BILL NUMBER: AJR 23 CHAPTERED BILL TEXT RESOLUTION CHAPTER 125 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 12, 2007 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 12, 2007 ADOPTED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 4, 2007 ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 5, 2007 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 18, 2007 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 20, 2007 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hancock (Coauthors: Assembly Members Benoit, De La Torre, DeSaulnier, Eng, Huffman, Karnette, Laird, Leno, Ma, Mullin, Parra, Price, Solorio, and Wolk) (Coauthors: Senators Migden, Negrete McLeod, Steinberg, Torlakson, and Wiggins) MAY 17, 2007 Relative to education. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AJR 23, Hancock. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001: reauthorization. This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to amend the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to provide states more flexibility in the implementation of the law and in the identification of schools in need of improvement in order to strategically target resources and interventions toward those schools and school districts that are most in need, to permit adequate yearly progress to accommodate a range of accountability models, and to respect parental choice. This measure also would urge the President and the Congress of the United States to fully fund the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 for the life of the act. WHEREAS, The general intent and spirit of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), known as the NCLB, are commendable; and WHEREAS, The NCLB is due to be reauthorized by Congress in 2007; and WHEREAS, There is growing, bipartisan recognition among state legislatures and in Congress that states need more flexibility and financial support in implementing the NCLB; and WHEREAS, Before the enactment of the NCLB, California established, implemented, and sustained an accountability system that holds pupils and schools to some of the highest standards in the entire country; and WHEREAS, Many provisions of the NCLB conflict with California's own accountability system and fail to recognize schools that are making substantial improvement; and WHEREAS, More than four years of operational experience in implementing the NCLB has resulted in unintended consequences, including the identification of some of the highest performing schools and school districts in California as being "in need of improvement"; and WHEREAS, Many of the unintended consequences result from the rigid application of a "one size fits all" approach to accountability; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature and the State of California urge the Congress of the United States to amend the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to provide states more flexibility in the implementation of the law and in the identification of schools in need of improvement in order to strategically target resources and interventions toward those schools and school districts that are most in need; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California urges the Congress of the United States to amend the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to permit adequate yearly progress to accommodate a range of accountability models, including a growth model of district, school, and subgroup improvement, and to respect parental choice by giving states the flexibility to exclude from the participation rate calculation, a pupil whose parent chooses not to have the pupil tested; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California urges the President of the United States and the Congress of the United States to fully fund the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 for the life of the act; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the United States Secretary of Education, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.