School attendance: interdistrict transfers.

(1) Existing law requires each person between the ages of 6 and 18 years, who is not otherwise exempt, to attend the public full-time day school in the school district in which his or her parent or guardian is a resident. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to accept interdistrict transfers by adopting a resolution to become a school district of choice, as defined, and authorizes the governing board to ensure, by resolution, that pupils accepted for transfer are selected through a random, unbiased process that prohibits an evaluation of whether or not the pupil should be enrolled based upon his or her academic or athletic performance. This bill would require any communication made by a participating school district to parents or guardians to be factually accurate and not target individual parents or guardians or residential neighborhoods on the basis of specified personal characteristics of pupils. The bill would require a school district of choice, at its expense, to ensure that the auditor who conducts the annual financial audit of the district, as specified, reviews compliance with the requirements for a random, unbiased selection process and appropriate communications at the same time that he or she is conducting the annual audit, and would require the district to notify the auditor regarding this compliance review prior to the commencement of the annual audit. (2) Existing law authorizes a school district of choice to reject the transfer of a pupil if the transfer requires the district to create a new program to serve that pupil. This bill would prohibit a school district of choice from rejecting the transfer of a special needs pupil, including an individual with exceptional needs or an English learner. (3) Existing law authorizes a school district of choice to give priority to children of military personnel if the school district elected to accept transfer pupils by a resolution adopted prior to April 1, 2005. This bill would delete the condition that requires a school board to have adopted the resolution prior to that date. (4) Existing law authorizes a school district of residence, as defined, to limit the number of pupils who transfer out each year by a certain percentage, and also authorizes a school district with an average daily attendance of less than 50,000 to limit the maximum number of pupils transferring out for the duration of the program to 10% of the average daily attendance for that period. This bill would authorize a school district of residence to limit transfers if it has a negative or qualified status on the most recent budget certification, or to limit the number of pupils to a number identified by the county superintendent of schools, as specified, if the county superintendent determines that the district will not meet the standards and criteria for fiscal stability in a specified statutory provision for the subsequent fiscal year due to the impact of additional pupil transfers in that fiscal year. The bill, notwithstanding any other provision regarding interdistrict transfers, would permit a pupil attending a school district of choice or a pupil who received a notice of eligibility to enroll in a school district of choice, including a pupil selected by means of a random selection process conducted on or before June 30, 2009, to attend the school district of choice. (5) Existing law requires each school district that elects to become a school district of choice to keep an accounting of all requests made for alternative attendance, as specified, and to report this information to the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Existing law requires the Superintendent annually to make this information available to the Governor, the Legislature, and the public on or before April 1. This bill would add specified categories to the required accounting of requests for transfers. The bill would require each school district of choice to also report the specified information to the Department of Finance. The bill would delete the requirement that the Superintendent annually make the information provided by school districts available to the Governor, the Legislature, and the public on or before April 1, and instead require the Department of Finance to make the information available upon request to the Legislative Analyst. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst annually to make specified information regarding interdistrict transfers available to the Governor and the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature. (6) Commencing August 24, 2007, existing law prohibits the governing board of a school district from electing to become a school district of choice. This bill would delete that prohibition. (7) Existing law makes the provisions governing interdistrict transfers inoperative on July 1, 2009, and repeals them on January 1, 2010. This bill would extend those inoperative and repeal dates to July 1, 2016, and January 1, 2017, respectively. (8) The bill would require the Legislative Analyst to conduct, after consulting with appropriate legislative staff, a comprehensive evaluation of the interdistrict transfer program, make recommendations regarding the extension of the program, incorporate in that evaluation the data annually made available by the Department of Finance, and complete and submit the evaluation and the recommendations to the appropriate education policy committees of the Legislature and the Governor by November 1, 2014. (9) The bill would also make conforming changes.