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, as specified. Existing law requires the local control funding formula, in part, to be based on average daily attendance, as defined. Existing law requires the attendance of pupils while engaged in educational activities required of those pupils and under the immediate supervision and control of an employee of the school district or county office of education who possesses a valid certification document to be included in computing the average daily attendance of the school district or county office of education.

This bill would require an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law, to be deemed an employee of a school district in the County of Shasta or an employee of the Shasta County Office of Education who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law, for purposes of computing the average daily attendance under the latter provision.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Shasta.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

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, as specified. Existing law requires the local control funding formula, in part, to be based on average daily attendance, as defined. Existing law requires the attendance of pupils while engaged in educational activities required of those pupils and under the immediate supervision and control of an employee of the school district or county office of education who possesses a valid certification document to be included in computing the average daily attendance of the school district or county office of education.

This bill would require an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law, to be deemed an employee of a school district in the County of Shasta or an employee of the Shasta County Office of Education who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law, for purposes of computing the average daily attendance under the latter provision.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Shasta.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

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, as specified. Existing law requires the local control funding formula, in part, to be based on average daily attendance, as defined. In computing average daily attendance of a school district or county office of education, existing Existing law requires the attendance of pupils while engaged in educational activities required of those pupils and under the immediate supervision and control of an employee of the school district or county office of education who possesses a valid certification document, document to be included in computing the average daily attendance of a the school district or county office of education.

This bill would require an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law, to be deemed an employee of a school district in the County of Shasta or an employee of the Shasta County Office of Education who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law, for purposes of computing the average daily attendance under the latter provision.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Shasta.

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, as specified. Existing law requires the local control funding formula, in part, to be based on average daily attendance, as defined. In computing average daily attendance of a school district or county office of education, existing law requires the attendance of pupils while engaged in educational activities required of those pupils and under the immediate supervision and control of an employee of the district or county office who possesses a valid certification document, to be included in computing the average daily attendance of a school district or county office of education.

This bill would require an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law, to be deemed an employee of a school district in the County of Shasta or county office an employee of the Shasta County Office of Education who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law, for purposes of computing the average daily attendance under the latter provision.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Shasta.

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, as specified. Existing law requires the local control funding formula, in part, to be based on average daily attendance, as defined. In computing average daily attendance of a school district or county office of education, existing law requires the attendance of pupils while engaged in educational activities required of those pupils and under the immediate supervision and control of an employee of the district or county office who possesses a valid certification document, to be included in computing the average daily attendance of a school district or county office of education.

This bill would require an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law, to be deemed an employee of a school district or county office who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law, for purposes of computing the average daily attendance under the latter provision.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Shasta.

 UNFINISHED BUSINESS  

Bill No: SB 648

Author: Dahle (R)

Amended: 6/30/23

Vote: 27 - Urgency

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 7-0, 3/29/23

AYES: Newman, Ochoa Bogh, Cortese, Glazer, McGuire, Smallwood-Cuevas, Wilk

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/18/23

AYES: Portantino, Jones, Ashby, Bradford, Seyarto, Wahab, Wiener

SENATE FLOOR: 40-0, 5/25/23

AYES: Allen, Alvarado-Gil, Archuleta, Ashby, Atkins, Becker, Blakespear, Bradford, Caballero, Cortese, Dahle, Dodd, Durazo, Eggman, Glazer, Gonzalez, Grove, Hurtado, Jones, Laird, Limón, McGuire, Menjivar, Min, Newman, Nguyen, Niello, Ochoa Bogh, Padilla, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Seyarto, Skinner, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Wiener, Wilk

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 9/7/23 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Education finance: average daily attendance: Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority

SOURCE: Mountain Valley JPA

DIGEST:

This bill specifies that an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority (JPA) who possessed a valid certification document shall be deemed “an employee of a school district in the County of Shasta or an employee of the Shasta County Office of Education” to satisfying the supervision requirements for computing average daily attendance (ADA).

