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POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:
Bill would revamp education funding
The Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would drastically change the way schools are funded.
Introduced last year by State Sen. Jack Scott, whose district includes Glendale and Burbank, Senate Bill 146 looks to retool the formula that determines how much money individual districts receive.
Instead of allocating school funds by daily attendance, the measure calls for looking at average monthly enrollment.
Currently, state education funding is directly tied to each individual district’s average daily attendance, which is calculated by dividing the total number of days of student attendance by the number of days of school taught during the same period.
Under the current system a student with perfect yearly attendance generates the maximum per student funding for the district: students who miss some classes generate a percentage of the per student maximum.
Scott’s measure would modify the formula by basing revenue on average monthly enrollment instead of average daily attendance, a change that Scott says would better reflect a district’s workload and, by reducing paperwork associated with tabulating daily attendance, streamline the funding process.
Glendale Unified School District Board President Greg Krikorian supports the proposal, which he said would provide a more accurate measure of average attendance.
Sometimes students aren’t present in class for daily attendance reports but show up to school later, Krikorian said.
The new system, Krikorian said, would help school districts by catching a variety of students who slip through the daily attendance report. It would also reduce paperwork for district staff, he said.
Since school districts already make reports on student enrollment, supporters of the bill say the new system would just take advantage of those actions and re-direct resources devoted to maintaining proper records.
The proposed switch has become increasingly popular as education groups like the California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Assn. and the Parent Teacher Assn. have signed on in support over the past year, Scott’s office said.
But Senate Bill 146 is considered a first step toward the new system: if approved, the bill would require separate implementation legislation to ensure that district gas neither lost nor gained funding as a result of the switch, Scott’s office said.
Bill would expand access for groups
In an effort to respond to youth safety concerns, Rep. Adam Schiff joined Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers on Thursday in introducing legislation to establish a permanent, nationally-accessible background check system for youth-serving organizations.
Known as the Child Protection Improvements Act, the bill would make background checks for volunteers working with children reliable, affordable and comprehensive, Schiff’s office said.
“We are fortunate to live in a country where millions of volunteers generously make time to participate in community service,” Schiff said in a statement. “But with so many volunteers working with children we need to ensure that child predators are not preying on innocent children through the guise of volunteerism.”
The bill follows in the trail of the Child Safety Pilot program, which since its inception in 2003, has performed more than 37,000 fingerprint-based FBI background checks, according to Schiff’s office. More than 2,000 potential volunteers were found to have a criminal record of concern, including crimes like sexual abuse of minors, assault, murder or major drug offenses.
But the pilot was limited in its scope and duration: Only 1/3 of states allow mentoring organizations to access FBI searches and some of the states that do allow access charge fees that are too high for small nonprofits, Schiff’s office said.
Schiff and Miller’s bill looks to expand access to background checks for all youth-serving organizations across the country by creating a national Applicant Processing Center.
Sens. Joseph Biden, Arlen Specter and Orin Hatch introduced the companion bill in the Senate on the same day.
Film festival still taking submissions
Private and public high school students in Glendale and Burbank have until April 18 to submit films to Filmfest 43, Assemblyman Paul Krekorian’s first student film festival.
Students who live in or attend high school anywhere in Krekorian’s 43rd Assembly district are invited to submit to the festival, which is set to take place on May 16 at the Alex Theatre.
As chair of the Assembly Select Committee on the Preservation of California’s Entertainment Industry, Krekorian conceived the event as a way to promote and encourage the potential next wave of Southern California filmmakers, Krekorian’s office said.
Students are encouraged to submit original films of any genre, including narrative, documentary, animation and experimental.
Films should be under 35 minutes in length and all submissions must be directed, produced, photographed and edited by the student contestants. Submissions must be accompanied by a synopsis of 50 words or less, and a complete and accurate list of credits. Films produced by class of 2007 students may be submitted for consideration if they were completed before August 2007.
For more information and an application contact Krekorian’s district service office at 818- 240-6330 or visit www.assembly.ca.gov/krekorian.
