It is now a guessing game on when to expect a vote on the budget bill, Assembly Bill 1781, with expectation being that it will take place this or next week. However, nobody really knows when anything of significance is going to happen… something could happen in an hour, next week, or weeks from now.

At this point, we have covered the Governor’s Proposed Budget, then the May Revision, and last month there was a recap of all up to that point. Rather than continually reiterate the same, now we’re hearing more regarding the “climate” of the discussions.

The State Legislature is supposed to be on a summer recess until August 4th according to its calendar, but because of the budgetary situation, they really have not gone on a break. Legislators continue to work in anticipation of a bi-partisan agreement on the State Budget, which is presently on the floors of both houses.

So far, we have heard how the Republicans began the process steadfastly insisting there should be cutting of spending rather than levying of taxes, and how the Democrats favored the opposite. Presently, there has been talk that this mood has changed, and that now there has been more of an acceptance of the idea of expanding the sales tax base.

Regardless, the clock is ticking, and the month of August is critical because this is when cash flow becomes more of an issue. Everyone is now aware of the Governor’s cutting state workers’ pay to minimum wage until the passage of the budget; in fact, he signed just today Executive Order S-09-08 to halt payments to vendors for this fiscal year, and withhold payroll to state workers (in addition to other items) until the budget passes. Understandably, this has created an uproar, and State Controller John Chiang has publicly said he will not be complying with the Order. Many believe the Governor’s action is to pressure lawmakers to finish work on the budget. Additionally, lawmakers are being further influenced by their constituents. Major educational organizations and unions are encouraging their membership to contact their local representatives to vote for the budget bill. Statewide notices have gone out from the State PTA and California School Employees Association.

Our district lobbying effort has remained the same, exemplified by our shift from emphasizing the effects of cuts to promoting what we estimate is a good budget proposal as put forth in Assembly Bill 1781.

Federal Update
Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Is DC’s No. 1 Issue

Staff from the Office of Legislative and Governmental Affairs (OLGA) spent a few meeting-packed days in discussions with Congressional and governmental relations staffs of the following committee and organizations:

It was an informative and productive time, and the following is a summation of discussions had with the individuals from the above list:

Federal funding will remain at present levels because of the weak economy. Also, the war in Iraq continues to draw heavy expenditures away from education and health and human service needs.
Some organizations, specifically AASA, are seeking a complete new enactment of NCLB without reference to existing law. Also, individual lobbying efforts are emphasizing the need to no longer refer to the reauthorized legislation as NCLB, and to start using Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as the title.

Within the reauthorization, the contentious issue that has arisen is pay for performance. NEA is adamantly opposed while Congressional members, including leading Democrats, are pressing for some type of pay for performance to be included in the ESEA reauthorization.

Congressional staff members are interested in the collection and use of student testing data and its applicability to ESEA reauthorization. The level of sophistication of data collection, to the level of individual classroom student performance, is being linked to pay for performance proposals.

Staff of the National PTA office is focusing on the parent engagement provisions of the ESEA reauthorization. The discussion with these staff members extended to the potential for incorporating parent education as a component along with engagement. OLGA is sending the PTA staff copies of the curriculum that is used in adult education parent education courses to support the parent’s role with their children’s education.

While meeting with the Education and Labor Committee staff, OLGA staff was made aware of their plans to have Richard Simmons, notable exercise and fitness proponent, testify on the present problem of obesity in today’s K-12 schools. Subsequently, the news coverage and testimony by Simmons in essence emphasized that youth physical activities are being minimized or nonexistent because of the pressures to have academic performance as driven by NCLB.

Federal Issues of Interest

Child Nutrition – We expect the child nutrition law to be reauthorized in 2009. In preparation, District staff developed priorities for inclusion in a new bill. Areas of concern include:

Eligibility, access, and funding improvements Nutritional standards Competitive food sales Technology and innovation advancement Commodity food program Mealtime management

We are working with other entities to encourage Congressional support for a measure to give USDA authority to set national nutrition standards for all foods and beverages available outside of school meal programs anywhere on campus during the school day.

Definition of Homelessness – Approximately 75% of the homeless children and youth in Los Angeles do not qualify for Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assistance because of a narrow definition of homelessness. That provision disallows services to families and youth who are temporarily staying in the housing of others because they have nowhere else to go or in a motel.

We met with Congresswoman Water’s staff and allied organizations in gaining support for the Homeless Children and Youth amendment to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act reauthorization legislation, which would align the HUD definition with the education definition of homelessness. The measure is in the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, chaired by Rep. Waters.

Poison Pill Removed from Foreclosure Prevention Act – The Foreclosure Prevention Act, signed by the President on July 30, created a new standard deduction for homeowners who do not itemize their deductions on their federal income tax filings. Single persons who do not itemize will be able to deduct up to $500 of their property tax bills, and families will be able to deduct $1,000.