Assembly Amendments

narrow the scope of the bill to Shasta County local educational agencies and add an urgency clause to ensure that education finance calculations based on ADA account for the attendance of all pupils as soon as possible.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Requires that, in computing ADA of a school district or county office of education, there shall be included the attendance of pupils while engaged in educational activities required of those pupils and under the immediate supervision and control of an employee of the district or county office who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law. (Education Code (EC) § 46300)
2. Provides that the minimum schoolday for a pupil concurrently enrolled in regular secondary school classes and classes operating pursuant to a JPA that became effective before January 1, 2008, is 180 minutes. (EC § 46144.5)
3. Specifies that for pupils described in comment #2 above, the ADA shall be included as school district ADA computed for purposes of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). (EC § 46144.5)
4. Specifies that, for purposes of computing ADA for pupils described in comment #2 above, immediate supervision and control of pupils while attending classes pursuant to a JPA is deemed satisfied regardless of the school district employing the certificated employee providing the supervision and control, provided the school district is a party to the JPA. (EC § 46144.5)

This bill specifies that an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA who possessed a valid certification document shall be deemed “an employee of a school district in the County of Shasta or an employee of the Shasta County Office of Education” to satisfying the supervision requirements for computing average daily attendance (ADA).

Comments

1. Need for the bill. According to the author, “One of the many unique challenges in rural communities is the number, or lack thereof, of students who require special education. That, in turn, necessitates creative solutions like forming a coalition that provides services to families with students who have disabilities. I applaud the members of the Mountain Valley JPA for their resourceful solution to this challenge, and hope this inspires other districts to use innovation approaches in educating those who need special consideration.”
2. Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority History. Shasta County is a rural county covering 3,846 square miles. The county currently has 26 school districts, many of them small, and some located far from the center of the county. Due to concerns that not every district was complying with its special education requirements, the Shasta Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) arranged for a fiscal and programmatic review in 2018. Overall, the continuum of services in Shasta County were found to be lacking and a regionalized service model was recommended.

Given that most of the small districts in the county lacked the capacity to offer a full continuum of services on their own, 12 school districts and one charter school collaborated to create the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA. The JPA began offering services in August, 2020 amid the COVID pandemic, and currently serves about 43 students in 6 special day classes (2 preschools and 1 primary, middle, medically fragile, and behavioral class) located on various school district sites.

1. Member districts are unable to claim funding for their special education students. According to the author’s office, the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA member districts were able to collect ADA in recent years due to the state’s hold harmless provisions. Specifically, the 2020-21 Budget Act included a hold-harmless clause for calculating LCFF funding for the 2020-21 year by allowing 2020-21 funding to be based on 2019-20 ADA rather than 2020-21 ADA. Subsequent legislation amended the Budget Act to provide 2020-21 growth funding for LEAs that anticipated enrollment or ADA growth.

More recently, the 2022-23 Budget Act amended the LCFF calculation to consider the greater of a school district’s current year, prior year, or the average of three prior years’ ADA. As a result, the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA member districts have been unable to claim ADA because their students are under the supervision of JPA employees (rather than district employees). This bill would ensure that students served by the JPA would once again generate ADA for their districts of residence.

1. Should this instructional model be permitted statewide? The blended learning structure that this bill facilitates the funding for only applies to the member districts of the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA. Given the unique challenges of small school districts and the costs of serving students with moderate to severe disabilities, it is common for economies of scale to be achieved through this sort of consortia model. Should the provisions of this bill apply to more school districts that have entered into JPAs to accommodate students with disabilities? Should the bill allow for other types of JPA agreements, such as those providing career technical education?

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, ongoing Proposition 98 General Fund costs of about $538,000 annually to provide school funding from ADA for students attending the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA. This estimate assumes (a) ADA funding of about $12,500 per student and (b) that 43 students attend the JPA full-time. (Under current law, if these students were to stop attending the JPA and instead attend a school district or COE school, the state would incur ADA costs for these students. However, under current law, if these students continue to attend the JPA, the state would not incur these ADA costs.)

SUPPORT: (Verified 9/7/23)

Mountain Valley JPA (source)

Columbia School District

French Gulch-Whiskytown School District

OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/7/23)

None received

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 9/7/23

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Megan Dahle, Davies, Dixon, Flora, Mike Fong, Vince Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lackey, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mathis, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Jim Patterson, Joe Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rendon, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ta, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Wallis, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Robert Rivas

NO VOTE RECORDED: Essayli

Prepared by: Ian Johnson / ED. / (916) 651-4105

9/8/23 13:55:54

**** END ****

SENATE THIRD READING

STR Bill Id:SB 648

Author:(Dahle)

As Amended Ver:June 30, 2023

2/3 vote. Urgency

SUMMARY

An urgency measure, deems an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority (JPA) who possesses a valid certification document an employee of a school district in Shasta County or an employee of the Shasta County Office of Education (COE) to satisfy the supervision requirements for purposes of computing average daily attendance (ADA).

