(1) Existing law requires the Controller, in consultation with the Department of Finance and the State Department of Education, to develop a plan to review and report on financial and compliance audits. Existing law requires the Controller to propose the content of an audit guide and authorizes a supplement to the audit guide to be suggested in the audit year to address issues resulting from new legislation in that year that changes the conditions of apportionment. Existing law requires the Controller to submit the proposed content of the audit guide and any supplement to the Education Audits Appeal Panel for review and possible amendment, and requires the Education Audits Appeal Panel to adopt the audit guide and any supplement pursuant to the rulemaking procedures of the Administrative Procedure Act. This bill would require the Controller to propose, and the Education Audits Appeal Panel to adopt, a charter school supplement to the audit guide in order to provide guidance to auditors regarding which sections of the school district and county office audit guide apply to charter schools and to create specific guidance related to the unique nature of charter schools. The bill also would make conforming changes. (2) The Charter Schools Act of 1992 (Charter Schools Act) allows a charter school to elect to operate as, or be operated by, a nonprofit public benefit corporation, as specified. This bill would expressly prohibit a charter school from operating as, or from being operated by, a for-profit corporation. (3) The Charter Schools Act specifies the procedures for the submission, review, and approval or denial of a petition to establish a standard or countywide charter school. The act allows the governing board of a school district to deny a charter petition only if the board makes written factual findings that support certain facts regarding the petition. The act requires a county board of education to deny a petition to establish a countywide charter school if the board makes any of several specified factual findings. This bill, in addition, would allow a governing board to deny a petition, and would require a county board of education to deny a petition for a countywide charter, if it makes a written factual finding that the petitioner has operated another charter school for at least 3 consecutive years and one of several specified events has occurred. (4) The Charter Schools Act limits the duration of charters to a period not to exceed 5 years and authorizes the chartering authority to grant one or more subsequent renewals for an additional period of 5 years. The act prescribes the requirements a charter school must comply with in order to have its charter renewed, including a requirement that a charter school that has been in operation for 4 years satisfy at least one of several specified criteria regarding academic performance. This bill would authorize a charter renewal to be for a period of 1 to 5 years. The bill would require a chartering authority to consider, as one factor in determining whether to grant a renewal, the degree to which a charter school serves pupil populations that are similar to local school district pupil populations, especially with regard to high-need pupils, as specified. The bill would delete one of the criteria for the requirement regarding charter schools in operation for 4 years. The bill would prohibit a chartering authority from granting a renewal of a charter school for longer than a 3-year period if that charter school is in program improvement or has entered into year 5 of program improvement, has not exited program improvement, and did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress in the year prior to the renewal year. (5) The Charter Schools Act requires a charter petition to include a reasonably comprehensive description of the manner in which annual, independent financial audits will be conducted. The act requires a charter school to transmit a copy of its annual, independent financial audit report for the preceding fiscal year to its chartering entity, the Controller, the county superintendent of schools of the county in which the charter school is sited, except as specified, and the department by December 15 of each year. This bill would require the Controller, by December 31 of each fiscal year, to publish a directory of certified public accountants and public accountants, licensed by the California Board of Accountancy, deemed by the Controller to be qualified to conduct audits of charter schools. The bill would require each audit of a charter school to be conducted by a certified public accountant or public accountant selected by the charter school from the directory. The bill would specify that it is unlawful for a public accounting firm to provide audit services to a charter school if the lead audit partner, or coordinating audit partner, having primary responsibility for the audit, or the audit partner responsible for reviewing the audit, has performed audit services for that charter school in each of the 6 previous fiscal years, except as provided.
Sponsored bills
Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools to determine a revenue limit for each school district in the county pursuant to a specified formula based on the base revenue limit of the school district for the prior year, adjusted for inflation, and the average daily attendance for the entire school district. Existing law requires the base revenue limit for each school district for the 2011–12 fiscal year to include an adjustment computed as specified and related to funding incentives to increase beginning teachers' salaries and funding for meals for needy pupils programs. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to calculate the amount of this adjustment for each school district, as specified. This bill would defer until the 2013–14 fiscal year that portion of the 2011–12 fiscal year adjustment related to funding for Meals for Needy Pupils programs. Existing law authorizes, until July 1, 2010, an adjustment of the revenue limit of a school district to reflect funding for meals for needy pupils programs. This bill would extend this authorization until July 1, 2013.
