BILL NUMBER: AB 2779	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Niello

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2008

   An act to amend Section 60640 of the Education Code, relating to
pupil testing.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2779, as introduced, Niello. Standardized Testing and Reporting
Program.
   Existing law establishes the Standardized Testing and Reporting
Program pursuant to which each school district, charter school, and
county office of education is required to administer to each of its
pupils in grades 3 and 7 the achievement test designated by the State
Board of Education and to each of its pupils in grades 2 to 11,
inclusive, a standards-based achievement test.
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes in those
provisions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 60640 of the Education Code is amended to read:

   60640.  (a)  There is hereby established the 
 The  Standardized Testing and Reporting Program, to be
known as the STAR Program  , is hereby established  .
   (b)  Commencing in the 2004-05 fiscal year and each fiscal
year thereafter, and from   From  the funds
available for that purpose, each school district, charter school, and
county office of education shall administer to each of its pupils in
grades 3 and 7 the achievement test designated by the state board
pursuant to Section 60642 and shall administer to each of its pupils
in grades 2 to 11, inclusive, the standards-based achievement test
provided for in Section 60642.5. The state board shall establish a
testing period to provide that all schools administer these tests to
pupils at approximately the same time during the instructional year,
except as necessary to ensure test security and to meet the final
filing date.
   (c) The publisher and the school district shall provide two makeup
days for the testing of previously absent pupils within the testing
period established by the state board  in  
pursuant to  subdivision (b).
   (d) The governing board of the school district may administer
achievement tests in grades other than those required by subdivision
(b) as it deems appropriate.
   (e) Pursuant to Section 1412(a)(17) of Title 20 of the United
States Code, individuals with exceptional needs, as defined in
Section 56026, shall be included in the testing requirement of
subdivision (b) with appropriate accommodations in administration,
where necessary, and those individuals with exceptional needs who are
unable to participate in the testing, even with accommodations,
shall be given an alternate assessment.
   (f) (1) At the option of the school district, pupils with limited
English proficiency who are enrolled in any of grades 2 to 11,
inclusive, may take a second achievement test in their primary
language. Primary language tests administered pursuant to this
subdivision and subdivision (g) shall be subject to the requirements
of subdivision (a) of Section 60641. These primary language tests
shall produce individual pupil scores that are valid and reliable.
   (2) Notwithstanding any other law, the state board shall designate
for use, as part of this program, a single primary language test in
each language for which a test is available for grades 2 to 11,
inclusive, pursuant to the process used for designation of the
assessment chosen in the 1997-98 fiscal year, as specified in
Sections 60642 and 60643, as applicable.
   (3) (A) The department shall use funds made available pursuant to
Title VI of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C.
Sec. 6301 et seq.) and appropriated by the annual Budget Act for the
purpose of developing and adopting primary language assessments that
are aligned to the state academic content standards. Subject to the
availability of funds, primary language assessments shall be
developed and adopted for reading/language arts and mathematics in
the dominant primary language of limited-English-proficient pupils.
The dominant primary language shall be determined by the count in the
annual language census of the primary language of each
limited-English-proficient pupil enrolled in the California public
schools.
   (B) Once a dominant primary language assessment is available for
use for a specific grade level, it shall be administered in place of
the assessment designated pursuant to paragraph (1) for that grade
level.
   (C) In choosing a contractor to develop a primary language
assessment the state board shall consider the criteria for choosing a
contractor or test publisher as specified by Sections 60642 and
60643, and as specified by Section 60642.5, as applicable.
   (D) Subject to the availability of funds, the assessments shall be
developed in grade order starting with the lowest grade subject to
the STAR Program.
   (E) If the state board contracts for the development of primary
language assessments or test items to augment an existing assessment,
the state shall retain ownership rights to the assessment and the
test items. With the approval of the state board, the department may
license the test for use in other states subject to a compensation
agreement approved by the Department of Finance.
   (F) On or before January 1, 2006, the department shall submit to
the Legislature a report on the development and implementation of the
initial primary language assessments and recommendations on the
development and implementation of future assessments and funding
requirements.
   (g) A pupil identified as limited English proficient pursuant to
the administration of a test made available pursuant to Section 60810
who is enrolled in any of grades 2 to 11, inclusive, and who either
receives instruction in his or her primary language or has been
enrolled in a school in the United States for less than 12 months
shall be required to take a test in his or her primary language if a
test is available.
   (h) (1) The Superintendent shall apportion funds to school
districts to enable school districts to meet the requirements of
subdivisions (b), (e), (f), and (g).
   (2) The state board annually shall establish the amount of funding
to be apportioned to school districts for each test administered and
annually shall establish the amount that each publisher shall be
paid for each test administered under the agreements required
pursuant to Section 60643. The amounts to be paid to the publishers
shall be determined by considering the cost estimates submitted by
each publisher each September and the amount included in the annual
Budget Act, and by making allowance for the estimated costs to school
districts for compliance with the requirements of subdivisions (b),
(e), (f), and (g).
   (3) An adjustment to the amount of funding to be apportioned per
test shall not be valid without the approval of the Director of
Finance. A request for approval of an adjustment to the amount of
funding to be apportioned per test shall be submitted in writing to
the Director of Finance and the chairpersons of the fiscal committees
of both houses of the Legislature with accompanying material
justifying the proposed adjustment. The Director of Finance is
authorized to approve only those adjustments related to activities
required by statute. The Director of Finance shall approve or
disapprove the amount within 30 days of receipt of the request and
shall notify the chairpersons of the fiscal committees of both houses
of the Legislature of the decision.
   (i) For purposes of making the computations required by Section 8
of Article XVI of the California Constitution, the appropriation for
the apportionments made pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (h),
and the payments made to the publishers under the contracts required
pursuant to Section 60643 or subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1) of
subdivision (a) of Section 60605 between the department and the
contractor, are "General Fund revenues appropriated for school
districts," as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 41202, for the
applicable fiscal year, and included within the "total allocations to
school districts and community college districts from General Fund
proceeds of taxes appropriated pursuant to Article XIII B  (of
the California Constitution   )  ," as defined in
subdivision (e) of Section 41202, for that fiscal year.
   (j) As a condition to receiving an apportionment pursuant to
subdivision (h), a school district shall report to the Superintendent
all of the following:
   (1) The number of pupils enrolled in the school district in grades
2 to 11, inclusive.
   (2) The number of pupils to whom an achievement test was
administered in grades 2 to 11, inclusive, in the school district.
   (3) The number of pupils in paragraph (1) who were exempted from
the test at the request of their parents or guardians.
   (k) The Superintendent and the state board are authorized and
encouraged to assist postsecondary educational institutions to use
the assessment results of the California Standards Tests, including,
but not limited to, the augmented California Standards Tests, for
academic credit, placement, or admissions processes.
   (l) The Superintendent, with the approval of the state board,
annually shall release to the public test items from the
standards-based achievement tests pursuant to Section 60642.5
administered in previous years. The minimum number of test items
released per year shall be equal to 25 percent of the total number of
test items on the test administered in the previous year.
   (m) This section shall become inoperative on July, 1, 2011.