Education finance: California Task Force on School Finance.

Existing law establishes the public school system in this state, and, among other things, provides for the establishment of school districts throughout the state and for their provision of instruction at the public elementary and secondary schools they operate and maintain. Existing law establishes a public school funding system that includes, among other elements, the provision of funding to local educational agencies through state apportionments, the proceeds of property taxes collected at the local level, and other sources. This bill would establish a 21-member California Task Force on School Finance as of January 1, 2013, to review and analyze alternative formulas for allocating funds to public schools in California for the purpose of identifying and recommending a formula or formulas that best meet the needs of California's public school system and public school pupils. The bill would specify criteria to be used by the task force to evaluate funding formulas. The bill would provide that 10 of the members of the task force would be appointed by the Governor, 5 appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, 5 appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, and that the Superintendent of Public Instruction or his or her designee would be a member of, and serve as chair of, the task force. The bill would specify the qualifications of the appointees, and provide for reimbursement for their expenses in attending meetings. The bill would require that meetings of the task force would be subject to specified open meeting requirements. The bill would require the task force to report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature on or before April 1, 2013. The bill would become operative only if the Superintendent of Public Instruction certifies, on or before January 31, 2013, that sufficient nonstate funds are available for its implementation. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2013, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2014.