BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 19
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          SENATE THIRD READING
          SB 19 (Simitian)
          As Amended  May 4, 2009
          Majority vote 

           SENATE VOTE  :35-2  
           
           EDUCATION           7-2                                         
           
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Ayes:|Brownley, Arambula,       |     |                          |
          |     |Buchanan, Carter, Eng,    |     |                          |
          |     |Solorio, Torlakson        |     |                          |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |Nays:|Nestande, Garrick         |     |                          |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 

           SUMMARY  :  Authorizes the use of federal grant funds, received  
          pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009  
          (ARRA) and provided for statewide data systems, to fund  
          activities currently required of the State Chief Information  
          Officer (CIO) related to the creation of a strategic plan to  
          link education data systems from K-12 and higher education.

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Authorizes the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data  
            System (CALPADS) and requires the California Department of  
            Education (CDE) to contract for the development of a system  
            that will provide for the retention and analysis of  
            longitudinal K-12 pupil achievement data on Standardized  
            Testing and Reporting assessments, high school exit  
            examination, and English language development assessments.

          2)Requires CDE to establish a process by which local education  
            agencies (LEA) issue, maintain, and report information using  
            the unique Statewide Student Identifiers (SSID), being used in  
            CALPADS, for state and federally funded center based child  
            care and development programs administered by the CDE, but  
            prohibits requiring those programs to implement or maintain  
            the SSIDs until an appropriation for this purpose is provided.









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          3)Requires each of the three public higher education systems to  
            establish a process by which colleges and universities within  
            those systems issue, maintain and report information using  
            SSIDs, and to provide an annual report to the Governor and the  
            appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature  
            that includes a detailed timeline for the implementation,  
            maintenance, and use of the SSIDs.

          4)Establishes the Office of CIO as a cabinet-level position  
            responsible for coordination and strategic planning in the  
            area of information technology (IT), and requires the CIO to  
            convene a working group, representing the Superintendent of  
            Public Instruction (SPI), the State Board of Education, the  
            three systems of California public higher education, and any  
            other governmental entities that collect, report, or use  
            individual education data that would become part of the  
            comprehensive educational data system, to develop a strategic  
            plan that would provide an overall structural design for the  
            linked data system, examine current state education data  
            systems, and examine the interdepartmental data protocols and  
            procedures to be used by state agencies in collecting,  
            storing, manipulating, sharing, retrieving, and releasing data  
            in order to enable the linking of data systems; the strategic  
            plan is required to be delivered to the Legislature and the  
            Governor on or before September 1, 2009.

          5)States legislative intent to convene a staff level working  
            group that is representative of the policy and fiscal staff of  
            both houses of the Legislature and both parties, the  
            Governor's office, the Superintendent of Public Instruction  
            (SPI), the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), and all three  
            systems of California public higher education; requires the  
            working group to make recommendations related to the  
            governance of educational data, including, but not limited to,  
            the organizational structure of the governing entity, its  
            relationship to other agencies, the scope of its authorities  
            and responsibilities, methods for holding the governing entity  
            accountable, and methods for ensuring that the governing  
            entity's work primarily serves the purposes of educational  
            improvement at the same time as ensuring the privacy of any  
            data under its charge.

           FISCAL EFFECT  : This bill is keyed non-fiscal.









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           COMMENTS  :   SB 1298 (Simitian), Chapter 561, Statutes of 2008,  
          made a number of changes in education data processes.  For  
          example, SB 1298 states legislative intent to convene a staff  
          level working group that is representative of the policy and  
          fiscal staff of both houses of the Legislature and both parties,  
          the Governor's office, the SPI, the Legislative Analyst's Office  
          (LAO), and all three systems of California public higher  
          education; it also requires the working group to make  
          recommendations related to the governance of educational data.   
          The LAO has already convened this group.  

          SB 1298 also requires the CIO to convene a working group,  
          representing the SPI, the State Board of Education, the three  
          systems of California public higher education, and any other  
          governmental entities that collect, report, or use individual  
          education data that would become part of the comprehensive  
          educational data system.  The CIO, along with this working  
          group, is required to develop a strategic plan, to be delivered  
          to the Legislature and the Governor on or before September 1,  
          2009, that would provide an overall structural design for the  
          linked data system, examine current state education data  
          systems, and examine the interdepartmental data protocols and  
          procedures to be used by state agencies in collecting, storing,  
          manipulating, sharing, retrieving, and releasing data in order  
          to enable the linking of data systems.  This group began meeting  
          in early May.

          According to the author, "SB 19 addresses one outstanding item  
          from last year's SB 1298 related to the state's vision for a  
          comprehensive education data system; specifically, the  
          requirement of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) to prepare a  
          technical plan to link statewide information systems and  
          education data.   As amended May 5, the bill authorizes use of  
          the federal funds to cover the CIO's costs related to the SB  
          1298 linkages work group."  The Governor's proposed 2009-10  
          budget requested $2 million General Fund to enable the CIO to  
          complete the activities specified in SB 1298, however, that $2  
          million appropriation was not included in the budget enacted in  
          February.  The Legislative Analyst's Office has commented that,  
          given the state's fiscal condition, committing $2 million in  
          General Fund resources for a strategic plan at this time may not  
          be the Legislature's highest priority, and noted that ARRA may  
          contain funds that could be appropriately used for such  
          activities.








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          The author also notes that, "Legislation will be needed to enact  
          the statutory changes necessary to maximize the use of the  
          federal stimulus funds for state-level education data systems ?  
          [but] The timing of the federal guidance and application  
          timeframes for the federal stimulus funds for statewide  
          education data systems lag legislative deadlines."  The U.S.  
          Department of Education has indicated it will announce the grant  
          competition for the ARRA funds for statewide education data  
          systems and provide additional guidance in July of this year.   
          Due to this timing issue, the author raises the possibility that  
          substantive amendments, adding content that would position the  
          state to compete for these funds, may be made to this bill once  
          additional guidance related to the state-level data systems  
          grant competition is released by the federal government.  During  
          the Assembly Committee on Education hearing on this bill, the  
          author committed to keeping policy committee staff informed as  
          to the development of future amendments to this bill, and also  
          stated his understanding that the Committee may ask for the bill  
          to be re-referred for the purpose of hearing any substantive  
          amendments made in the future.

           Previous legislation  :  SB 1298 (Simitian), Chapter 561, Statutes  
          of 2008, establishes processes by which local education agencies  
          and public institutions of higher education issue, maintain, and  
          report information using the unique statewide student  
          identifiers required under current law.   SB 1614 (Simitian),  
          Chapter 840, Statutes of 2006, requires the development of a  
          teacher data system to serve as a central state repository of  
          information on the teacher workforce, and specifies that the  
          existing CEIS include CALPADS, which maintains pupil data, and  
          CBEDS, an annual collection of aggregate student and staff data.  
           SB 1453 (Alpert), Chapter 1002, Statutes of 2002, authorizes  
          the longitudinal data system in its current form, and specifies  
          that the system be known as CALPADS.  SB 90 (Committee on the  
          Budget), Chapter 183, Statutes of 2007, Makes statutory changes  
          necessary to implement the 2007-08 state Budget relating to the  
          CIO and the OISPP.  SB 834 (Figueroa), Chapter 533, Statutes of  
          2006, makes the statutory changes necessary to reflect the  
          Governors Reorganization Plan 2, which became effective July 9,  
          2005, and creates the Office of CIO in state government.


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Gerald Shelton / ED. / (916) 319-2087 








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