K - 12
The Budget Act of 2007 included $66.8 billon for K-12 education programs which reflects an increase of $3.5 billion over the 2006-07 revised budget. Total per pupil expenditures from all sources are to be $11,163 in 2006-07 and $11,541 in 2007-08. This is an indicator of the relative spending in California for support of K-12 education programs and not the actual level of funding allocated to each school for a pupil. The Governor has proclaimed 2008 the "Year of Education" in order to make major legislative reforms to the California educational system.
K-12 legislation signed into law included: SB 13 (Wyland) requiring the Department of Education to include in its application for new construction plan approval certain questions relating to career technical education facilities; SB 20 (Torlakson) strengthening the process by which the Board of Education authorizes statewide benefit charter schools and providing $18 million for purposes of the charter school Facilities Grant Program; SB 52 (Scott) modifying the requirements for credentials issued to career technical education teachers; SB 84 (Budget and Fiscal Review) enacting the education trailer bill to the 2007 Budget; SB 95 (Maldonado) establishing eligibility criteria for a residential outdoor science program; SB 112 (Scott) exempting retired teachers who return to service from the basic skills proficiency requirements and specifying that retired teachers do not need to participate in induction programs for new teachers; SB 139 (Scott) enhancing nursing education and student loans provisions of law; SB 170 (Denham) extending, until 2012, the sunset on the authorization for pupils to attend school in a district where the pupil's parent works, rather than where the pupil and parent reside; SB 193 (Scott) enhancing the Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program; SB 196 (Machado) removing the sunset date for the issuance of district intern credentials that authorized instruction to pupils with mild and moderate disabilities; SB 219 (Steinberg) requiring the Superintendent of Public Instruction to modify the Academic Performance Index of schools to include information on tracking the program of at-risk students; SB 232 (Ducheny) extending the sunset date on the California Subject Matter Projects until 2012; SB 273 (Ackerman) reinstating the Board of Education as the only entity approving amendments to guidelines for selecting and administering American Indian education centers, and enhancing fiscal oversight of the American Indian education program; SB 278 (Lowenthal) adding attendance at an educational conference on the legislative or judicial process offered by a nonprofit organization to the list of personal reasons that justify a pupil's absence from school, if requested and approved by the school principal; SB 363 (Simitian) expanding the definition of educators who will be included in the California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System; SB 405 (Steinberg) expanding the requirements of the Middle and High School Supplemental Counseling program to include a review of a pupil's career goals and the availability of academic and career technical education opportunities, and providing pupils and their parents information on eligibility for admission to a four-year institution of postsecondary education; SB 490 (Alquist) prohibiting schools and school districts, starting July 1, 2009, from making available through vending machines or school food establishments, foods containing artificial trans fat, as defined, or from using food containing artificial trans fat in the preparation of a food item served to pupils in grades K-12; SB 537 (Simitian) requiring the California Research Bureau to report to the Legislature on or before January 8, 2009, on the key elements and actual costs of charter school oversight by the schools chartering agency (school district or county office); SB 601 (Torlakson) enhancing the monitoring of local compliance with physical education requirements; SB 614 (Lowenthal) authorizing school districts and community colleges to utilize design-build construction contracts for projects exceeding $2.5 million, rather than the $10 million floor currently provided in law; SB 733 (Torlakson) extending the Instructional Materials Funding Realignment Program until 2013; SB 734 (Torlakson) reenacting provisions allowing for follow-up adoptions of instructional materials in addition to the primary adoption that occurs within a six to eight-year cycle, requiring the Board of Education to adopt regulations for social content reviews of instructional materials submitted outside of the primary and follow-up adoptions and to assess a fee for the review; SB 777 (Kuehl) revising the current list of prohibited bases of discrimination and the kinds of prohibited instruction, activities, and instructional materials in the Education Code, instead referring to the protected characteristics contained in the definition of hate crimes in the Penal Code; SB 859 (Scott) authorizing the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) to issue and renew Visiting Faculty Permits authorizing instruction in departmentalized classrooms to qualified individuals with college teaching experience and authorizing the CTC to issue professional clear teaching credentials to permit holders who satisfy specified requirements; SB 901 (Padilla) extending the sunset date for various specified exemptions to the State Teachers' Retirement System's post-retirement earnings limit from January 1, 2008 until June 30, 2009 and making most of the exemptions available to teachers that had retired on or before January 1, 2006; AB 57 (Soto) repealing the sunset date for the Safe Routes to School grant program; AB 216 (Bass) providing that for kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, a nonpublic, nonsectarian school (NPS) shall provide pupils access to state-adopted, standards-based, core curriculum and instructional materials used by any local educational agency that contracts with NPS; AB 347 (Nava) ensuring that students failing to meet the exit examination graduation requirement by the end of the 12th grade will have additional intensive instruction, services, and resources targeted to them, this includes counseling resources and services provided through the Middle and High School Supplemental Counseling program; AB 394 ( Levine) establishing the Safe Place to Learn Act and requires the Department of Education to monitor local educational agencies' adherence to antidiscrimination and antiharassment policies by requiring the Department of Education to assess whether local educational agencies have performed specified duties; AB 428 (Carter) requiring school districts to include in their annual notification to parents, specified information related to admission requirements for the University of California and the California State University; AB 438 (Price) revising exit criteria for the Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program and the High Priority Schools Grant Program by requiring schools to meet or exceed Academic Performance Index growth targets averaged