Existing law provides for the county-administered In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes and avoid institutionalization. Under existing law, the State Department of Social Services is vested with state administrative authority over the IHSS program. Existing law permits services to be provided under the IHSS program either through the employment of individual providers, a contract between the county and an entity for the provision of services, the creation by the county of a public authority, or a contract between the county and a nonprofit consortium. Existing law, upon request of a recipient of in-home supportive services, or a recipient of personal care services under the Medi-Cal program, authorizes the procurement of a criminal background check on certain provider applicants, pursuant to specified provisions. Existing legislation that will become effective on October 23, 2009, requires counties, public authorities, and nonprofit consortiums to complete criminal background checks of specified persons who seek to become supportive services providers. That legislation requires that the criminal background checks be conducted at the provider's expense. This bill would, instead, require that the criminal background checks be conducted at the provider's expense, unless the nonprofit consortium or public authority agrees to pay for the criminal background check in which case the department shall seek federal financial participation, to the extent possible, to cover costs associated with conducting the criminal background check. This bill would also incorporate changes to Section 12301.6 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 19 of the 2009–10 4th Extraordinary Session, to take effect if this bill and that bill are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2010, and this bill is enacted last.
This measure would recognize the Lunar New Year 4708 celebration.
The California Constitution conditions the imposition of a special tax by a city, county, or special district upon the approval of 23 of the voters of the city, county, or special district voting on that tax, and prohibits these entities from imposing an ad valorem tax on real property or a transactions or sales tax on the sale of real property. This measure would alternatively condition the imposition, extension, or increase of a parcel tax, as defined, by a school district, community college district, or county office of education upon the approval of 55% of its voters voting on the proposition, if the proposition meets specified requirements. This measure would also make conforming changes to related provisions.
This measure would declare February 23, 2010, to be Spay Day USA 2010 in California, and would request that Californians observe that day by having their dogs and cats spayed or neutered and by providing voluntary services or other support to organizations that provide spay and neuter services.
(1) Existing law establishes the Class Size Reduction Program, under which a participating school district or county office of education reduces class size to 20 pupils per class in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive. If a school district or county office of education receives funding for a class, but fails to reduce the size of that class to 20 pupils, the school district or county office of education incurs a reduction in its next principal apportionment of state funds. Existing law provides that for the 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, and 2011–12 fiscal years, a local educational agency is eligible to receive funding for the same number of classes for which it had applied to receive program funding as of January 31, 2009. This bill would provide that, for the 2008–09 school year, a local educational agency may choose for state apportionment purposes the option to receive funding for the same number of classes for which it had applied to receive program funding as of January 31, 2009, or the funding option provided under the Class Size Reduction Program on December 31, 2008, prior to the enactment of the provision referenced above. This bill would provide that, for the 2009–10 school year, the Riverside Unified School District may choose to operate each of its grade 3 classrooms that participate in the Class Size Reduction Program either pursuant to the option to receive funding for the same number of classes for which it had applied to receive program funding as of January 31, 2009, or the funding option provided under the Class Size Reduction Program on December 31, 2008, prior to the enactment of the provision referenced above. (2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Riverside Unified School District. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This resolution would respectfully request that the International Maritime Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, adopt the North American Emission Control Area, as proposed by the United States, Canada, and France at the 60th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee, scheduled for March 2010.
Existing law creates the California Integrated Waste Management Board with specified powers and duties. Chapter 21 of the Statutes of 2009, which will go into effect on January 1, 2010, will abolish the California Integrated Waste Management Board and transfer its duties and responsibilities to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, which Chapter 21 of the Statutes of 2009 will create in the Natural Resources Agency, under the direction of an executive officer known as the Director of Resources Recycling and Recovery. Chapter 21 of the Statutes of 2009 will authorize the director to accept on behalf of the department federal grants, and will require the grants to be deposited in the Special Deposit Fund, which is continuously appropriated. Under existing law, the Department of Conservation administers the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act. Chapter 21 of the Statutes of 2009 will transfer those duties to the Division of Recycling that Chapter 21 of the Statutes of 2009 will establish within the newly created Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. Existing law establishes the Office of Education and the Environment in the California Integrated Waste Management Board. Chapter 21 of the Statutes of 2009 will transfer the Office of Education and the Environment to the California Environmental Protection Agency. This bill would delay the operative date of the changes made by Chapter 21 of the Statutes of 2009 to January 1, 2011.
This measure would declare February 19, 2010, as a Day of Remembrance in order to increase public awareness of the events surrounding the internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry during World War II.