Education finance: categorical programs.

(1) Existing law establishes various categorical education programs, and appropriates the funding for those programs in the annual Budget Act. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, for the 2008–09 to 2014–15 fiscal years, inclusive, to apportion from the amounts provided in the annual Budget Act for specified categorical education programs an amount based on the relative proportion that the local educational agency received in the 2008–09 fiscal year for those programs and authorizes local educational agencies, for those fiscal years, to use these funds, with specified exceptions, for any educational purpose, to the extent permitted by federal law. Existing law requires a school district that receives funding on behalf of a charter school pursuant to certain provisions, for the 2008–09 to 2014–15 fiscal years, inclusive, to continue to distribute the funds to those charter schools based on the same relative proportion that the school district distributed in the 2007–08 fiscal year, as adjusted by the school district to reflect changes in charter school attendance in the school district. Existing law requires a local educational agency to report expenditures of these funds to the State Department of Education. Existing law also requires the Superintendent, for the 2010–11 to 2014–15 fiscal years, inclusive, to allocate a supplemental categorical block grant to a charter school that began operation on or after the 2008–09 fiscal year, as specified. This bill would delete the 2014–15 fiscal year termination dates and would require, commencing with the 2014–15 fiscal year, the apportionments from the categorical education programs, as described above, to be apportioned to recipients by multiplying the recipient's per-pupil rate, calculated as specified, by the recipient's current fiscal year average daily attendance. The bill would also require the department to adopt uniform definitions for reporting the expenditure of the funds and would require a local educational agency, as a condition of receiving the funds, to (A) report the expenditure of those funds to the department, as specified, and (B) post information on the Internet Web site of the local educational agency on the expenditure of the funds at the school district level on a per pupil basis and identify separately the amount expended at each schoolsite on a per pupil basis. By requiring school districts to continue to distribute funds to charter schools, as discussed above, beyond the 2014–15 fiscal year, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.