Major Provisions

1. Deems an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA who possessed a valid certification document an employee of a school district in Shasta County or an employee of the Shasta COE to satisfy the supervision requirements for computing ADA.
2. States that the Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary for this purpose because of the unique educational needs of the County of Shasta.
3. Contains an urgency clause and states that it is necessary that the act take effect immediately because students receiving special education from the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA do not currently generate ADA for either the authority or its member school districts, and this measure is needed to ensure that calculations based on ADA account for the attendance of those students as soon as possible.

COMMENTS

Mountain Valley Special Education JPA. Shasta County currently has 26 school districts, many of them small and rural. According to the Senate Education Committee, in 2018, the Shasta County Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) arranged for a fiscal and programmatic review of special education programs. Overall, the continuum of services in Shasta County were found to be lacking and a regionalized service model was recommended.

In 2020, 12 school districts and one charter school formed the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA. The JPA began offering services in August, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The JPA currently serves about 43 students in 6 special day classes (two preschools and one primary, middle, medically fragile, and behavioral class) located on the sites of member school districts.

Member districts are unable to claim funding for their special education students. According to the author's office, the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA member districts were only able to collect ADA in recent years due to the state's hold harmless provisions. Specifically, the 2020-21 Budget Act included a hold-harmless clause for calculating LCFF funding for the 2020-21 year by allowing 2020-21 funding to be based on 2019-20 ADA rather than 2020-21 ADA. Subsequent legislation amended the Budget Act to provide 2020-21 growth funding for LEAs that anticipated enrollment or ADA growth. Without the ADA hold harmless provisions of recent years, the JPA member districts would have been unable to collect ADA.

More recently, the 2022-23 Budget Act amended the LCFF calculation to consider the greater of a school district's current year, prior year, or the average of three prior years' ADA. As a result, the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA member districts have been unable to claim ADA apportionment because their students are under the supervision of JPA employees (rather than district employees). This bill would ensure that students served by the JPA would once again generate ADA for their districts of residence.

According to the Author

"One of the many unique challenges in rural communities is the number, or lack thereof, of students who require special education. That, in turn, necessitates creative solutions like forming a coalition that provides services to families with students who have disabilities. I applaud the members of the Mountain Valley JPA for their resourceful solution to this challenge, and hope this inspires other districts to use innovation approaches in educating those who need special consideration."

Arguments in Support

The French-Gulch-Whiskeytown School District writes, "The Mountain Valley JPA offers us security in that if and when we need a placement for a student with more severe disabilities, the MVJPA has options for us that we would otherwise not have. It is concerning that school districts who place students in a class that has employed a MVJPA teacher cannot collect funds for the average daily attendance. For a small school district, that is a significant amount of funding that would impact our small district budget, and in turn, affect the quality of services we can provide students. A change in legislation would allow our school district to receive the funding for our special needs students while still having our district needs met through the MVJPA."

Arguments in Opposition

None on file.

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, ongoing Proposition 98 General Fund costs of about $538,000 annually to provide school funding from ADA for students attending the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA. This estimate assumes (a) ADA funding of about $12,500 per student and (b) that 43 students attend the JPA full-time. (Under current law, if these students were to stop attending the JPA and instead attend a school district or COE school, the state would incur ADA costs for these students. However, under current law, if these students continue to attend the JPA, the state would not incur these ADA costs.

VOTES

SENATE FLOOR: 40-0-0

YES: Allen, Alvarado-Gil, Archuleta, Ashby, Atkins, Becker, Blakespear, Bradford, Caballero, Cortese, Dahle, Dodd, Durazo, Eggman, Glazer, Gonzalez, Grove, Hurtado, Jones, Laird, Limón, McGuire, Menjivar, Min, Newman, Nguyen, Niello, Ochoa Bogh, Padilla, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Seyarto, Skinner, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Wiener, Wilk

ASM EDUCATION: 7-0-0

YES: Muratsuchi, Megan Dahle, Juan Carrillo, Hoover, Lee, McCarty, Quirk-Silva

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 16-0-0

YES: Holden, Megan Dahle, Bryan, Calderon, Wendy Carrillo, Dixon, Mike Fong, Hart, Lowenthal, Mathis, Papan, Pellerin, Sanchez, Soria, Weber, Wilson

UPDATED

VERSION: June 30, 2023

CONSULTANT: Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0001515

Date of Hearing: August 16, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Chris Holden, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SB 648

Author:(Dahle) – As Amended Ver:June 30, 2023

Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill allows a school district with students attending the Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority (JPA) to collect state funding for a student’s average daily attendance (ADA) by designating certain JPA employees as employees of a school district or county office of education (COE). The bill also includes an urgency clause.

