Bill Text: CA AB2689 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: School districts: annual budgets: reserve balance.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From committee without further action. [AB2689 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB2689-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2689 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 15, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Gray
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to amend Section 42610 42127.01
of the Education Code, relating to school finance.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2689, as amended, Gray. School district funds:
expenditures and appropriations: excess funds.
districts: annual budgets: reserve balance.
In a fiscal year immediately after a fiscal year in which a
transfer is made into the Public School System Stabilization Account,
existing law prohibits a school district's adopted or revised budget
from containing a combined assigned or unassigned ending fund
balance that is in excess of either 2 or 3 times the minimum
recommended reserve for economic uncertainties adopted by the State
Board of Education, depending on the school district's units of
average daily attendance. Existing law authorizes the county
superintendent of schools to waive the prohibition, pursuant to
specified conditions, for up to 2 consecutive fiscal years within a
3-year period if the school district provides documentation
indicating that extraordinary fiscal circumstances substantiate the
need for the balance.
This bill would instead prohibit a school district's adopted or
revised budget from containing a combined assigned or unassigned
ending fund balance that is in excess of an unspecified multiple of
the minimum recommended reserve for economic uncertainties adopted by
the state board. The bill would also repeal an obsolete provision.
Existing law requires any amounts added to the general reserve of
the school district in excess of the amount already budgeted to not
be available for the appropriation by the school district for the
current fiscal year, except as provided.
This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to this law.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 42127.01 of the
Education Code is amended to read:
42127.01. (a) In a fiscal year immediately after a fiscal year in
which a transfer is made into the Public School System Stabilization
Account, a school district budget that is adopted or revised
pursuant to Section 42127 shall not contain a combined assigned or
unassigned ending fund balance that is in excess of the following:
(1) For school districts with fewer than 400,000 units of average
daily attendance, the sum of the school district's applicable minimum
recommended reserve for economic uncertainties adopted by the state
board pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 33128, multiplied by
two. ____.
(2) For school districts with more than 400,000 units of average
daily attendance, the sum of the school district's applicable minimum
recommended reserve for economic uncertainties adopted by the state
board pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 33128, multiplied by
three. ____.
(b) A county superintendent of schools may grant a school district
under its jurisdiction an exemption from the requirements of
subdivision (a) for up to two consecutive fiscal years within a
three-year period if the school district provides documentation
indicating that extraordinary fiscal circumstances, including, but
not limited to, multiyear infrastructure or technology projects,
substantiate the need for a combined assigned or unassigned ending
fund balance that is in excess of the minimum recommended reserve for
economic uncertainties. As a condition of receiving an exception, a
school district shall do all of the following:
(1) Provide a statement that substantiates the need for an
assigned and unassigned ending fund balance that is in excess of the
minimum recommended reserve for economic uncertainties.
(2) Identify the funding amounts in the budget adopted by the
school district that are associated with the extraordinary fiscal
circumstances.
(3) Provide documentation that no other fiscal resources are
available to fund the extraordinary fiscal circumstances.
(c) This section shall become operative on December 15, 2014, only
if Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 1 of the 2013-14 Second
Extraordinary Session is approved by the voters at the November 4,
2014, statewide general election. If Assembly Constitutional
Amendment No. 1 of the 2013-14 Second Extraordinary Session is not
approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general
election, this section shall not become operative and is repealed on
January 1, 2015.
SECTION 1. Section 42610 of the Education Code
is amended to read:
42610. (a) Any amounts added to the general reserve of the school
district in excess of the amount already budgeted shall not be
available for appropriation by the school district for the current
fiscal year except by the following procedure. The governing board of
the school district shall, by formal action of the board, pass a
resolution setting forth the need according to major classification
of school district expenditures to be met from a portion of the
general reserve derived from assured income in excess of the total
amount anticipated in the budget. The resolution shall be submitted
to the county superintendent of schools.
(b) The county superintendent of schools shall approve a
resolution for the appropriation of income to the extent that the
income was not anticipated in the budget of the school district.
(c) On the first day of July of each year, the general reserve
together with unexpended balances of appropriations and income in
excess of anticipated income for the preceding fiscal year shall be
placed to the credit of the school district, and the school district
shall include all money so credited in the balance shown in the
budget for the ensuing fiscal year.