Introduced last year by State Sen. Jack Scott, whose district includes Glendale and Burbank, Senate Bill 146 looks to retool the formula that determines how much money individual districts receive.
Instead of allocating school funds by daily attendance, the measure calls for looking at average monthly enrollment.
Currently, state education funding is directly tied to each individual district’s average daily attendance, which is calculated by dividing the total number of days of student attendance by the number of days of school taught during the same period.
Under the current system a student with perfect yearly attendance generates the maximum per student funding for the district: students who miss some classes generate a percentage of the per student maximum.
Scott’s measure would modify the formula by basing revenue on average monthly enrollment instead of average daily attendance, a change that Scott says would better reflect a district’s workload and, by reducing paperwork associated with tabulating daily attendance, streamline the funding process.
Glendale Unified School District Board President Greg Krikorian supports the proposal, which he said would provide a more accurate measure of average attendance.
Sometimes students aren’t present in class for daily attendance reports but show up to school later, Krikorian said.
The new system, Krikorian said, would help school districts by catching a variety of students who slip through the daily attendance report. It would also reduce paperwork for district staff, he said.
Since school districts already make reports on student enrollment, supporters of the bill say the new system would just take advantage of those actions and re-direct resources devoted to maintaining proper records.
The proposed switch has become increasingly popular as education groups like the California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Assn. and the Parent Teacher Assn. have signed on in support over the past year, Scott’s office said.
But Senate Bill 146 is considered a first step toward the new system: if approved, the bill would require separate implementation legislation to ensure that district gas neither lost nor gained funding as a result of the switch, Scott’s office said.
Bill would expand access for groups
In an effort to respond to youth safety concerns, Rep. Adam Schiff joined Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers on Thursday in introducing legislation to establish a permanent, nationally-accessible background check system for youth-serving organizations.
Known as the Child Protection Improvements Act, the bill would make background checks for volunteers working with children reliable, affordable and comprehensive, Schiff’s office said.
“We are fortunate to live in a country where millions of volunteers generously make time to participate in community service,” Schiff said in a statement. “But with so many volunteers working with children we need to ensure that child predators are not preying on innocent children through the guise of volunteerism.”
The bill follows in the trail of the Child Safety Pilot program, which since its inception in 2003, has performed more than 37,000 fingerprint-based FBI background checks, according to Schiff’s office. More than 2,000 potential volunteers were found to have a criminal record of concern, including crimes like sexual abuse of minors, assault, murder or major drug offenses.
But the pilot was limited in its scope and duration: Only 1/3 of states allow mentoring organizations to access FBI searches and some of the states that do allow access charge fees that are too high for small nonprofits, Schiff’s office said.
Schiff and Miller’s bill looks to expand access to background checks for all youth-serving organizations across the country by creating a national Applicant Processing Center.
Sens. Joseph Biden, Arlen Specter and Orin Hatch introduced the companion bill in the Senate on the same day.
Film festival still taking submissions
Private and public high school students in Glendale and Burbank have until April 18 to submit films to Filmfest 43, Assemblyman Paul Krekorian’s first student film festival.
Students who live in or attend high school anywhere in Krekorian’s 43rd Assembly district are invited to submit to the festival, which is set to take place on May 16 at the Alex Theatre.
As chair of the Assembly Select Committee on the Preservation of California’s Entertainment Industry, Krekorian conceived the event as a way to promote and encourage the potential next wave of Southern California filmmakers, Krekorian’s office said.
Students are encouraged to submit original films of any genre, including narrative, documentary, animation and experimental.
Films should be under 35 minutes in length and all submissions must be directed, produced, photographed and edited by the student contestants. Submissions must be accompanied by a synopsis of 50 words or less, and a complete and accurate list of credits. Films produced by class of 2007 students may be submitted for consideration if they were completed before August 2007.
For more information and an application contact Krekorian’s district service office at 818- 240-6330 or visit www.assembly.ca.gov/krekorian.
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