FISCAL EFFECT:

Ongoing Proposition 98 General Fund costs of about $538,000 annually to provide school funding from ADA for students attending the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA. This estimate assumes (a) ADA funding of about $12,500 per student and (b) that 43 students attend the JPA full-time. (Under current law, if these students were to stop attending the JPA and instead attend a school district or COE school, the state would incur ADA costs for these students. However, under current law, if these students continue to attend the JPA, the state would not incur these ADA costs.)

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. According to the French-Gulch-Whiskeytown School District, a supporter of this bill:

The Mountain Valley JPA offers us security in that if and when we need a placement for a student with more severe disabilities, the Mountain Valley JPA has options for us that we would otherwise not have. It is concerning that school districts who place students in a class that has employed a Mountain Valley JPA teacher cannot collect funds for the average daily attendance. For a small school district, that is a significant amount of funding that would impact our small district budget, and in turn, affect the quality of services we can provide students. A change in legislation would allow our school district to receive the funding for our special needs students while still having our district needs met through the Mountain Valley JPA.

1. Background. In 2020, 12 Shasta county school districts and one charter school formed the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA to serve students with disabilities. The JPA currently serves about 43 students in six special day classes located on various school district sites.

According to the author’s office, the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA member school districts were able to collect school funding from ADA only for students attending the JPA in recent years due to certain hold-harmless provisions enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Budget Act of 2022, however, modified hold-harmless provisions in a way that allows a member school district to collect school funding from ADA only if its students are under the supervision of a school district or COE employee. Because the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA employees are not school district or COE employees, the member school districts have been unable to claim school funding from ADA for their students attending the JPA.

This bill allows school districts with students attending the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA to claim school funding from ADA to support students attending the JPA.

Analysis Prepared by: Natasha Collins / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: June 28, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Al Muratsuchi, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SB 648

Author:(Dahle) – As Amended Ver:June 19, 2023

SENATE VOTE: 40-0

SUBJECT: Education finance: average daily attendance: Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority

SUMMARY: Deems an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority (JPA) who possessed a valid certification document an employee of a school district in Shasta County or an employee of the Shasta County Office of Education (COE) to satisfy the supervision requirements for computing average daily attendance (ADA). Specifically, this bill:

1. Deems an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA who possessed a valid certification document an employee of a school district in Shasta County or an employee of the Shasta COE to satisfy the supervision requirements for computing ADA.
2. States that the Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary for this purpose because of the unique educational needs of the County of Shasta.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Requires that the computation of the ADA of a school district or COE include attendance of students while engaged in educational activities required of those students and under the immediate supervision and control of an employee of the district or COE who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law. (Education Code (EC) 46300)
2. Provides that the minimum schoolday for a student concurrently enrolled in regular secondary school classes and classes operating pursuant to a JPA that became effective before January 1, 2008, is 180 minutes. (EC 46144.5)
3. Requires that for students concurrently enrolled in regular secondary school classes and classes operating pursuant to a JPA that became effective before January 1, 2008, the ADA be included as school district ADA computed for purposes of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). (EC 46144.5)
4. Specifies that, for purposes of computing ADA for concurrently enrolled in regular secondary school classes and classes operating pursuant to a JPA that became effective before January 1, 2008, immediate supervision and control of students while attending classes pursuant to a JPA is deemed satisfied regardless of the school district employing the certificated employee providing the supervision and control, provided that the school district is a party to the JPA. (EC 46144.5)

FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, by enabling the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA to satisfy the supervision requirements and ensure that its students generate ADA for their school districts of residence, this bill would result in Proposition 98 General Fund costs in the low to mid hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. A precise amount will depend on the number of students receiving instruction at the JPA and the amount of LCFF entitlement funds that each student generates.

COMMENTS:

Need for the bill. According to the author, “One of the many unique challenges in rural communities is the number, or lack thereof, of students who require special education. That, in turn, necessitates creative solutions like forming a coalition that provides services to families with students who have disabilities. I applaud the members of the Mountain Valley JPA for their resourceful solution to this challenge, and hope this inspires other districts to use innovation approaches in educating those who need special consideration.”

