Bill Text: CA AB2027 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Online education: school attendance.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-08-12 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB2027 Detail]
Download: California-2009-AB2027-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2027 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 15, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 28, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Blumenfield and Cook
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Torlakson)
( Coauthor: Senator Alquist
)
FEBRUARY 17, 2010
An act to add Section 46300.8 to add and
repeal Section 46300.8 of the Education Code, relating to
online education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2027, as amended, Blumenfield. Online education: school
attendance.
Existing law establishes the public elementary and secondary
school system in this state, and further establishes a funding system
pursuant to which the state apportions funds to local educational
agencies based on the average daily attendance of pupils at the
schools operated by those agencies. Numerous statutes and regulations
govern the calculation and reporting of average daily attendance.
This bill, commencing with the 2012-13 fiscal year, would provide
that school districts, county offices of education, and charter
schools that offer online education courses may claim attendance
toward average daily attendance on the basis of a pupil's attendance
in an online class or classes course or
courses that satisfy prescribed criteria.
The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction,
in consultation with the Controller and the Director of
Finance, on or before December 31, 2011, to make revisions to any
attendance accounting manual or guidance provided to school
districts, county offices of education, or charter schools that are
necessary to conform to these provisions, or to clarify these
provisions with respect to attendance accounting procedures for
asynchronous online courses, as defined. The bill additionally would
require the Superintendent , in consultation with the Controller
and the Director of Finance, to adopt rules and regulations
for the purposes of clarifying or expanding the procedures required
for verifying the identification of pupils participating in
asynchronous online courses and including pupil attendance in
asynchronous online education courses in the calculation of average
daily attendance. The bill would make these provisions
inoperative on July 1, 2016, and repeal them on January 1, 2017.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 46300.8 is added to the Education Code, to
read:
46300.8. (a) Commencing with the 2012-13 fiscal year, a school
district, county office of education, or charter school may claim
attendance toward average daily attendance, for the purposes of
calculating average daily attendance pursuant to Section 46300, on
the basis of a pupil's attendance in an online class or
classes course or courses if all of the
following apply:
(1) The pupil is enrolled in grade 9, 10, 11, or 12.
(2) The pupil is enrolled in classes that include courses in a
classroom-based setting, courses that are offered through an online
program, or both.
(3) The pupil meets minimum instructional time requirements
pursuant to:
(A) Section 46141 and Section 46201, 46201.5 or 46202, as
applicable, for pupils enrolled in a noncharter school in a school
district or county office of education.
(B) Section 46170, for pupils enrolled in a continuation school.
(C) Section 46180, for pupils enrolled in an opportunity school.
(D) Subdivision (e) of Section 47612.5 for pupils enrolled in a
charter school.
(4) Each online course in which the pupil is enrolled is a
high-quality online course.
(b) For the purposes of this section, a high-quality online course
is defined as an online course that meets all of the following
requirements:
(1) The online course is approved by the governing board of the
school district or county office of education, or the governing body
of the charter school.
(2) The online course is certified to meet these requirements,
through board resolution, by the governing board of the school
district or county office of education, or the governing body of the
charter school.
(3) The online course is certified by the governing board of the
school district, county board of education, or governing body of a
charter school as being as rigorous as a classroom-based course and
meeting or exceeding all relevant state content standards.
(3)
(4) Either of the following:
(A) The teacher is online at the same time as each pupil, is
accessible to each pupil attending the synchronous online course to
respond to pupil queries, assign tasks, and dispense information, and
is able to make a line-of-sight visual connection with each pupil
for the purposes of verifying attendance or providing immediate
supervision of the pupil.
(B) The teacher is online at different times as
for each pupil, is accessible to each pupil attending the
asynchronous online course to respond to pupil queries, assign tasks
, and dispense information, and , for the
purposes of verifying attendance , is able to employ at
least two of the following:
(i) Periodic proctored examinations.
(ii) Biometric verification.
(ii) Direct teacher-pupil meetings no less than twice per calendar
month.
(iii) A line-of-sight visual connection including, but not limited
to, Internet Webcam.
(4)
(5) (A) The ratio of full-time
equivalent certificated teachers teaching the online course to pupils
enrolled in that course is greater than or equal to
equal to or less than the ratio of teachers to
pupils in traditional classroom study of the same subject matter in
the school, school district, or the unified school district with the
largest average daily attendance of pupils in that county for
the prior school year, as reported on the Internet Web site of the
department .
(B) If the online course is new or deemed by the governing board
of the school district, county board of education, or governing body
of the charter school to be unique to the online setting, the ratio
of full-time equivalent certificated teachers to pupils enrolled in
that course shall not exceed 30 to 1.
(5)
(6) (A) The teacher of the online
course has taught the same existing course to pupils in a
traditional classroom setting or in an online setting at any time
within the immediately preceding two-year period.
(6) The subject matter content is the same for the online course
as for the traditional classroom-based course in the school, school
district, or the unified school district with the largest average
daily attendance of pupils in that county.
(B) If the online course is new or deemed by the governing board
of the school district, county board of education, or governing body
of the charter school to be unique to the online setting, the teacher
of the online course, at a minimum, shall meet the requirements
described in paragraph (8).
(7) When a traditional classroom-based course of the same course
title exists within the school district, county office of education,
or charter school, the subject matter content of the online course is
the same as for the traditional classroom-based course.
(7)
(8) The teacher of the online course holds the
appropriate subject matter credential and meets the requirements
for a highly qualified teacher pursuant to the federal No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301) .
