness of the teacher, existing law prohibits a school district, county office of education, or charter school, from September 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022, inclusive, from receiving that same apportionment from the State School Fund as it would have otherwise received if the school closure was due to impacts from COVID-19, except as provided for specified categories of pupils. Notwithstanding that provision, existing law authorizes a school district, county office of education, or charter school to receive that same apportionment from the State School Fund for school closures related to impacts from COVID-19 due to COVID-19-related staffing shortages if specified conditions are established to the satisfaction of the Superintendent by affidavits of the members of the respective governing board or body of the local educational agency and the county superintendent of schools.

This bill, notwithstanding any other law, including those above-described provisions, would require the Superintendent to exempt Culver City Unified School District from fiscal penalties for failing to maintain the requisite number of instructional days due to the emergency closure of its schools from January 19, 2022, to January 21, 2022, inclusive, due to the impacts of the COVID-19 emergency and the denial of a specified waiver.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Culver City Unified School District.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Senator Anna Caballero, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular Session

SB 1338 (Smallwood-Cuevas) - Education finance: emergencies: apportionments: COVID-19: Culver City Unified School District

Bill Summary:

This bill exempts the Culver City Unified School District (CCUSD) from incurring a fiscal penalty for failing to meet minimum instructional time requirements in the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

Fiscal Impact:

The bill’s exemption would remove a fiscal penalty of approximately $1 million for the CCUSD. Absent this legislation or a successful appeal with the Education Audit Appeals Panel, these funds would likely be used to offset future Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) entitlements for the district.

Background:

Existing law provides that no school district, other than one newly formed, shall receive any apportionment based upon average daily attendance (ADA) from the State School Fund unless it has maintained the regular day schools of the district for at least 175 days during the next preceding fiscal year. For any school within a school district that fails to maintain the required 175 days, the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) shall withhold from the district’s apportionment based upon ADA a product of 0.01143 times the district’s apportionment for each additional day the school would have had to maintain operations to meet the 175 day requirement.

Existing law provides the circumstances under which a school district, county office of education, or charter school is eligible to receive the same apportionment from the State School Fund as if it had maintained schools for a specified number of days despite being prevented from doing so due to various extraordinary conditions such as natural disasters, emergencies, or teacher shortages.

Existing law specifies that, from September 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022, a school district, county office of education, or charter school may receive the same apportionment from the State School Fund for school closures due to COVID-19 related staffing shortages if specified conditions are established to the satisfaction of the SPI by affidavits of the members of the governing board or body of the school district, county office of education, or charter school and the county superintendent of schools, including that the school district, county office of education, or charter school is unable to provide in-person instruction to pupils due to staffing shortages as a result of staff quarantine due to exposure to, or infection with, COVID-19 pursuant to local or state public health guidance.

Proposed Law:

This bill exempts the CCUSD from incurring a fiscal penalty for failing to meet minimum instructional time requirements in the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

Staff Comments:

According to the author, “For the period of January 19-21, 2022, CCUSD closed all of its schools due to unanticipated, severe, and sudden staffing shortages due to repeated COVID-19 outbreaks resulting in extremely unsafe teaching and learning conditions for students and staff. CCUSD had taken all available measures, including mandating vaccines, testing, and facemasks in order to protect in-person teaching and learning.

“In the week prior to any decision to close schools, CCUSD had so many teachers absent that over 700 non-supervised students were housed in multi-purpose rooms or cafeterias. Substitute teachers were either sick or were not arriving on campuses. CCUSD leadership, in consultation with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the California Department of Public Health, the Los Angeles County Office of Education, the CCUSD Board of Education, and the CCUSD employee organizations and parent leaders conferred and agreed the best course of action was to close schools.”

Existing law requires that a staffing shortage consultation take place prior to the school closure to meet the qualifying conditions for a COVID-19 related staffing shortage approval. Therefore, the CCUD’s Form J-13A request was not approved with a resulting fiscal penalty of $1,034,428. This bill proposes to exempt the CCUSD from incurring this penalty.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Senator Josh Newman, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular

Bill No: Hearing Date: March 20, 2024

Subject: .

SUMMARY

This bill exempts the Culver City Unified School District (CCUSD) from incurring a fiscal penalty for failing to meet minimum instructional time requirements in the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

BACKGROUND

Existing law:

1. States that no school district, other than one newly formed, shall receive any apportionment based upon average daily attendance (ADA) from the State School Fund unless it has maintained the regular day schools of the district for at least 175 days during the next preceding fiscal year.
2. Specifies that if any school within a school district fails to maintain its school for the required 175 days, the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) shall withhold from the district’s apportionment based upon ADA a product of 0.01143 times the district’s apportionment for each additional day the school would have had to maintain operations to meet the 175 day requirement.
3. Outlines the circumstances under which a school district, county office of education, or charter school is eligible to receive the same apportionment from the State School Fund as if it had maintained schools for a specified number of days despite being prevented from doing so due to various extraordinary conditions such as natural disasters, emergencies, or teacher shortages.
4. Specifies that, from September 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022, a school district, county office of education, or charter school may receive the same apportionment from the State School Fund for school closures due to COVID-19 related staffing shortages if the following conditions are established to the satisfaction of the SPI by affidavits of the members of the governing board or body of the school district, county office of education, or charter school and the county superintendent of schools:
5. The school district, county office of education, or charter school is unable to provide in-person instruction to pupils due to staffing shortages as a result of staff quarantine due to exposure to, or infection with, COVID-19 pursuant to local or state public health guidance.
6. For certificated staff shortages, the school district, county office of education, or charter school has exhausted all options for obtaining staff coverage, including using all certificated staff and substitute teacher options, and has consulted with their county office of education and the Superintendent in determining that staffing needs cannot be met through any option.
7. For classified staff shortages, the school district, county office of education, or charter school has exhausted all options for obtaining staff coverage, including using all staff options, and has consulted with their county office of education and the Superintendent in determining that staffing needs cannot be met through any option.