Mountain Valley Special Education JPA. Shasta County currently has 26 school districts, many of them small and rural. According to the Senate Education Committee, in 2018, the Shasta County Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) arranged for a fiscal and programmatic review of special education programs. Overall, the continuum of services in Shasta County were found to be lacking and a regionalized service model was recommended.

In 2020, 12 school districts and one charter school formed the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA. The JPA began offering services in August, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The JPA currently serves about 43 students in 6 special day classes (2 preschools and 1 primary, middle, medically fragile, and behavioral class) located on the sites of member school districts.

Member districts are unable to claim funding for their special education students. According to the author’s office, the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA member districts were only able to collect ADA in recent years due to the state’s hold harmless provisions. Specifically, the 2020-21 Budget Act included a hold-harmless clause for calculating LCFF funding for the 2020-21 year by allowing 2020-21 funding to be based on 2019-20 ADA rather than 2020-21 ADA. Subsequent legislation amended the Budget Act to provide 2020-21 growth funding for LEAs that anticipated enrollment or ADA growth. Without the ADA hold harmless provisions of recent years, the JPA member districts would have been unable to collect ADA.

More recently, the 2022-23 Budget Act amended the LCFF calculation to consider the greater of a school district’s current year, prior year, or the average of three prior years’ ADA. As a result, the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA member districts have been unable to claim ADA apportionment because their students are under the supervision of JPA employees (rather than district employees). This bill would ensure that students served by the JPA would once again generate ADA for their districts of residence.

Recommended Committee amendments. In order to ensure that apportionments can be issued for the 2023-24 fiscal year to the constituent members of the JPA, staff recommends that the bill be amended to add an urgency clause.

Arguments in support. The French-Gulch-Whiskeytown School District writes, “The Mountain Valley JPA offers us security in that if and when we need a placement for a student with more severe disabilities, the MVJPA has options for us that we would otherwise not have. It is concerning that school districts who place students in a class that has employed a MVJPA teacher cannot collect funds for the average daily attendance. For a small school district, that is a significant amount of funding that would impact our small district budget, and in turn, affect the quality of services we can provide students. A change in legislation would allow our school district to receive the funding for our special needs students while still having our district needs met through the MVJPA.”

Related legislation. AB 760 (Arambula), Chapter 47, Statutes of 2017, repealed the July 1, 2017 sunset date related to the calculation of ADA by the Center for Advanced Research and Technology (CART).

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Columbia School District
French Gulch-Whiskeytown School District
Small School Districts Association

Opposition

None on file

Analysis Prepared by: Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: SB 648

Author: Dahle (R)

Introduced: 2/16/23

Vote: 21

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 7-0, 3/29/23

AYES: Newman, Ochoa Bogh, Cortese, Glazer, McGuire, Smallwood-Cuevas, Wilk

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/18/23

AYES: Portantino, Jones, Ashby, Bradford, Seyarto, Wahab, Wiener

SUBJECT: Education finance: average daily attendance: Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority

SOURCE: Mountain Valley JPA

DIGEST:

This bill specifies that an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority (JPA) who possessed a valid certification document shall be deemed “an employee of the district or county office” to satisfying the supervision requirements for computing average daily attendance (ADA).

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Requires that, in computing ADA of a school district or county office of education, there shall be included the attendance of pupils while engaged in educational activities required of those pupils and under the immediate supervision and control of an employee of the district or county office who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law. (Education Code (EC) § 46300)
2. Provides that the minimum schoolday for a pupil concurrently enrolled in regular secondary school classes and classes operating pursuant to a JPA that became effective before January 1, 2008 is 180 minutes. (EC § 46144.5)
3. Specifies that for pupils described in comment #2 above, the ADA shall be included as school district ADA computed for purposes of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). (EC § 46144.5)
4. Specifies that, for purposes of computing ADA for pupils described in comment #2 above, immediate supervision and control of pupils while attending classes pursuant to a JPA is deemed satisfied regardless of the school district employing the certificated employee providing the supervision and control, provided the school district is a party to the JPA. (EC § 46144.5)

This bill specifies that an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA who possessed a valid certification document shall be deemed “an employee of the district or county office” to satisfy the supervision requirements for computing ADA.

