BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2083|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 2083
Author: Assembly Education Committee
Amended: 4/15/10 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/23/10
AYES: Romero, Huff, Alquist, Emmerson, Liu, Price
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock, Simitian, Wyland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/13/10 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : School accountability
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill clarifies that the Superintendent of
Public Instruction and the State Board of Education use the
closest possible approximation of high school graduation
rate information, calculated for each of the previous three
years, using existing data for purposes of determining high
schools on the persistently lowest-achieving schools list.
ANALYSIS : Current law requires the Superintendent of
Public Instruction (SPI) and the State Board of Education
(SBE) to develop a list of the persistently lowest
achieving schools according to a specified methodology that
includes any high school that has had a graduation rate
CONTINUED
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that is less than 60 percent in each of the previous three
years, as defined by the federal government in Section
200.19(b) of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
Current law requires the SPI to notify the governing board
of a school district, county superintendent of schools, or
the governing board of a charter school that one or more of
the schools in its jurisdiction have been identified as a
persistently lowest achieving school.
Current law requires the governing board of a school
district, county superintendent of schools, or the
governing board of a charter school to implement one of the
four specified reform interventions in any school
identified as persistently lowest achieving using the
statutorily specified methodology, unless the SPI and SBE
determine, to the extent allowable under federal law, that
the school has implemented an equivalent reform within the
last two years and is showing significant progress in
turning around that school.
Federal law uses the same list developed, pursuant to Race
to the Top methodology, for identifying persistently lowest
achieving schools for purposes of states applying for
funding under the School Improvement Fund (formerly known
as School Improvement Grants) or School Fiscal
Stabilization Funds.
This bill clarifies that the SPI and the SBE use the
closest possible approximation of high school graduation
rate information, calculated for each of the previous three
years, using existing data for purposes of determining high
schools on the persistently lowest achieving schools list.
Comments
SB 1 (Steinberg), Chapter 2, Statutes of 2010, Fifth
Extraordinary Session, specified the methodology to be used
to identify the persistently lowest achieving schools,
which included a component that any high school with a
graduation rate less than 60 percent in each of the last
three years as defined in federal regulations. However,
according to the CDE, the data to calculate the graduation
rate using this methodology are not available. By using
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the best available approximation of the specified
graduation rate in each of the three previous years, the
SPI and SBE would be able to identify high schools having a
graduation rate less than 60 percent pursuant to statute
and consistent with the intent of the Legislature.
CDE and Available Federal Funding . In March 2010, the CDE
released a list of persistently low achieving schools for
purposes of the federal School Improvement Fund Program.
The federal School Improvement Fund Program is a grant
program under the federal Title I program, which provides
funds to poor and needy pupils. Under this program, local
education agencies receive funding (up to $2 million per
school) to address the needs of schools in improvement,
corrective action, and restructuring under the federal
Title I program with the goal of improving student
achievement. Grant funds are used to change and improve
technical assistance through local education agencies
targeting activities towards measurable student outcomes.
In order for the state to apply for School Improvement
Funds, it is required to identify the state's lowest five
percent of schools (i.e., persistently lowest achieving
schools). The CDE developed a methodology for
identification and the SBE approved this methodology and
the resulting list March 11, 2010. There are 188 schools
identified on the persistently lowest achieving schools
list. Local educational agencies with schools on this list
under their jurisdiction are now eligible to apply to CDE
for federal School Improvement Funds, once the state is
approved by the federal government for its application.
Federal Race to the Top . In February 2009, the federal
U.S. Department of Education (USDE) issued an invitation to
the States to compete for approximately $4.4 billion of
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) one-time
funding known as Race to the Top (RTTT) grants. The RTTT
grants are to be issued inn two competitive rounds.
California was not successful in its first attempt. As of
this writing, California has been selected as a finalist in
Phase 2 and will be presenting its plan before a review
panel in Washington, D.C. on August 9, 2010. Finalists are
expected to be announced in September.
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RTTT is a competitive grant program designed to encourage
and reward states that are creating the conditions for
education innovation and reform; achieving significant
improvement in student outcomes, including making
substantial gains in student achievement, closing
achievement gaps; improving high school graduation rates;
and ensuring student preparation for success in college and
career; and implementing ambitious plans in four core
education reform areas:
1.Adopting high quality standards and assessments to
prepare students for higher education or work.
2.Recruiting, developing, retaining and rewarding effective
teachers and principals.
3.Creating data systems to measure student success and
support instruction.
4.Turning around the lowest performing schools.
Turning around persistently lowest achieving schools is one
of the four major components of RTTT, which requires states
to have legal, statutory or regulatory authority to
intervene in persistently lowest achieving schools,
identify persistently lowest achieving schools, and show
how the state will support local educational agencies
identified as persistently lowest achieving in implementing
one of four intervention models.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/2/10)
Small School Districts' Association
California School Boards Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The California School Boards
Association supports this bill, stating "AB 2083 addresses
the issue of low performing schools by requiring the SPI
and SBE to use the closest approximation of graduation rate
data (calculated for each of the previous three y ears) to
determine high schools on the persistently low performing
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schools list."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block,
Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De
La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer,
Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines,
Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,
Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries,
Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma,
Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland,
Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines,
Yamada, John A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Caballero, Norby, Skinner, Vacancy
CPM:cm 8/3/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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