Senator Portantino’s K-12 Enrollment-Based Funding Bill Passes Senate Education Committee
For Immediate Release: April 20, 2022
Contact: Lerna Shirinian, (818) 409-0400
Senator Portantino’s K-12 Enrollment-Based Funding Bill Passes Senate Education Committee
Sacramento, California – Senate Bill 830, a bill authored by Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – La Cañada Flintridge) which would increase supplemental funding for K-12 schools based on enrollment numbers, passed the Senate Education Committee today. SB 830 is supported by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, the Los Angeles Unified School District, the California School Employees Association and many other school institutions. The funding source reform would result in an estimated $3.5 billion increase to K-12 funding across the state.
“The current outdated system for determining funding for K-12 schools is based solely on student attendance and negatively impacts too many low-income families. Many children lack reliable transportation, housing, and suffer from health-related issues that contribute to school absences. Enrollment-based funding will ensure that California schools are funded more equitably and have greater financial stability and predictability. As we deal with the long-lasting impacts of the pandemic on student achievement and mental health, SB 830 helps ensure that students are in school, are receiving the support they need to learn and thrive, and districts have stable and increased funding,” stated Senator Portantino.
California is one of six states that does not consider student enrollment figures for determining state aid to school districts. Districts plan their budgets and expend funds based on the number of students enrolled but receive funds based on their average daily attendance. For example, if a school district enrolls 100 students but their attendance rate is 95%, the school district must still prepare as if 100 students will attend class every day but only receive funding for 95 students.
SB 830 remedies this inequity and would define “average daily membership” as the amount of the aggregate enrollment days for all pupils in a school district or county office of education, from transitional kindergarten to grade 12, divided by the total number of instructional days for the local educational agency in an academic year. SB 830 would require a local educational agency to receive the difference between what they would have received under the local control funding formula (LCFF) based on average daily enrollment and what they received under the local control funding formula based on average daily attendance for that fiscal year.
“When students are facing trauma, economic uncertainty, or dangerous routes to school, the simple act of showing up to class isn’t so simple,” said Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho. “SB 830 would provide more equitable funding to help school districts address the root causes of absenteeism and ensure all students receive support to be in class and learning every day. Additional funding, coupled with tailored outreach to students who are chronically absent, can demonstrate to students that each of their lived experiences matter and our schools are a safe haven where we commit to meet their needs and nurture their dreams. Los Angeles Unified is a proud co-sponsor of this bill, which could leave a lasting legacy for our current and future generation of students.”
In order for a local educational agency to be eligible for supplemental educational funding, SB 830 would require the local educational agency to report the average daily enrollment for the prior academic year to the State Superintendent on July 1 and to demonstrate a maintenance of effort to address chronic absenteeism and habitual truancy. The bill would also require local educational agencies to use at least 30% of their supplemental education funding to supplement existing local educational agency expenditures to address chronic absenteeism and habitual truancy.
SB 830 includes a 5-year review provision, where we could see how the supplemental funding was spent and whether it increased attendance rates and reduced chronic absenteeism and habitual truancy.
“Our current attendance-based funding system takes resources away from schools in lower-income communities because they experience higher rates of absenteeism,” stated California School Employees Association President Matthew “Shane” Dishman. “Our members, including instructional assistants and attendance clerks, know that student absences actually cost money and demand additional resources to track down absent students and prepare make-up assignments. The truth is, attendance-based funding punishes students in schools that most need the state’s financial support. That is why CSEA is co-sponsoring this bill to move to enrollment-based funding so that California schools will be funded equitably and have greater financial stability and predictability.”
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