Comments

1. Need for the bill. According to the author, “One of the many unique challenges in rural communities is the number, or lack thereof, of students who require special education. That, in turn, necessitates creative solutions like forming a coalition that provides services to families with students who have disabilities. I applaud the members of the Mountain Valley JPA for their resourceful solution to this challenge, and hope this inspires other districts to use innovation approaches in educating those who need special consideration.”
2. Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority History. Shasta County is a rural county covering 3,846 square miles. The county currently has 26 school districts, many of them small, and some located far from the center of the county. Due to concerns that not every district was complying with its special education requirements, the Shasta Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) arranged for a fiscal and programmatic review in 2018. Overall, the continuum of services in Shasta County were found to be lacking and a regionalized service model was recommended.

Given that most of the small districts in the county lacked the capacity to offer a full continuum of services on their own, 12 school districts and one charter school collaborated to create the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA. The JPA began offering services in August, 2020 amid the COVID pandemic, and currently serves about 43 students in 6 special day classes (2 preschools and 1 primary, middle, medically fragile, and behavioral class) located on various school district sites.

1. Member districts are unable to claim funding for their special education students. According to the author’s office, the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA member districts were able to collected ADA in recent years due to the state’s hold harmless provisions. Specifically, the 2020-21 Budget Act included a hold-harmless clause for calculating LCFF funding for the 2020-21 year by allowing 2020-21 funding to be based on 2019-20 ADA rather than 2020-21 ADA. Subsequent legislation amended the Budget Act to provide 2020-21 growth funding for LEAs that anticipated enrollment or ADA growth.

More recently, the 2022-23 Budget Act amended the LCFF calculation to consider the greater of a school district’s current year, prior year, or the average of three prior years’ ADA. As a result, the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA member districts have been unable to claim ADA because their students are under the supervision of JPA employees (rather than district employees). This bill would ensure that students served by the JPA would once again generate ADA for their districts of residence.

1. Should this instructional model be permitted statewide? The blended learning structure that this bill facilitates the funding for only applies to the member districts of the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA. Given the unique challenges of small school districts and the costs of serving students with moderate to severe disabilities, it is common for economies of scale to be achieved through this sort of consortia model. Should the provisions of this bill apply to more school districts that have entered into JPAs to accommodate students with disabilities? Should the bill allow for other types of JPA agreements, such as those providing career technical education?

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, by enabling the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA to satisfy the supervision requirements and ensure that its students generate ADA for their school districts of residence, this bill would result in Proposition 98 General Fund costs in the low to mid hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. A precise amount will depend on the number of students receiving instruction at the JPA and the amount of LCFF entitlement funds that each student generates.

SUPPORT: (Verified 5/18/23)

Mountain Valley JPA (source)

Columbia School District

French Gulch-Whiskytown School District

OPPOSITION: (Verified 5/18/23)

None received

Prepared by: Ian Johnson / ED. / (916) 651-4105

5/20/23 13:05:18

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SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Anthony Portantino, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular Session

SB 648 (Dahle) - Education finance: average daily attendance: Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority

Bill Summary:

This bill provides that an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority (JPA) who possessed a valid certification document shall be deemed “an employee of the district or county office” to satisfy the supervision requirements for computing average daily attendance (ADA).

Fiscal Impact:

By enabling the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA to satisfy the supervision requirements and ensure that its students generate ADA for their school districts of residence, this bill would result in Proposition 98 General Fund costs in the low to mid hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. A precise amount will depend on the number of students receiving instruction at the JPA and the amount of LCFF entitlement funds that each student generates.

Background:

Existing law requires that, in computing ADA of a school district or county office of education, there shall be included the attendance of pupils while engaged in educational activities required of those pupils and under the immediate supervision and control of an employee of the district or county office who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law.

Existing law provides that the minimum schoolday for a pupil concurrently enrolled in regular secondary school classes and classes operating pursuant to a JPA that became effective before January 1, 2008 is 180 minutes. The law also specifies that, for purposes of computing ADA for these pupils, the immediate supervision and control of pupils while attending classes pursuant to a JPA is deemed satisfied regardless of the school district employing the certificated employee providing the supervision and control, provided the school district is a party to the JPA.

Proposed Law:

This bill specifies that an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA who possessed a valid certification document shall be deemed “an employee of the district or county office” to satisfying the supervision requirements for computing ADA.