ANALYSIS

This bill exempts the CCUSD from incurring a fiscal penalty for failing to meet minimum instructional time requirements in the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

STAFF COMMENTS

1. Need for the bill. According to the author, “SB 1338 would waive or exempt the district from the fiscal penalty and allow CCUSD to avoid what would otherwise be an insurmountable impact to the district’s budget. This is of heightened significance given the revenue challenges the state and schools face in 2024-25.

“CCUSD serves 6800 students TK-12. Like the large majority of California school districts, CCUSD has experienced declining enrollment in recent years. By exempting CCUSD from this COVID-19 penalty, the district can avoid a devastating financial impact, and save thousands of students from potentially having to look for a new school while missing their education.”

1. Request for Allowance of Attendance Due to Emergency Conditions, Form J-13A. Existing law, Education Code Section 41422, allows the SPI to grant normal apportionment credit to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) when certain emergencies exist. When one or more schools are closed because of “extraordinary conditions,” an LEA may request authorization to maintain apportionments. If authorized, LEAs are not penalized for falling below the statutorily required annual number of instructional days and/or minutes.

The Request for Allowance of Attendance Due to Emergency Conditions, Form J-13A, is used to obtain approval of attendance and instructional time credit. Approval of a Form J-13A request from the California Department of Education, combined with other attendance records, serve to document an LEA’s compliance with instructional time laws and provide authority to maintain school for less than the required instructional days and minutes without incurring a fiscal penalty to the LEA’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) funding. In the event of a closure due to emergency conditions, there is not an immediate impact to LCFF funding and there is not a specific deadline to submit a Form J-13A, thus there is not an urgent need to file Form J-13A in the midst of the emergency event.

1. Executive Order N-26-20. On March 13, 2020, Governor Newsom issued an executive order ensuring California public school districts retain state funding even in the event of physical closure. The order directs school districts to use those state dollars to fund distance learning and high quality educational opportunities, provide school meals and, as practicable, arrange for the supervision for students during school hours.

Specifically, the executive order states the following:

“For LEAs that initiate a school closure to address COVID-19, the closure shall qualify as a condition that prevents the maintenance of the LEA's schools during a fiscal year for at least 175 days pursuant to Education Code section 41422. Additionally, for such LEAs, the requirement in Education Code section 41422 to submit affidavits of the members of the governing board of the school district, the governing board of the county office of education, or the governing board or body of the charter school and of the county superintendent of schools are hereby suspended on the condition that the superintendent of the school district, the county superintendent of schools, or the charter school leader certifies in writing to the Superintendent of Public Instruction that the closure occurred to address COVID-19.”

1. Culver City Unified School District closed its schools prior to completing a staffing shortage consultation with the Department of Education. According to the author, “For the period of January 19-21, 2022, CCUSD closed all of its schools due to unanticipated, severe, and sudden staffing shortages due to repeated COVID-19 outbreaks resulting in extremely unsafe teaching and learning conditions for students and staff. CCUSD had taken all available measures, including mandating vaccines, testing, and facemasks in order to protect in-person teaching and learning.

“In the week prior to any decision to close schools, CCUSD had so many teachers absent that over 700 non-supervised students were housed in multi-purpose rooms or cafeterias. Substitute teachers were either sick or were not arriving on campuses. CCUSD leadership, in consultation with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the California Department of Public Health, the Los Angeles County Office of Education, the CCUSD Board of Education, and the CCUSD employee organizations and parent leaders conferred and agreed the best course of action was to close schools.”

Education Code section 41422 requires that the staffing shortage consultation take place prior to the school closure to meet the qualifying conditions for a COVID-19 related staffing shortage approval; therefore, the Form J-13A request was not approved. The fiscal penalty for CCUD’s actions to close schools for safety reasons is calculated at $1,034,428.

1. Education Audit Appeals Panel. Existing law provides that LEAs receiving an apportionment significant audit exception, or owing a penalty arising from an audit exception, may appeal such exceptions to the Education Audit Appeals Panel (EAAP).  There are two types of appeals.  The first, a summary review, is conducted by the Executive Officer acting independently of the EAAP.  The second is a formal appeal, which affords the LEA an opportunity to present evidence at a hearing.

The EAAP summary review procedures state that if the audit report contains a finding or findings that may be considered apportionment-significant, the State Controller’s Office (SCO) will send the LEA a certification letter with information on its appeal rights. The LEA has 30 days from the date the U.S. Postal Service delivers the letter to request a summary review of any apportionment-significant audit finding or findings on the grounds of substantial compliance.

Further, the LEA has 60 days from delivery of the letter or 30 days following the conclusion of a summary review, with regard to the findings included in that review, to file a formal appeal of any apportionment-significant finding or findings on any of the grounds set forth in statute.

In addition to seeking legislation, the sponsors of this measure have indicated that CCUSD plans to utilize the EAAP summary review process. Currently, CCUSD is awaiting their SCO Certification Letter.

SUPPORT

Culver City Unified School District (sponsor)
Culver City Democratic Club
Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools

OPPOSITION

None received

-- END --