The legislation earlier contained a provision that the deduction would be available only if the local jurisdiction did not raise its property tax rate between April 2008 and December 2009. That would have had negative implications on homeowners within the LAUSD and any other school district that approved or sold bonds or certificates of participation, and could have adversely affected support for the November bond.

The LAUSD joined with allied organizations in successfully opposing this provision. It was stripped from the final version of the bill.

Higher Education Act Passed by Congress – On July 31 both houses of Congress passed a compromise bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act for the first time in ten years. The measure includes provisions to simplify and increase post-secondary grants, consolidates three teacher education programs, and raises the standards for teacher education programs.

The President is expected to sign the measure.

State Update
Legislation – Priority Bills

At this point in the legislative process, the Office of Legislative and Governmental Affairs (OLGA) has turned its focus to “priority” bills. All bills introduced are initially reviewed for applicability and pertinence to education and LAUSD, and this may well be more than five thousand bills. The OLGA often tracks more than one thousand in any given year. As time passes over the course of the legislative calendar many bills never make it to the final steps of the process – whether on account of being pulled by the author, failing to pass Committees, or being vetoed by the Governor.

Priority bills still alive and sponsored (or co-sponsored) by LAUSD are:

AB 2077 (Fuentes) – The California English language development test.
This bill would require the annual assessment of the California English language development test (CELDT) to be conducted during a 3-month test period commencing with the day upon which 65% of the instructional year is completed. The bill would require the State Department of Education to biennially release sample questions from the CELDT for the purpose of instruction and to provide the score a pupil achieves on the CELDT to the parent or guardian of the pupil in English and, if available, in the language reported on the home language survey. The bill would require that the score be provided in a format that utilizes terminology that is easy to understand and includes an explanation of the purpose of the test, the pupil's score, and the intended use of that score by the school district.

SB 658 (Romero) – School facilities.
This bill shall exempt a school district from increasing school building capacity by the number of pupils reported by the Superintendent of Public Instruction to the Office of Public School Construction for that grade level pursuant to Section 42268 starting with the 2007-2008 enrollment year. In addition, the bill proposes to reduce the level of funding under the Operational grant Program by 20% each year beginning in 2008-09 FY and transferring those funds to the California Department of Education to administer the charter school facility program pursuant to SB 740, per the Governor’s veto message.

SB 1369 (Cedillo) – Pupil nutrition: free and reduced-price means: application.
This bill will allow school districts that have knowledge of an active Medi-Cal case for a child to suppress that application at the school’s option. This would have the effect of expediting Express Enrollment in Medi-Cal or Healthy Families for many students, providing them with much needed healthcare services. Forty to Eighty percent of the applications for Medi-Cal received from school districts by counties are for children who already have active Medi-Cal cases. Implementing a procedure to limit the number of these applications forwarded to the county for processing will significantly decrease resource outlays required by counties. The result of this improved process would enable counties, especially large ones such as Los Angeles, to accelerate and increase capacity for student enrollment.

AB 2056 (De Leon) – English learners: California High School Exit Examination.
This bill would authorize school districts to use the funds apportioned pursuant to these provisions to provide the intensive instruction and services also to pupils who are enrolled in grade 10, 11, or 12 and have failed one of both parts of the high school exit examination and to pupils who are enrolled in grade 9 and are at risk of not passing one or both portions of the high school exit examination. The bill would specify the order of priority for providing this intensive instruction and services to these additional pupils.

AB 1163 (Krekorian) – Adult Education.
This bill increases the cap on adult education entitlement expenditures for approved distance learning programs, as defined, from five percent to fifteen percent. Proposed amendments have been discussed with the Department of Finance would add language that will ensure the accountability of these alternate delivery programs.

AB 2390 (Karnette) – State teachers’ retirement: postretirement earnings.
This bill would extend current exemptions from retiree earning limits until June 30, 2010. The recruitment of experienced teachers and school administrators to fill vacant classroom and administrative positions, particularly in Deciles1-3 schools, continues to be a challenge for school districts. Despite targeted efforts to recruit highly qualified teachers, there continues to be a shortage of credentialed teachers in math, science and special education. In order to comply with the staffing requirements of the Williams settlement and other state and No Child Left Behind mandates, school districts must take action to ensure that schools are staffed with fully credentialed, experienced teachers and school administrators, particularly in Deciles1-3 schools.

AB 2002 (DeLeon) – Public works: payments.
This bill proposes doubling the penalties levied against those contractors or subcontractors who violate the prevailing wage laws under Labor Code Sections 1775 and 1776. Additionally, the bill would hold the contractor liable for violations made by the subcontractor if the contractor had knowledge or should have known of the subcontractor’s negligence

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS UPDATE IS PRODUCED BY THE OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE & GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, LAUSD
333 SOUTH BEAUDRY STREET, 20TH FLOOR, LOS ANGELES, CA 90017 TEL (213) 241-2600 FAX (213) 241-8954
DAVID BREWER III, SUPERINTENDENT
SANTIAGO JACKSON, DIRECTOR