Staff Comments:

The Mountain Valley Special Education JPA in Shasta County began offering services in August, 2020 amid the COVID pandemic, and currently serves about 43 students in 6 special day classes located on various school district sites.

The 2022-23 Budget Act amended the LCFF calculation to consider the greater of a school district’s current year, prior year, or the average of three prior years’ ADA. As a result, the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA member districts have been unable to claim ADA because their students are under the supervision of JPA employees (rather than district employees).

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SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Senator Josh Newman, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular

Bill No: SB 648 Hearing Date: March 29, 2023

Subject: Education finance: average daily attendance: Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority.

SUMMARY

This bill specifies that an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority (JPA) who possessed a valid certification document shall be deemed “an employee of the district or county office” to satisfying the supervision requirements for computing average daily attendance (ADA).

BACKGROUND

Existing law:

1. Requires that, in computing ADA of a school district or county office of education, there shall be included the attendance of pupils while engaged in educational activities required of those pupils and under the immediate supervision and control of an employee of the district or county office who possessed a valid certification document, registered as required by law. (EC § 46300)
2. Provides that the minimum schoolday for a pupil concurrently enrolled in regular secondary school classes and classes operating pursuant to a JPA that became effective before January 1, 2008 is 180 minutes. (EC § 46144.5)
3. Specifies that for pupils described in comment #2 above, the ADA shall be included as school district ADA computed for purposes of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). (EC § 46144.5)
4. Specifies that, for purposes of computing ADA for pupils described in comment #2 above, immediate supervision and control of pupils while attending classes pursuant to a JPA is deemed satisfied regardless of the school district employing the certificated employee providing the supervision and control, provided the school district is a party to the JPA. (EC § 46144.5)

ANALYSIS

This bill specifies that an employee of the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA who possessed a valid certification document shall be deemed “an employee of the district or county office” to satisfying the supervision requirements for computing ADA.

STAFF COMMENTS

1. Need for the bill. According to the author, “One of the many unique challenges in rural communities is the number, or lack thereof, of students who require special education. That, in turn, necessitates creative solutions like forming a coalition that provides services to families with students who have disabilities. I applaud the members of the Mountain Valley JPA for their resourceful solution to this challenge, and hope this inspires other districts to use innovation approaches in educating those who need special consideration.”
2. Mountain Valley Special Education Joint Powers Authority History. Shasta County is a rural county covering 3,846 square miles. The county currently has 26 school districts, many of them small, and some located far from the center of the county. Due to concerns that not every district was complying with its special education requirements, the Shasta Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) arranged for a fiscal and programmatic review in 2018. Overall, the continuum of services in Shasta County were found to be lacking and a regionalized service model was recommended.

Given that most of the small districts in the county lacked the capacity to offer a full continuum of services on their own, 12 school districts and one charter school collaborated to create the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA. The JPA began offering services in August, 2020 amid the COVID pandemic, and currently serves about 43 students in 6 special day classes (2 preschools and 1 primary, middle, medically fragile, and behavioral class) located on various school district sites.

1. Member districts are unable to claim funding for their special education students. According to the author’s office, the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA member districts were able to collected ADA in recent years due to the state’s hold harmless provisions. Specifically, the 2020-21 Budget Act included a hold-harmless clause for calculating LCFF funding for the 2020-21 year by allowing 2020-21 funding to be based on 2019-20 ADA rather than 2020-21 ADA. Subsequent legislation amended the Budget Act to provide 2020-21 growth funding for LEAs that anticipated enrollment or ADA growth.

More recently, the 2022-23 Budget Act amended the LCFF calculation to consider the greater of a school district’s current year, prior year, or the average of three prior years’ ADA. As a result, the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA member districts have been unable to claim ADA because their students are under the supervision of JPA employees (rather than district employees). This bill would ensure that students served by the JPA would once again generate ADA for their districts of residence.

1. Should this instructional model be permitted statewide? The blended learning structure that this bill facilitates the funding for only applies to the member districts of the Mountain Valley Special Education JPA. Given the unique challenges of small school districts and the costs of serving students with moderate to severe disabilities, it is common for economies of scale to be achieved through this sort of consortia model. Should the provisions of this bill apply to more school districts that have entered into JPAs to accommodate students with disabilities? Should the bill allow for other types of JPA agreements, such as those providing career technical education?

SUPPORT

Columbia School District
French Gulch-Whiskytown School District

OPPOSITION

None received

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