BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 518
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 6, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                   AB 518 (Mendoza) - As Amended:  April 22, 2009 

          Policy Committee:                              Education  
          Vote:8-2

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires that members of school assistance and  
          intervention teams (SAITs) and school district assistance and  
          intervention teams (DAITs) to possess a high degree of  
          knowledge, skills, and expertise in order to meet the needs of  
          the students they serve.  Specifically, this bill: 

          1)Defines "high degree of knowledge, skills, and expertise" to  
            include a certification or advanced degree relating to the  
            numerically significant pupil subgroups and either of the  
            following: (a) at least five years of expertise working  
            directly with pupil subgroups and (b) expertise as a provider  
            of professional development, demonstrated through having  
            written or published articles on instruction and programs for  
            pupil subgroups.  

          2)Requires SAITs and DAITs to use procedures and tools developed  
            specifically for the improvement of language and content  
            instruction for the pupil subgroups that have failed to meet  
            state and federal academic performance targets, as specified.   


          3)Requires SAITs and DAITS, when making recommendations to  
            schoolsites or districts, to ensure that the recommendations  
            are specific to pupils having access to core curriculum,  
            including reading and mathematics as specified.

          4)Requires SAITs and DAITs to ensure parental involvement  
            pursuant to the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001  
            (NCLB).  This measure further requires the SAIT and DAIT to  
            provide recommendations to improve an alternative program  








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            (i.e., instruction in a pupil's native language), if the  
            alternative program is the reason for federal sanctions.      

          5)Specifies that the new requirements only apply to SAITS and  
            DAITS established on or after January 1, 2010.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          GF/98 and federal fund cost pressure, of approximately $200,000,  
          to require additional qualifications and duties for SAITs and  
          DAITs.  Traditionally, SAITs and DAITs have been funded with  
          federal funds; however, in recent years, SAITs have received  
          GF/98 funds.    

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  .   AB 961 (Steinberg), Statutes of 2001 established  
            SAITs for the purposes of sanctioning schoolsites that  
            received funding under the state Immediate/Intervention  
            Underperforming Schools and High Priority Schools Grant  
            programs.  These schoolsites were deemed "state monitored" by  
            their failure to meet academic gains as measured by the state  
            Academic Performance Index (API).  The SBE, based on a  
            recommendation of the SPI, assigned state monitored schools a  
            SAIT to implement an improvement plan, with the goal of  
            increasing academic achievement.  

            Existing statute requires SAITs to have a high degree of  
            knowledge and skills in the areas of school leadership,  
            curriculum, and instruction aligned to the state academic  
            content and performance standards, classroom management and  
            discipline, academic assessment, parent-school relations, and  
            evaluation research-based reform strategies.  According to the  
            State Department of Education (SDE), there are 53 approved  
            SAIT providers.     

            In 2001, the federal government passed NCLB, which requires  
            the state to adhere to a federal accountability system because  
            California will receive approximately $2.7 billion in K-12  
            federal NCLB funds in the budget year. Of this amount, $1.64  
            billion are Title I funds, which serve the state's poorest  
            students.


            The federal accountability system is governed by a status  








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            model, as measured by Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), academic  
            targets as measured by state assessments. Under this model,  
            local education agencies (LEAs) and schoolsites are identified  
            as program improvement (PI) based on failing to meet AYP  
            targets. PI LEAs and schoolsites that do not meet AYP for two  
            consecutive years are subject to one or more corrective  
            actions as recommended by the SPI and approved SBE. 



            In addition to a correction action, the SBE may require an LEA  
            to contract with a DAIT to provide technical assistance in  
            implementing the corrective action (see comment #2 below).   
            Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction  
            (SPI), with approval from the SBE, to develop standards and  
            criteria to be applied to a DAIT.  According to SDE, there are  
            38 approved DAIT providers.    


           2)AB 519 (Budget Committee), Statutes of 2008  , established a  
            process for implementing the federal NCLB PI corrective action  
            for LEAs.  Federal law requires states to choose a sanction  
            for an LEA in corrective action (i.e., has failed to meet AYP  
            after three consecutive years).  These sanctions may include  
            reconstituting the district, replacing district personnel,  
            placing a trustee in the district, and requiring the district  
            to implement a new curriculum.  In addition to the sanction,  
            federal law requires states to provide LEAs with technical  
            assistance in implementing the sanction.    

            State law requires the SPI to recommend a sanction to the SBE  
            for approval.  To date, the SBE has sanctioned 147 LEAs.  Each  
            LEA received the same sanction: to implement a new curriculum.  
             In addition, AB 519 authorizes the SPI to recommend, with SBE  
            approval, that the LEA contract with a DAIT or other technical  
            assistance provider to aid in implementing the sanction.  

            LEAs may receive between $150,000 and $50,000 per PI school  
            within their district to contract with a DAIT or other  
            technical assistance provider.  This funding is condition upon  
            the availability of federal funds.  

           3)Previous and related legislation.  
           
              a)   AB 2531 (Mendoza), which is substantially similar to  








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               this measure, was held on the Senate Appropriations  
               Committee suspense file in August 2008.  

             b)   AB 683 (Chesbro), pending in this committee, authorizes  
               an LEA in corrective action that received a sanction, but  
               does not have any PI schools, to receive federal funding to  
               implement the sanction, as specified.   

             c)   AB 451 (De Le?n), pending in this committee, establishes  
               an intervention structure to provide  PI schools in year  
               four and five with technical assistance support to improve  
               academic achievement, with focus on significant subgroups,  
               as specified.  





           Analysis Prepared by  :    Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081