BILL #    HB 2677	TITLE: middle school students; CTE courses
SPONSOR:    Aguilar	STATUS: As Introduced
PREPARED BY:    Gordon Robertson

Description

The bill would allow school districts and charter schools to provide career and technical education (CTE) courses to students in grades six, seven, or eight (middle school students) in Fiscal Years 2026, 2027, and 2028. The bill would allow a school district or charter school to contract with various CTE course providers to offer such instruction to middle school students.

Estimated Impact

We estimate that the bill would not have a direct impact on General Fund spending for public school formula costs.

To the extent that school districts and charter schools do offer CTE courses to middle school students, we estimate any costs generated through intergovernmental agreements between districts and charters and CTE providers would be borne by the school districts and charter schools. We cannot estimate in advance how many schools would choose to provide this instruction to middle school students, nor how many middle school students would enroll in such courses.

Analysis

According to the FY 2024 Superintendent's Annual Financial Report, 195,400 middle school students enrolled in school districts and 55,300 middle school students enrolled in charter schools in FY 2024. Therefore, the FY 2024 universe of middle school students that would be eligible for CTE instruction under HB 2677 would be 250,700 pupils.

The bill would not, however, revise Average Daily Membership (ADM) calculations in the K-12 Basic State Aid formula for middle school students enrolling in CTE courses. Under current law, CTED students are eligible for ADM increases of up to 0.75 (for a total of 1.75), but such ADM increases are limited to CTE courses taken by students in grades 9-12 or in the year immediately following graduation.  As a result, middle school students enrolled in CTE courses under the bill would continue to be ineligible to receive an ADM increase.

Local Government Impact

To the extent that middle school students would participate in CTE courses under the bill, we assume that school districts and charter schools would be required to use existing resources to cover the cost of any intergovernmental agreements to provide such instruction.  

1/31/25