over three years; AB 469 (Horton) setting forth specific deadlines for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to meet when processing credential applications; AB 556 (Huff) repealing provisions of existing law authorizing start-up grants for International Baccalaureate Programs, and specifying that second priority for annual grant funding be given to high schools that have the highest percentage of pupils from low-income families; AB 597 (Assembly Education Committee) requiring the Department of Education to select an elementary or secondary career technical education program to develop comprehensive web site pages with information about opportunities and programs available in the state on career technical education in elementary and secondary schools; AB 622 (Mullen) allowing county offices of education, with approval of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to provide preparation for passage of the GED test during the regular school day for incarcerated students, with little or no chance to achieve the high school diploma; AB 629 (Brownley) enacting the Sexual Health Education Accountability Act; AB 774 (Houston) authorizing school districts and county offices of education to establish a registry of volunteer after school physical recreation instructors and other before and after school programs volunteers; AB 485 (Solorio) prohibiting a non-public school or agency whose certification has been revoked by the Superintendent of Public Instruction from being eligible to apply for recertification for two years; AB 766 (Walters) providing that persons participating in a school field trip or excursion are deemed to have waived claims of liability against a charter school in the same manner that school districts and the state are currently exempt from such claims; AB 1061 (Mullin) simplifying the Annual School Accountability Report Card for each school; AB 1194 (Karnette) reestablishing the right of public school employees to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with their employer; AB 1316 ( Bass) allowing members of the State Teachers' Retirement System's Defined Benefit Program who apply for disability to receive a service retirement allowance during the time it takes to process the disability application; and AB 1571(DeSaulnier) increasing the amount an Alternative Payment Program (child care program) may request in reimbursement for actual and allowable costs incurred for additional service.
Vetoed legislation included: SB 35 (Torlakson) expanding the type of projects and local contributions that are allowed in order to be eligible for School Facility Joint-Use Program funding; SB 44 (Torlakson) creating the Teacher Cadet Program to encourage high school students to consider teaching careers; SB 121 (Romero) increasing for new construction funding eligibility to specified school districts that receive Year-Round School Grant Program funds; SB 123 (Romero) providing eligible pupils with disabilities who have fulfilled all of the requirements for a high school diploma, except passage of the high school exit exam, the opportunity to receive a diploma by demonstrating through a standardized evidence-based assessment that they have acquired the same knowledge and skills necessary to pass the high school exit exam; SB 406 (Steinberg) establishing academic and attendance criteria for the issuance of work permits by school authorities; SB 909 (Simitian) increasing the statutory schedule of maximum monthly compensation allowed for local school board members; AB 72 (Dymally) expressing the encouragement of the Legislature that instruction in social sciences include the role of Filipinos in World War II; AB 150 (Lieu) establishing the California Financial Literacy Initiative as a program for improving pupil financial literacy; AB 183 (Coto) requiring every school district with at least one high school to publish specified voter registration efforts; AB 252 (Coto) authorizing the administration of a primary language assessment to native English speaking pupils enrolled in dual immersion programs; AB 280 (Coto) establishing the State Seal of Biliteracy to recognize high school graduates who have attained functional proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing skills in one or more languages, in addition to English; AB 314 (Soto) permitting study time hours related to vocational training and education to count as a core welfare-to-work activity in the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program; AB 400 (Nunez) requiring the Superintendent of Public Instruction to add dropout rates and course completion rates to the Academic Performance Index for high schools through a process that begins in 2009-10 and ends with these indicators making up 50 percent of the high school Academic Performance Index by 2013-14; AB 466 (Hancock) deeming a student serving as a member of a precinct board for an election to be participating in independent studies for calculating a school districts average daily attendance for funding purposes; AB 494 (Huffman) requiring the Department of Education to give notice prior to revising the schedule of an onsite compliance review, and extending the period of time between reviews under specified circumstances; AB 598 (Assembly Education Committee) authorizing options for high school career technical education course instruction and authorizing pupils to earn high school credit for community college career technical education coursework or training, as specified; AB 666 (Karnette) extending the sunset date for Home Economics Careers and Technology Career Technical Education incentive program until 2013; AB 764 (Soto) reauthorizing the regional California Technology Assistance Projects and the Statewide Educational Technology Services until January 1, 2014; AB 973 (Fuller) requiring state agencies to waive certificate, license and examination fees for applicants that are public high school pupils, or graduated from a public high school within a year, and fulfilled requirements for the license or certificate by completing a course offered by a Regional Occupational Center or Program; AB 1030 expanding the California Library Literacy and English Acquisition Services Program to include services targeting young adults 16 years of age and over who are not enrolled in school; AB 1148 (Brownley) specifying duties for the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction and reporting requirements for the Department of Education relating to publisher costs and how those costs impact local school districts; AB 1281 (Soto) requiring charter school petitions to include specific information about providing for the special needs students, and revises procedures relating to pupil suspension or expulsion; AB 1379 (Brownley) requiring the Superintendent of Public Instruction to identify alternative means for high school pupils to demonstrate proficiency and graduate high school instead of passing the high school exit exam; and AB 1450 (Brownley) changing the conditions under which a school district may receive a supplemental grant to demolish a building and replace it with a multistory building.
