BILL NUMBER: SB 256 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 6, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator Berryhill
FEBRUARY 18, 2015
An act to amend add Section
42283 of 42283.5 to the Education Code,
relating to school finance. finance, and
declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 256, as amended, Berryhill. School finance: necessary small
schools. schools: Calaveras Unified School
District.
Existing
(1) Existing law, for specified
purposes, provides that a necessary small school is an elementary
school with an average daily attendance of less than 97, excluding
pupils attending the 7th and 8th grades of a junior high school,
maintained by a school district to which any of certain conditions
apply.
This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to that provision.
Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools to make
computations for each elementary and secondary school district that
has fewer than 2,501 units of second principal apportionment average
daily attendance and maintains at least one school that meets the
criteria for a necessary small school.
This bill would deem Rail Road Flat Elementary School to be a
necessary small school and make the Calaveras Unified School District
eligible to receive apportionments for this school pursuant to its
status as a necessary small school. The bill would provide that if
the average daily attendance of this school exceeds 96, then the
school would no longer be eligible to receive apportionments as a
necessary small school.
(2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as
to the necessity of a special statute for the Calaveras Unified
School District.
(3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
Vote: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: no yes .
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares that
the Calaveras Unified School District is considered to be a large
unified school district that serves pupils from a wide and varied
geographic area. Within these areas, Rail Road Flat Elementary School
has an average daily attendance of fewer than 97 pupils. Pupils
presently attending Rail Road Flat Elementary School would have to
travel long distances over hazardous terrain in order to attend other
schools within the Calaveras Unified School District.
SEC. 2. Section 42283.5 is added to the
Education Code , to read:
42283.5. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, the Rail Road Flat
Elementary School shall be deemed a necessary small school, as
defined in Section 42283. Notwithstanding any other law, commencing
with the 2015-16 fiscal year, the Calaveras Unified School District
shall receive apportionments for the Rail Road Flat Elementary School
pursuant to Section 42282.
(b) If the average daily attendance of the Rail Road Flat
Elementary School exceeds 96, then that school shall no longer be
entitled to receive apportionments as a necessary small school.
SEC. 3. The Legislature finds and declares that a
special law is necessary and that a general law cannot be made
applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the
California Constitution because of the unique circumstances relating
to the Calaveras Unified School District as set forth in Section 1 of
this act.
SEC. 4. This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to make necessary small school apportionments available
to the Calaveras Unified School District prior to the 2015-16 school
year, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.
SECTION 1. Section 42283 of the Education Code
is amended to read:
42283. (a) For purposes of Sections 42281 and 42282, a "necessary
small school" is an elementary school with an average daily
attendance of less than 97 pupils, excluding pupils attending the
seventh and eighth grades of a junior high school, maintained by a
school district to which any of the following conditions apply:
(1) If as many as five pupils residing in the school district and
attending kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, excluding pupils
attending the seventh and eighth grades of a junior high school, in
the elementary school with an average daily attendance of less than
97 pupils would be required to travel more than 10 miles one way from
a point on a well-traveled road nearest their home to the nearest
other public elementary school.
(2) If as many as 15 pupils residing in the school district and
attending kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, excluding pupils
attending the seventh and eighth grades of a junior high school, in
the elementary school with an average daily attendance of less than
97 pupils would be required to travel more than five miles one way
from a point on a well-traveled road nearest their home to the
nearest other public elementary school.
(3) If topographical or other conditions exist in a school
district that would impose unusual hardships if the number of miles
specified in paragraph (1) or (2) were required to be traveled, or if
during the fiscal year the roads that would be traveled have been
impassable for more than an average of two weeks per year for the
preceding five years, the governing board of the school district may,
on or before April 1, request the Superintendent, in writing, for an
exemption from these requirements or for a reduction in the miles
required. The request shall be accompanied by a statement of the
conditions upon which the request is based, giving the information in
a form required by the Superintendent. The Superintendent shall
cause an investigation to be made, and shall either grant the request
to the extent he or she deems necessary, or deny the request.
(b) For purposes of this section, "other public elementary school"
is a public school, including a charter school, that serves
kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 8, inclusive, excluding grades 7
and 8 of a junior high school.