(8)
(9) Statewide testing results for online pupils are
reported and assigned to the school, school district, or county
office of education in which the pupil is enrolled for regular
classroom courses.
(9)
(10) The online course is offered by a high school,
continuation school, or county office of education.
(10)
(11) No pupil is assigned to the online course unless
the pupil voluntarily elects to participate in the online course and
the parent or guardian of the pupil provides written consent before
the pupil participates in the online course.
(11)
(12) No pupil voluntarily electing to participate in
the online course is denied access because the pupil lacks the
computer hardware or software necessary to participate in the online
course.
(12)
(13) No pupil is charged for his or her participation
in the online course.
(13)
(14) Pupils enrolled in the online course take
examinations by proctor or other reliable methods are used to ensure
test integrity, and there is a clear record of pupil work, using the
same method of documentation and assessment as used in a
classroom-based course.
(14)
(15) Contemporaneous records of the time that a pupil
spends online in the course and in related activities, and of the
time the teacher is online with pupils, are maintained by the school,
school district, or county office of education.
(c) A school district, county office of education, or charter
school offering an online course may contract with a school district
to provide an online course meeting all of the requirements specified
in subdivisions (a) and (b) to pupils of the offering school
district.
(1) A teacher of an online course shall be an employee of the
providing school district, and shall meet all of the requirements for
a teacher of an online course specified in subdivision (b).
(2) For the purposes of subdivision (a) of Section 46300 only, a
teacher meeting the requirements of paragraph (1) shall be deemed to
be an employee of the offering school district, county office of
education, or charter school.
(3) Contract terms shall be determined by mutual agreement of the
school districts.
(4) School districts that provide online courses pursuant to the
contract shall contract directly with the offering school district,
county office of education, or charter school, and shall not enter
into direct contracts with the pupils of the offering school district
or otherwise attempt to enroll those pupils.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to mean that a
charter school provides classroom-based or nonclassroom-based
instruction for the purposes of the state board determination made
pursuant to Section 47612.5.
(e) Attendance accounted for pursuant to subdivision (a) and
compliance with the requirements of subdivision (b) are subject to
the audit conducted pursuant to Section 41020.
(f) A pupil shall not be credited with more than five days of
course attendance per calendar week or more than the total number of
calendar days that regular classes are maintained by the school
district, county office of education, or charter school during the
fiscal year.
(f)
(g) No provision of this section may be waived unless
the waiver is specifically authorized in statute.
(g)
(h) The Superintendent, in consultation with the
Controller and the Director of Finance, on or before December
31, 2011, shall do all of the following:
(1) Make revisions to any attendance accounting manual or guidance
provided to school districts, county offices of education, or
charter schools that are necessary to conform to this section.
(2) Make revisions to any attendance accounting manual or guidance
provided to school districts, county offices of education, or
charter schools that are necessary to clarify attendance accounting
procedures for asynchronous online courses.
(3) Make recommendations to the appropriate policy and fiscal
committees in both houses of the Legislature and to the Governor
regarding statutory changes that would be necessary to allow pupil
attendance in asynchronous online courses to be included in the
calculation of average daily attendance pursuant to Section 46300.
(h)
(i) Pupil attendance in asynchronous online courses
shall not be included in the calculation of average daily attendance
pursuant to Section 46300 until the Superintendent has adopted rules
and regulations pursuant to subdivision (l)
(m) .
(i)
(j) For the purposes of calculating average daily
attendance pursuant to Section 46300 and meeting the minimum
instructional time requirements specified in paragraph (3) of
subdivision (a), a pupil engaged in educational activities in an
online course meeting the requirements of subdivisions (a) and (b)
shall be deemed to be under the immediate supervision and control of
an employee of the district or county office who possesses a valid
certification document, registered as required by law, and shall be
deemed to be attending at the schoolsite of the charter school.
(j)
(k) For the purposes of calculating average daily
attendance pursuant to Section 46300, a school district, county
office of education, or charter school claiming pupil attendance in
an online course meeting the requirements of subdivision (b) shall
not be required to meet the requirements of Article 5.5 (commencing
with Section 51745) of Chapter 5 of Part 28.
(k)
(l) For the purposes of this section, the following
definitions apply:
(1) "Asynchronous online course" means a course where the teacher
and pupil may be online at different times and are unable to interact
simultaneously.
(2) "Biometric" means any means by which a person can be uniquely
identified by evaluating one or more distinguishing biological
traits. Unique identifiers within the meaning of this paragraph
include, but are not necessarily limited to, fingerprints, hand
geometry, voice waves, and signatures.
(3)
(2) "Synchronous online course" means a course where
the teacher and pupil are online at the same time and able to
interact at that time.
(l)
(m) The Superintendent, in consultation with the
Department of Finance, shall adopt rules and regulations, pursuant to
the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act,
Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3
of Title 2 of the Government Code, for both of the following
purposes:
(1) Clarifying or expanding the procedures required for verifying
the identification of pupils participating in asynchronous online
courses meeting all of the requirements of subdivisions (a) and (b).
(2) Including pupil attendance in asynchronous online courses in
the calculation of average daily attendance pursuant to Section
46300. The Superintendent shall ensure that the rules and regulations
adopted for this purpose are consistent with the revisions and
recommendations required pursuant to subdivision (g)
(h) .
(n) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2016, and, as
of January 1, 2017, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2017, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
____ CORRECTIONS Text--Pages 2 and 3.
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