BILL ANALYSIS
AB 347
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 347 (Nava)
As Amended June 1, 2007
Majority vote
EDUCATION 6-0 APPROPRIATIONS 12-4
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|Ayes:|Mullin, Coto, Eng, |Ayes:|Leno, Caballero, Davis, |
| |Hancock, Karnette, | |DeSaulnier, Huffman, |
| |Solorio | |Karnette, Krekorian, |
| | | |Lieu, Ma, Nava, Solorio, |
| | | |Feuer |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Walters, Emmerson, La |
| | | |Malfa, |
| | | |Sharon Runner |
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SUMMARY : Requires school districts to provide specific
assistance for up to two additional years to pupils who have not
passed the high school exit examination by the end of twelfth
grade, in order for those students to attain the proficiency
necessary to pass the exit examination. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Adds intensive instruction and services for pupils not passing
the exit examination to the list of potential deficiencies
required to be identified and resolved by school districts
through the use of the Uniform Complaint Process defined in
regulation, and requires the superintendent of each district
with a twelfth grade to designate a district official to
immediately receive such complaints filed at either the
district office or the school site.
2)Requires each district to post in each classroom in each
school with a tenth through twelfth grade, a notice that
eligible pupils are entitled to receive intensive instruction
and services for up to two consecutive academic years after
completion of twelfth grade or until the exit examination is
passed.
3)Extends eligibility for exit examination remediation services,
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provided pursuant to existing law, up to two consecutive years
after completion of twelfth grade for pupils not passing one
or both parts of the exit examination, includes such pupils
the calculation of the per pupil funding rate for funds
appropriated for that purpose, and caps the maximum funding
rate for this program at $500 per pupil.
4)Requires school districts to employ strategies for intensive
instruction and services that are most likely to result in
pupils passing parts of the exit examination that they have
not yet passed.
5)Imposes additional conditions for receipt of funds for this
program on school districts, including ensuring that districts
provide notification of availability of services to eligible
students after twelfth grade at that pupil's last known
address, that all eligible pupils receive these instructional
services from quality instructors using quality materials in
an accessible location, that eligible English learners also
receive services to improve English proficiency, and that
districts report on the manner and frequency of their
notification procedures in their annual report to the
Superintendent.
6)Requires the governing board adopted program in each district
for the Middle and High School Supplemental Counseling program
to include providing information about the availability of
intensive instruction and services for up to two consecutive
academic years after completion of twelfth grade or until the
exit examination is passed for pupils not passing the exit
examination, and requires each district to identify and
counsel these students accordingly.
EXISTING LAW provides for a California student to continue
to pursue a high school diploma or equivalent without
having passed the exit examination by the end of their
regular senior year. Current law allows students to:
1)Receive instruction through the Remedial Supplemental
Instruction Program up to one year following twelfth
grade.
2)Enroll for an additional year(s) in a public
comprehensive high school or alternative education
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program until the exit examination is passed and a
diploma is awarded, per local Governing Board policy,
and be compelled to attend if under age eighteen.
3)Be reclassified as a junior and attend the school for
one or more additional years, if the student is a senior
who is deficient in graduation requirement credits.
4)Enroll continuously in a public school independent study
program until the exit examination is passed and a
diploma is awarded, per local Governing Board policy.
5)Receive instruction through the independent study
program, if the student is nineteen years and older and
has been continuously enrolled in a K-12 school since
their eighteenth birthday.
6)Enroll continuously, through age twenty-two, in a public
charter school until the exit examination is passed and
a diploma is awarded.
7)Enroll in a California adult school secondary education
program to obtain a diploma by satisfying the district's
graduation requirements and passing the exit
examination.
8)Obtain a diploma from a community college that awards
high school diplomas through non-credit adult education
programs that do not require passage of the exit
examination.
9)Obtain a diploma through attendance in a county court or
community school program past the age of eighteen upon
approval of the county office of education and possibly
the concurrence of the court and county probation
department.
10) Pass the California High School Proficiency Exam, if
age 16 or older, or pass the General Educational
Development test, a national program for adults ages 18
and older, to obtain a diploma equivalent.
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FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Annual significant General Fund (GF) Proposition 98 (98) cost
pressure, likely between $12.9 million and $24.8 million, to
allow pupils who have met the exit examination graduation
requirement within two years of completing twelfth grade to
receive intensive supplemental services, as specified. As of
February 2007, the California Department of Education (CDE)
estimates there are 12,725 students in the Class of 2006 and
36,930 students in the Class of 2007 who have not met the exit
examination graduation requirement.
2)GF administrative costs, of approximately $181,500, to the CDE
to provide training and hire staff to meet the compliance
requirements of this measure.
3)The 2007-08 proposed budget provides $72.4 million GF 98 for
the exit examination supplemental intervention services
program, including a cost-of-living adjustment.
COMMENTS : The Valenzuela v. O'Connell lawsuit, filed in February
2006, challenges the passage of the exit examination as a
graduation requirement on constitutional grounds, alleging
students who failed the exam but are otherwise eligible to
graduate were subject to an unequal education system, one that
didn't adequately teach them what's on the test. The lawsuit
did not stop implementation of the examination as a graduation
requirement for the high school graduating class of 2006,
however, the core issues of the suit remain. In its decision
upholding the graduation requirement for the class of 2006 the
State Court of Appeals stated that, "we accept the trial court's
conclusion that plaintiffs (Valenzuela) established a likelihood
of success on the merits as to denial of their fundamental right
to equal educational opportunity." The State Court of Appeals
also recommended that the parties "find the pathways necessary
to provide equal and adequate access to meaningful remedial
assistance to students" under the auspices of the original trial
court (Alameda Superior Court). According to the CDE, this bill
intends to facilitate a resolution of the litigation.
The author states that 7.7% of the state's high school class of
2006 and 8.6% of the class of 2007 are continuing to work toward
the necessary proficiency to pass both sections of the high
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school exit examination and obtain a high school diploma. He
further states that these students need the support and
assistance to allow them to overcome this challenge and move
forward, and that this bill seeks to aid those students with the
tools they need to do that. This bill ensures that students
failing to pass the exit examination by the end of the twelfth
grade will have additional intensive instruction, services, and
resources targeted at them.
Analysis Prepared by : Gerald Shelton / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0001289